Winter 2022-23 Summary

Although it is still early, most of the snow in the Lake and Hubbard Brook watersheds has melted, so there have been no significant flood events this winter (there have been some major rain events in December through February in recent years that have greatly impacted the wetland areas). We did, however, have a significant heavy wet snowfall in late December that broke and/or felled many trees in the park, particularly in the wetland areas around the Park. The tree species most affected by this storm were mostly trees with split or indistinct trunk structures, such as Silver Maples (Acer saccarinum), Box Elders (Acer negundo), Willows (Salix spp. but especially the large Black Willows (Salix nigra) in the Hubbard Brook wetlands), and Speckled Alders (Alnus incana). Some larger trees (White Pines, beeches and Hemlock) also fell.

So there are a lot of broken and damaged trees in the Park, which will be part of our spring cleanup around the hiking trails. Most of the trees affected are intermediate species - trees and shrubs that cover gaps in the succession from cleared land to forest, so there was little damage to the forest canopy. However, the main trees of concern are the large Black Willows in the Hubbard Brook wetland area that are at or near maximum age and for which no new tree species appear ready to replace.

Publicado el domingo, 26 de marzo de 2023 a las 04:58 PM por anachronist anachronist

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