3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2017
Study documents tree species’ Oh, deer, it’s
decline due to climate warming cold outside
A casualty of
global warming
By DAN JOLING
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE,
Alaska
— A type of tree that thrives
in soggy soil from Alaska to
Northern California and is val-
ued for its commercial and
cultural uses could become
a noticeable casualty of cli-
mate warming over the next 50
years, an independent study has
concluded.
Yellow cedar, named for
its distinctive yellow wood,
already is under consideration
for federal listing as a threat-
ened or endangered species.
The study published in the
journal Global Change Biology
found death due to root freeze
on 7 percent of the tree’s range,
including areas where it’s most
prolific. It cited snow-cover
loss that led to colder soil.
Additional mortality is
likely as the climate warms,
researchers said.
“Lack of snow is only going
to become more and more prev-
alent,” said lead author Brian
Buma, a University of Alaska
Southeast assistant professor of
forest ecosystem ecology.
By 2070, winter tempera-
tures in about 50 percent of the
areas now suitable for yellow
cedar are expected to rise and
transition from snow to more
rain, according to the study.
Yellow cedar began to
decline in about 1880, accord-
U.S. Forest Service
Yellow-cedar trees growing along Sheep Lake east of the
Cascade crest in Washington state.
ing to the U.S. Forest Service,
and its vulnerability is viewed
as one of the best-documented
examples of climate change’s
effect on a forest tree.
The trees are in the cypress
family and are not true cedars,
which are part of the pine fam-
ily. They have grown to 200
feet and can live more than
1,200 years.
Tlingit, Haida and Tsim-
shian people used yellow cedar
for canoe paddles, tool handles
and totem poles. They can har-
vest a lengthwise strip of bark
from a living tree for weaving
baskets and hats, and as back-
ing in blankets. The tree can
compartmentalize the injury
and continue growing.
The slow-growing trees his-
torically found a niche near
bogs. Those wetlands provided
openings in the forest canopy
but poor soil rejected by other
trees.
“Elsewhere, it (yellow
cedar) generally gets out-com-
peted by spruce, which grows
faster, or hemlock, which can
grow in lower light conditions,”
Buma said.
The study by Alaska, Wash-
ington state, California and
British Columbia researchers
documented the magnitude and
location of yellow cedar mor-
tality in Canada and the United
States.
More than 1,544 square
miles containing yellow cedar
— mostly north of Vancouver
Island, British Columbia —
have experienced upward of
70 percent mortality. Another
20,207 square miles remain,
but many of the trees will be
vulnerable if projected warm-
ing occurs.
Researchers found little
mortality in trees at higher ele-
vations in Washington and Ore-
gon where snow level has not
diminished and roots have not
been exposed to freezing tem-
peratures. Conversely, in some
areas, such as parts of Van-
couver Island, there’s no snow
where yellow cedar grows, but
temperatures never drop suf-
ficiently to freeze their roots,
Buma said.
The effect of climate
change on yellow cedar has
led to research on other shal-
low-rooted trees that could
be vulnerable, such as sugar
maple and yellow birch, said
Paul Schaberg, a Forest Ser-
vice research plant physiologist
from Burlington, Vermont. No
climate change effects on U.S.
trees have been as well-docu-
mented as research on yellow
cedar, he said.
“Projections are that other
species could be negatively
impacted, but other species, at
least in some places, could be
positively impacted,” he said.
The agency has begun a tree
atlas, currently listing 134 spe-
cies, that documents their cur-
rent and possible future distri-
bution under climate change
projections.
A U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service decision on list-
ing yellow cedar as threatened
or endangered is scheduled
for September 2019, spokes-
woman Andrea Medeiros said.
Owen Graham, executive
director of the Alaska Forest
Association, a timber industry
trade group, remains opposed
to a listing. Yellow cedar die-
off in the last century has
been intermittent and natural,
he said. Trees that died were
replaced by new trees.
“The whole thing is just a
stupid effort to try to tangle up
the timber supply some more,”
he said. “It’s ludicrous.”
Scouts help collect old Christmas trees
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Boy Scout
Troop 642 has partnered with
the Necanicum Watershed
Council to collect used Christ-
mas trees. The watershed
council will reuse the trees to
make critical winter habitat
for salmon in the rivers around
Seaside, while the Scouts will
earn money for summer camp.
Christmas trees can be
dropped off at the Seaside
outlet mall, Columbia Bank
in Cannon Beach, or call and
the Boy Scouts will pick it up
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Satur-
day and Sunday. Garlands
and wreaths are also being
accepted, but all items must
be free of flocking, orna-
ments, tinsel or other metal
wire or plastic flagging.
Other local drop-off sites
include CARTM (until Jan
15) in Manzanita and Lewis
and Clark National Historical
Park (until Jan. 20) in Astoria.
There is a suggested donation
of $5 for drop-off, and $8 for
pick up.
For pick up in the Cannon
Beach, Seaside, Gearhart and
Warrenton areas, call 503-717-
9563 and leave a message.
Deadline on Columbia River dam review extended
By LAURA BERG
Northwest Fishletter
Federal agencies have
extended the public comment
period on an environmental
impact statement for Columbia
River dam operations.
The Bonneville Power
Administration, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
and the Bureau of Reclama-
tion will take comments until
Feb. 7. The comment period
had been scheduled to end
Jan. 17.
Public meetings on devel-
oping the environmental
review will conclude with a
hearing in Astoria on Monday.
The final meeting will be held
at 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in The Loft
at the Red Building. Previous
meetings set for Astoria were
postponed because of severe
weather.
The next step for federal
agencies is to prepare alter-
native actions for fish recov-
ery and to establish the metrics
that will be used to evaluate
the options.
The environmental review
is being developed because
U.S. District Court Judge
Michael Simon ruled in May
that the federal agencies vio-
lated the National Environ-
mental Policy Act by failing to
prepare one as part of the 2014
biological opinion.
In November, 33 environ-
mental and fishing groups
asked the agencies to change
the public-meeting process,
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including adding more meet-
ings and extending the com-
ment period.
Officials estimate that over
2,000 people attended the pub-
lic meetings in Idaho, Mon-
tana, Oregon and Washington
state this past fall.
David Kennedy, BPA’s lead
staffer for the environmen-
tal review, said the agencies
expect tens of thousands of
written comments.
He summarized the themes
of comments already received:
• Remove the lower Snake
River dams for fish passage.
• Protect the dams for irri-
gation, flood risk management,
navigation and recreation.
• Complete an economic
analysis of changes to opera-
tions or structural configura-
tion and the benefits/impacts
of those changes.
• Remove the dams, so
orcas will not starve.
• Do not do another study.
• Use the best available sci-
ence in the study.
Written comments on the
EIS may be submitted by mail
to CRSO EIS, P.O. Box 2870,
Portland, Oregon 97208-2870.
Emailed comments should be
sent to comment@crso.info.
“Winters like this are
tough on ‘em,” Heath said,
adding that people don’t have
to make it tougher. “They’re
gonna have a hard time.”
Fish
and
Wildlife
spokeswoman
Michelle
Dennehy noted that this
winter is a normal one,
although after six years of
drought it may not seem
that way. In the long term,
the moisture from all the
recent snow will help grow
the forage that deer can eat
later and use to fatten them-
selves up through the sum-
mer. That stored fat serves
as insulation and as energy
reserves for winter.
The department advises
against feeding deer, since
the animal’s digestion adapts
to the winter season and they
can suffer from eating the
wrong type of food at this
time of year. If people want
to give them something to
eat, shaking the snow off of
bushes and shrubs in the yard
can help, Dennehy said.
Heath noted commer-
cially available deer food but
warned against corn-based
feed that can stress their
digestion and wind up kill-
ing them.
Some deer won’t survive
the winter, and that’s part
of the natural process. The
department will conduct an
annual statewide survey in
the spring to gauge the win-
ter’s toll.
Dennehy also stressed the
need to protect areas within
their winter range, so that
people in vehicles or on foot
don’t push them to move
any more than they need
to at a time when they’re
vulnerable.
“That’s something that
people can do to help —
is realize they’re low on
energy and need to conserve
energy,” she said.
Rough winter
not easy on deer
By HILARY
CORRIGAN
The Bulletin
BEND — Deer have it
rough during the winter in
central Oregon.
“Basically, they’re starv-
ing to death,” said Corey
Heath, a wildlife biologist
with the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife. “And
that’s normal.”
One vital survival fac-
tor for deer is access to
areas where they won’t be
disturbed.
“It’s absolutely critical,”
Heath said.
The animals do not add
weight through the season
because they can’t take in
enough calories due to a lack
of food, which is covered by
snow. They need to conserve
energy until spring arrives.
So they head to lower
elevations with less snow.
They move less. They seek
tree stands and other shelter
from the wind, snowfall and
cold temperatures. They eat
what’s available, including
bitterbrush, sagebrush, juni-
per and lichen hanging off
trees. They also grow their
thicker winter coats.
But disturbances from
people can force deer to burn
more vital calories, while
also displacing them from a
safe spot to areas where they
face more challenges, includ-
ing predators, vehicles and
fences.
The wildlife department,
along with federal agencies
and private landowners, cre-
ated certain winter range
areas that are closed to public
access so that deer have such
spaces that can help them
survive the hard season.
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C UTEST B ABY C ONTEST
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between
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