Why Are All of the Birch Trees Dying?

[Whiteman]

Well, not all of them, but there sure were a great number of dead mature birch trees coming down the Zeacliff Trail, and more around the valley. Is there some general malady that I was not aware of?

And BTW, that Zeacliff Trail was a deliciously steep descent, and certainly one of those trails less traveled. But that does not mean not well maintained--lots of recent trail work, clearing dead birch trees primarily.

 

[psmart]

There was a lot of damage in that area from the 1998 ice storm. Can you tell is the tops of the trees are damaged or broken off?

 

[Whiteman]

Damaged tops?

At this point they were just standing skeletons, so it was hard to tell if they had their tops broken out earlier. But ice would be a good explanation I suppose.

 

[Chugach001]

Deer Flies.

 

[woodsman642004]

White Birch are "pioneer" species and get established in areas after some sort of disturbance (ie: logging, land clearing, road building, hurricane, fire . . .) They are relatively short-lived and are shade intollerant. As a forest matures, White Birch will die out, making room for other longer lived species. So why are they all dying at once?? They're most likely around the same age, have had some sort of stressor . . . ice storm, drought, insects, disease, or some combination of those which was too much for them to overcome.

 

[forestgnome]

White Birch are "pioneer" species and get established in areas after some sort of disturbance (ie: logging, land clearing, road building, hurricane, fire . . .) They are relatively short-lived and are shade intollerant. As a forest matures, White Birch will die out, making room for other longer lived species. So why are they all dying at once?? They're most likely around the same age, have had some sort of stressor . . . ice storm, drought, insects, disease, or some combination of those which was too much for them to overcome.

Thanks for excellent post...