
Northern Tree Habitats - Geophysical Institute
Mar 26, 2026 · Interior Alaskan forests have only six native tree species: white spruce, black spruce, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, larch (tamarack) and paper birch. Northern Canadian forests have all …
More on Why Tree Trunks Spiral | Geophysical Institute
Mar 26, 2026 · I eventually found a tree with a spiral lightning mark and it followed the spiral grain exactly. One tree, of course, proves nothing. "But why should the tree spiral? More speculation here: …
Tree Rings and History | Geophysical Institute
Feb 12, 2026 · 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 …
Feltleaf willows: Alaska’s most abundant tree | Geophysical Institute
May 25, 2023 · The most plentiful moose food in the state — and probably Alaska’s most numerous tree — is the feltleaf willow, which was once called the Alaska willow. As its name implies, the feltleaf …
Tree line changes on the Kenai Peninsula | Geophysical Institute
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, …
Visit to an exotic tree plantation in Alaska | Geophysical Institute
Jun 18, 2021 · The two-acre exotic tree plantation is part of a much-larger “boreal arboretum” on the UAF campus, which mostly consists of native spruce, birch, aspen, poplar and willow trees. Having …
Bark Beetles in Spruce Trees | Geophysical Institute
Mar 26, 2026 · Bark beetles attack spruce trees in early summer. These brownish black beetles are common throughout Alaska and Yukon Territory where they kill trees by boring through the bark and …
Cottonwood and Balsam Poplar | Geophysical Institute
Mar 26, 2026 · The Klukwan giant holds the national record for black cottonwood diameter. Its nearest rival, a tree near Salem, Oregon, does hold the national height record. The Klukwan giant belies the …
The majesty and mystery of Alaska yellow cedar | Geophysical Institute
Jul 23, 2021 · A tree near one of our campsites had a crack at its base through which we could pass the folded saw. Yet the tree was still alive, with just one rope of cambium — the outer bark that …
The Kodiak Treeline | Geophysical Institute
Mar 26, 2026 · Spruce trees planted on the islands by the Russians in 1805 are doing just fine and reseeding themselves naturally, although the total tree population hardly amounts to a forest. In …