I found this today in the Juneau paper. I am guessing the low snow levels will also affect overwintering amphibians. Something to watch for. Please pass on any observations or thoughts to the listserver. ADF&G has released a warning that bears have been emerging in Southcentral with our warm snap, so I'm sure amphibs will be hopping around soon, too.
Blain , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Blain Anderson Trails/GIS Specialist National Park Service 240 West 5th Avenue Anchorage, Alaska 99501 907.644.3577 ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` Mar 26, 6:36 PM EST Yellow cedar, prized for wood, suffers as climate warms JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- A normally hardy tree in southeast Alaska that thrives in cold temperatures is dying out in lower elevations as the climate warms, worrying carvers and others who prize its beautiful and durable wood. Yellow cedar staves off bugs and decay better than other trees in the Tongass National Forest, but a thin spring snowpack has left its roots susceptible to freezing, scientists said. For more than a century, large swaths of yellow cedar in the Tongass have been dying, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The smaller spring snowpacks that come with rising temperatures are likely leading to a decline of the tree, which thrived in the Little Ice Age, scientists said. Without adequate snow cover, the yellow cedar's roots freeze to death in the spring. "It's kind of a paradox" that the trees are dying from freezing episodes that are ultimately caused by climate warming, said Paul Hennon, a federal scientist in Juneau who has studied the yellow cedar decline in the Alaska Panhandle since the 1980s. "Snow appears to be a really key fact," Hennon said. It may also explain why the decline of yellow cedar is largely limited to low elevations, which are experiencing less snow, he added. Along the shores of Baranof and Chichagof islands - the heart of the species' range in the Panhandle - dead yellow cedars' bare gray trunks stick out like ghostly spines. Similar dead patches also have been noted in British Columbia. In other places, including spots in Juneau, Haines and the northern extent of the tree's range in Prince William Sound, the yellow cedar still appears to be doing well. Studies of the decline are ongoing, Hennon said. University of Alaska Fairbanks students are gathering climate records and comparing them to yellow cedar tree-ring data from all over Southeast Alaska. Vermont scientists are also testing yellow cedar tissue, shipped to them from Alaska, to "see how cold they can get without injury," Hennon said. Scientists believe the yellow cedar most likely survived the last major ice age, which ended roughly 12,000 years ago, on Dall Island and other spots such as Prince of Wales Island. The trees may have migrated to lower elevations during the Little Ice Age, which ended in the late 1800s. Now, they may no longer survive the shortage of protective snow in those places. Hennon and fellow scientists at the Forest Service and the University of Alaska Fairbanks will soon publish a paper about predictive modeling that would determine where the decline will occur over the next few centuries. They believe the trees can continue to thrive at higher elevations, with colder weather and less exposure to freezing during the early spring. Alaska Native carvers and weavers, as well as the wood industry, are hoping for the yellow cedar's comeback, too. "There's nothing more beautiful," says Gordon Chew, a Tenakee Springs home builder. --- Information from: Juneau Empire, http://www.juneauempire.com
