Living Among the Birch

12 February 2012
4:18 PM

Sunrise at	9:01 AM	in direction	122°	East-southeast
Sunset at	5:10 PM	in direction	239°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 8 hours, 9 minutes (6 minutes, 49 seconds longer than yesterday)


There are eight varieties of birch. I know of three species native to North America:  River Birch, Yellow Birch and Paper Birch (White Birch, Canoe Birch).  Two of these are listed among the 100 most common trees of North America, River Birch and Yellow Birch.  However, the birch of the boreal forest are Paper Birch.  They were used by River dwelling indigenous people for canoes and have paper like bark that can be peeled from the outside layer of the tree without harming the tree.  The sap can be used for candy and the thickest portion of the bark not only smells sweet, but must have a pleasing sweet taste as our dogs often prefer that bark over bones (we DO NOT encourage this preference).

I suspect I take too many photos of birch trees.  I can't help it.  We all are enamored with the changing moods and aspects of what we love.  I love the birch trees on our land, which is a good thing, because we are surrounded by them.  We have tried to isolate a few birch trees that we can drop to let more light in for flowers and lawn.  We have some that are definitely troublesome when driving into our garage.  I am not sure why the original owners left those standing, but they did and each year we say this one needs to be brought down for easier access, or that one needs to be cut down so we have more light.

Each year we find other things to do.  We are willing to cut down the spruce that are slowly invading the lot.  They grow very fast and block the winter sun very effectively to the southeast.  Any we take down will be replenished rapidly, but for whatever reason, we hold onto our birch trees as if they were diamonds.  Here is one photo in which the birch seed clusters are visible (if you look hard) at the top of the tree.   The weather has been warm, so the hoarfrost and snow has disappeared from the birch tree limbs.  Today I watched several chickadees sit among the tree tops eating at the seed clusters.  Various natural factors cause the birch to release seeds at intervals throughout the entire winter, often leaving an amber coating as fine as saw dust along the top of the snow.  The birch is, without a doubt, among the most generous of native trees.

Thickened clusters of birch softening the tree tops

My daughter is a plant ecologist for the US Forest Service who completed her PhD through University of Alaska, Fairbanks.  She continues to research boreal forests and told me that flora succession after fire follows the following pattern in areas where there is no permafrost:  fireweed, aspen/birch, and then spruce.  So the encroaching spruce are a natural part of the our lot's plant succession.  However, spruce burn quickly in native fires, which then leads to the succession pattern again.  Birch do not burn easily.  If you keep the spruce cut to a healthy perimeter around your house, you can live among the birch because these trees store much of the plants necessary moisture in their bark.  Spruce, on the other hand, rely on the shade provided by the birch to cool soils and keep the flow of water coming to roots for their own healthy germination.

Early February sun now farther west on the southern horizon as it nears sunset

Maybe we will remove some of the birch trees this year, let them dry and use them as fuel in 2013 - maybe.