when cole finds a large dead tree what does he do?

Well, there is on instance when the storm fells a large tree. He immediately asks if the baby birds are okay. Cole also begins carving a totem pole.

This shows that Cole is beginning to care about things other than himself. It gets him working through the pain of his past as well as concentrating on something outside of his past. It's a bit of a paradox but it seems to work.