The Black Locust trees in my forest are struggling. There are several reasonable sized trees, mostly around the acidic cove bowl in Lot A, but almost all of them have bracket fungi on their trunks, and are either dead or have sparse, narrow canopies. I am wondering whether they are all succumbing to a fungal disease or whether they just get shaded out by other larger trees (such as the Oaks, Tulip Trees, and Red Maples) as the forest matures. There are several healthy looking saplings, especially bordering open areas such as the access road on Lot A. When there are leaves, they are compound, with multiple leaflets.
The next two pictures show a typical example - characteristically medium-brown ropey bark, but with a very sparse canopy.
Some other live specimens in Lot A.
There is one small-medium Black Locust which is in pretty good shape. This is bordering the terminus of an old logging road in SE Lot B, very close to the twin Cucumber Magnolia trees.