Surviving Winter

This young whitebark pine shows the classic shape of a tree brutalized by winter ice blast. The bottom branches are protected by the snow, but the upper branches are exposed and absorb the full force of the wind-driven ice, creating the narrow top.

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As the Christmas Day storm raged, I spent most of my day huddled inside. I ventured out long enough to fill the bird feeders and to clear the driveway of snow three times, but mostly I just wanted to stay out of the sting of wind-propelled snow and ice crystals.

On such a day, I am particularly grateful for a warm home and my thoughts invariably stray to organisms that cannot simply turn up the thermostat when it is cold. Some can avoid winter but others, particularly sub-alpine trees, bear the full force and fury of the season and somehow survive.

While cold is winter’s overlord, its minions are wind, snow, ice and frost. Each of these can play a role in which plants live, where they live, their shape and even the basic structure of a sub-alpine ecosystem.

Wind, more specifically, wind-driven ice particles called ice blast, is the sculptor of many sub-alpine trees. The windward side of large alpine trees such as limber pine, bristlecone pine and whitebark pine, has bark that is highly abraded by ice blast or bark that is missing altogether. The wood of older trees may be shaped and smoothed just as wind-blown sand can create holes in sandstone.

Wind-driven ice is fiercest just above the snow level. Wind scours the surface of the snow, plucking away ice crystals and hurling them against nearby trees. Mop headed trees develop where the branches beneath the snow are normal, but those above the snow are severely eroded or absent altogether. The mop head, a cluster of branches at the top of the tree, eventually forms as the tree grows beyond the reach of the surface-generated ice blast. Even then, the “mop head” may only have live branches and needles on the lee side of the tree.

When the wind doesn’t blow, snow buildup can become the enemy. Snow is heavier than it looks. I still marvel that the weight of snow can pull fences down and snap heavy wire. That same weight can build up on trees creating snow loads that may strip branches and even snap off entire trees. Conifer trees, with their narrower shapes and down sloping branches, tend to shed snow when it builds up, but that is not always the case. A combination of snow and ice build-up may weigh over 6,000 pounds on a 40-foot-tall tree in some places.

Even deciduous trees suffer. For instance, it is rare for native aspens to retain branches below the average snow level because the weight of the snow prunes them off.

Snow is such an important part of the overall ecology in sub-alpine areas that it is even responsible for shaping some forests. Called ribbon forests, they form when snow drifts form on the lee side of tree stands. These drifts persist well into summer, denying conifer seedlings a chance to start. The result is lines of forested areas separated by meadows in often a precise pattern.

The cold temperatures drive the frost deep into the ground. There, the effect can be dramatic. The ground freezes in horizontal layers that cause the soil to heave or bulge. When this happens, entire plants may be uprooted.

When the storms rage, I’ll take the comfort of my centrally heated home over an sub-alpine blizzard. It is fascinating to note, however, that while winter conditions can be severe in the high country, plants have found ways to survive and thrive.

 

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Wildlife License Plates

Great news! as of 2024, there are three NEW designs for license plates. They still are bluebird, cutthroat trout and elk, but they are beautiful.

Idaho Wildlife license plates provide essential funding that benefits the great diversity of native plants and wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped—over 10,000 species or 98% of Idaho’s species diversity. Game species that share the same habitats (such as elk, deer, antelope, sage-grouse, salmon, trout) also benefit from these specialty plates.

No state tax dollars are provided for wildlife diversity, conservation education and recreation programs. Neither are any revenues from the sale of hunting or fishing licenses spent on nongame species. Instead, these species depend on direct donations, federal grants, fundraising initiatives—and the Idaho Wildlife license plates.

Both my vehicles have Bluebird Plates. I prefer the bluebird because the nongame program gets 70 percent of the money from bluebird plates, but only 60 percent of the money from elk and trout plates - 10 percent of the money from elk plates supports wildlife disease monitoring and testing programs (to benefit the livestock industry) and 10 percent from cutthroat plates supports non-motorized boat access.

Incidentally, in 2014, the Idaho Legislature denied the Department of Fish and Game the ability to add new plates or even to change the name of the elk and cutthroat plates (very specific) to wildlife and fish plates, a move that would have allowed for changing images occasionally and generating more revenue. It would seem that they believe that we Idahoans don't want a well funded wildlife program.

I think it is time we let the Legislature know that Idahoan support wildlife funding and that we would like to see these generic plates come to fruition.