Hi: This is definitely on my mind as our snow pack was very thin during a recent very cold snap. I will pay particular attention to sightings of yearlings and other young toads.
Tim Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >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 > >
