Feb 8, 2024 on the bottom of this newsletter is information how to apply and about the Kid for the Wild Scholarship.
Update! We have had up to a foot of snow over the past few days. WET snow. Wet snow is very atypical for this area, it is more typically dry and fluffy. Looking at the SNOTEL site I (mentioned in the last NN) our moisture is up to 72% of normal. Below are some recent photos of snow adventures with friends this week.
These adventures with friends are some of my favorite days in the winter months here. It’s a time to find new routes, places that are hard to get to in the summer months because so much deadfall might block ones way or some of these areas could be boggy. One can follow animal tracks and figure out a story in the snow. At the end of the day, feeling fatigued from pushing one’s self physically and sharing days like this, it’s one more reminder how precious are these wild places.
Becoming a keen observer is something that happens without even thinking about it after many hours in the backcountry. One notices a variety of vegetation and stages of growth. It’s interesting to see how some species of tree are used by wildlife in different ways. The photo below is a BIG subalpine fir, abies lasiocarpa.
These trees are typically found in higher elevations, and can be found growing with Lodgepole pine, Engelman Spruce, as well as with Whitebark and Limber pines. They can tolerate shade and often start growing beneath other species of tree.
This tree is found on one of the trails I ski regularly. I call “her” the grandma tree.
Like all other conifers, the leaves are in the form of needles and the seeds are in cones.
The fuzzy, purple-colored cones are 2-4 inches long and sticky with sap. They are thick and cylinder shaped and grow upright on branches near the top of the tree. Cones appear like candles growing up tall on the treetops! Also, the cones don’t fall off the tree, but disintegrate when they mature.
from “I Naturalist”
The bark is thin, silvery gray, and smooth with resin blisters.
Subalpine fir tree tops are very pointy. The branches grow to all the to the ground. These 2 characteristics help subalpine firs shed snow without breaking branches. Sometimes the lower branches touch the ground and grow to form a “skirt” around the base. These branches can root and new trees can come up from here..
Subalpine fire trees provide shelter for deer, elk, moose, mountain goats and bears. Grouse eat the needles. Snowshoe hares, red squirrels, chipmunks, and some birds eat the seeds from the cones.
American Indians used ground needles to make a salve. The sap was used to make a tea to help colds.
Subalpine fir trees are associated with protection and spirituality for many tribal people.
Fir branches are used for purifying and warding off ghosts in some Salish and other Northwest Indian rituals. Plains Indian tribes commonly burn fir needles as incense, and northern Algonquian tribes bundle spruce and fir needles into sachets or herbal pillows to protect against illness. It used to be customary in the Haisla tribe for mourners to blacken their faces with silver fir pitch.
As always, I’m happy to share more “magic” from the natural world, and part of winter that makes many of us very happy. May these places stay “Forever Wild”
Leslie lesliehstoltz@gmail.com
One last note about the Kid for the Wild scholarship. It is the time of year the scholarship is open for applications that are due April 30. For more information about this, or to apply online, check out
https://walkinjim.com/kid-for-the-wild-scholarship/