Bout The Trees?

[Jason Essary]

Just wondering and thought id ask all the smart peps on here... ...All these fooded trees around the lake, they going to die or are they fine. I know they can take a long duration underwater but this is going to take a long time to let there roots ever smell air again. And what about the brush, will it die back and leave just the large trees or what ya'll think?

[motoman]

Just wondering and thought id ask all the smart peps on here... ...All these fooded trees around the lake, they going to die or are they fine. I know they can take a long duration underwater but this is going to take a long time to let there roots ever smell air again. And what about the brush, will it die back and leave just the large trees or what ya'll think?

-

Good question coyote. I was down last week and a month before that, and both times my partner and I pondered this too.

-

A few of the trees in the flooded area have nice green leaves on them from the spring, but then it looks like some of the healthy green, is starting to brown.

[skeeter]

Unfortunately, the ones that will live are the ones I would like to see gone or reduced and those are the Sycamores.

[chub minnow]

That's true, the sycamores will probably make it. Maples might as well. The oaks, (except any river or swamp oaks) are done for as well as any redbuds, dogwoods etc. I think most of the brush will come back pretty readily, but I'm not sure. I'm not really sure how the hickories will handle it either, but I'm thinking it will be tough on them. Sassafras, bodark, birches, cottonwood and poplars should weather it depending on the duration of flooding. It will definitely change the makeup of the shoreline for a while. I think the redbuds that have been at our place since I can remember (sometime in the mid 70's) are toast. Hate to see 'em go.

[bjovan]

i'm sure the lake will look much different next year, its that crazy circle o life. Hope everyone has a great and safe weekend.

[Trav]

Flood Tolerant Trees

Acer rubrum - red maple

Fraxinus nigra - black ash

Fraxinus pennsylvania - green ash

Larix laricina - Eastern larch

Salix nigra - black willow

Taxodium distichum - baldcypress

Intermediate Tolerant Trees

Abies balsamea - balsam fir

Acer negundo - boxelder

Acer saccharinum - silver maple

Alnus rugosa - speckled alder

Betula nigra - river birch

Celtis occidentalis - hackberry

Fraxinus americana - white ash

Gleditsia triacanthos - honeylocust

Liquidambar styraciflua - American sweetgum

Platanus occidentalis - sycamore

Populus deltoides - Eastern cottonwood

Populus tremuloides - quaking aspen

Pyrus calleryana - callery pear

Quercus macrocarpa - bur oak

Quercus palustris - pin oak

Quercus phellos - willow oak

Salix alba - white willow

Thuja occidentalis - Eastern arborvitae

Ulmus americana - American elm

Intolerant Flooded Trees

Acer platanoides - Norway maple

Acer saccharum - sugar maple

Aesculus flava - yellow buckeye

Asimina triloba - common pawpaw

Carpinus caroliniana - American hornbeam

Carya ovata - shagbark hickory

Cercis canadensis - Eastern redbud

Cladrastis kentukea - American yellowwood

Crataegus x lavallei - lavalle hawthorn

Fagus grandifolia - American beech

Juglans nigra - black walnut

Juniperus virginiana - Eastern red cedar

Liriodendron tulipifera - tulip tree

Magnolia x soulangiana - saucer magnolia

Malus - crabapple

Nyssa sylvatica - black gum

Ostrya virginiana - American hophornbeam

Picea abies - Norway spruce

Picea glauca - white spruce

Picea pungens - Colorado spruce

Pinus bansiana - jack pine

Pinus resinosa - red pine

Pinus strobus - Eastern white pine

Prunus serotina - black cherry

Quercus alba - white oak

Quercus muehlenbergii - chinkapin oak

Quercus rubra - red oak

Sassafras albidum - sassafras

Sorbus aucuparia - European mountainash

Tilia - linden

Tsuga canadensis - Eastern hemlock

Ulmus pumila - Siberian elm

(Source: Sinclair, Lyon, and Johnson, 1987)

[Jason Essary]

Dang trav, ur a bucket full of info...thanks. hope they make it but guess well all c'

[Trav]

The biggest issue flooded trees have is they are extremely vulnerable to insect infestation and disease. So even if they survive the water, they may fall victim anyway.

[chub minnow]

Losing what little topsoil they had around their roots doesn't help much either.

[skeeter]

Losing what little topsoil they had around their roots doesn't help much either.

Have to agree. At the waters edge in front of our place I couldn't tell from a distance why all the roots were washed in to the shore at the high water mark. Getting closer I discovered the topsoil was gone and these were live roots exposed on top of the shelf rock. The "mulch" ( I don't know what else to call it ) that washed in will probably provide a great bed for any seeds to germinate in and we have beaucoup amounts of that "stuff " all along our shoreline. Stuff looks to be about three feet deep in spots and will harbor insects galore so have actually been considering how to get rid of it. Burning ? probably won't burn, just smolder forever or until the next monsoon. Guess the termites and ants will be real happy. Bad year for ants anyway.