Apr 10, 2025 · They examined the present range of lodgepole pine and decided that the tree could survive in interior Alaska if given a chance. Lodgepole pine grows from southern California to the Yukon, in environments varying from rainy seacoasts to dry inland mountaintops, because genetically different strains have developed.

Apr 17, 2025 · While poplar may grow to 100 feet high and two feet across, cottonwood can reach to 125 feet and be much larger in diameter. Cottonwoods three feet in diameter at breast height are common. To avoid both bending over and the flare near the tree stumps, foresters measure the tree diameters at breast height, hence the term breast height diameter.

Apr 3, 2025 · A tree's age can be easily determined by counting its growth rings, as any Boy or Girl Scout knows. Annually, the tree adds new layers of wood which thicken during the growing season and thin during the winter. These annual growth rings are easily discernible (and countable) in cross-sections of the tree's trunk.

Apr 17, 2025 · One tree, of course, proves nothing. "But why should the tree spiral? More speculation here: Foliage tends to be thicker on the south side of the tree because of better sunlight. Prevailing winds, in most of the tree-growing northern hemisphere, are from the west.

Apr 10, 2025 · Then using tree ring dating methods, it may be possible to date earthquakes occurring before historical records were kept. The ability to identify and date very large earthquakes occurring within the past thousand years is important in establishing earthquake risk and for predicting future earthquakes.

Feb 6, 2008 · The gradual change in tree line is one of many that people have noticed on the Kenai Peninsula in recent years. The most obvious is the 1980s-to-1990s Spruce bark beetle invasion, during which the insects killed 30 million mature spruce trees on the Kenai and a wide swath of southern Alaska.

Jan 6, 2011 · The mummy trees of northern Ellesmere Island include a trunk of a pine tree four feet long and six inches in diameter. Each of the trees was at least 75 years old when it died. The ancient forest holds samples of the last real trees in the area before it became too cold and dry to support large plants, Barker said.

Jul 23, 2021 · Probably because of chemical compounds within the tree like nootkatin that emit the pleasant odor and tint the wood yellow, Alaska yellow cedar endures like no other tree in the state. In a 1997 paper on the endurance and possible usefulness of dead Alaska yellow-cedar trees, researchers Kent McDonald and Paul Hennon concluded it was good stuff:

Apr 1, 1993 · Back on the ground, I did a little research on why so few tree types grow naturally in the neighborhood. Winter's extreme cold easily eliminates some tree species hardy elsewhere. Oak, ash, and elm endure occasional severely cold temperatures in the contiguous forty-eight states because they can produce chemicals that serve as natural antifreeze.

Mar 13, 2025 · This majestic tree is one of the most commercially important species in the Interior, it is valued for the houselogs, firewood, and other products that are derived from it. In fact, it has been and still is the most important tree in the subsistence life of the Alaska Athabascans, who use all parts of the tree including the roots and resin.