Pussy willow tree taken by Bittroot

Pussy willow is a sort of generic term since many species of willows sprout catkins. In Minnesota there are 18 native species of willows, three European tree species that are naturalized, and 5 species of poplars, many of which develop similar furry buds. The actual pussy willow is called Salix discolor, but for our purposes we will be referring to all species that   display these furry flowers. Among tree species in the willow family the quaking aspen are the most common and easily observed trees with “pussy willows.” These flowers, called catkins or aments are defined as a scaly spike of flowers of a single sex. All of the willows have only one sex much like humans. They are either male plants or female plants. The first pussy willows we see are usually males. The females emerge later. What we see and often collect to bring into the house are the male flowers in their very earliest stages of development. Those soft silvery hairs act as a fur coat that aids in the flowers progression toward maturity. Sunlight warms the interior with radiant energy and the hairs trap the warmth speeding the development of the flower. If you bring some male pussy willows inside they’ll continue to develop and at some point become quite yellow with pollen.

Insect pollination, photo take by Bill Hails

Outdoors the pollen usually appears in April. At about the same time the female flowers will exhibit their flowers. In most cases where the flowers are not showy pollination occurs as a result of wind. Pollen grains are simply released into the wind and the plants rely on fate to bring the pollen to the female flowers. This is how the aspens get it done. The willows break the rules and enlist the aid of insects to get the pollen to the stigma. Though the flowers lack showy petals to attract the insects they do produce large amounts of very strongly scented nectar. At a time when newly emerging bees are struggling to find food the willows come through. The final stage in the spring cycle of the pussy willows is the development of the seeds. The carpels on the female flowers swell and grow as the seeds mature. Once they are ready, the capsules burst open and the seeds are released. This process runs from late February when the first blooms appear, until May when the seeds are released. If you are out for a walk keep an eye out for the first fluffy catkins and then watch through the spring as they move from pussy willows to fluffy seeds.

Related posts:

1. Northern Minnesota phenology report: April 2009
2. Northern Minnesota phenology report: May 2009
3. Northern Minnesota phenology report: October 2009

Related posts:

1. Quiz of the Month: October 2009
2. Arbor Month 2009: My Favorite Tree
3. Woodpile newsletter: November 2009

Attached is the premier issue of a new, on-line-only newsletter for woodland owners who have forest management plans. The newsletter was developed with support from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation and executed by the Giziibii RC&D, for projects focused on assisting Minnesota’s woodland owners with the management and enjoyment of their forests.

New issues will be published electronically and quarterly, for woodland owners who have been assisted in the development of management plans by both public and private forestry professionals.

Download the first Woodpile newsletter here. (PDF)

Related posts:

1. MDNR's March 2009 Forest Insect & Disease Newsletter
2. Minnesota DNR Marketplace newsletter
3. Free monthly e-newsletter from Dovetail Partners

Related posts:

1. November 2007 update
2. November 2008 update
3. May 2009 update

The changes will make it easier to find and discuss content, get to know authors, get new content notifications, and find and post material on the new discussion board.

We’d love your thoughts on the new site.  Leave as little or as much info as you want on our fast feedback form.

Thank you!

Related posts:

1. Discussion board is back
2. Perspective: Problems (and solutions) with Minnesota's property tax code
3. Input needed: 5 things every woodland owner should know

This month’s features:

• Response: Dauerwald, ecological forestry, and late-successional structure
• North Central Forest Management Guides: Bottomland hardwoods
• John Latimer’s Northern Minnesota phenology report
• Meet a Minnesota Logger: Tom Kruschek
• Protecting tree seedlings from deer
• Featured link: Tree ID resources from MNTCA.org
• And, as always, discussion board, upcoming events, news, poem of the month, and a quiz.

Read this month’s update here.

Related posts:

1. October 2009 email update
2. February email update is out
3. August 2009 email update is out

This month we feature a two-part video response to Tom’s question and the ensuing discussion from Tony D’Amato, silviculturist at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Forest Resources.  Tony’s first video addresses the concept of natural disturbance-based silviculture.  His second video addresses a somewhat related concept, of active management to restore late-successional structure. Tony discusses how ecological forestry can complement other approaches like production forestry and multiple use sustained yield forestry on the landscape.

Ecological forestry: Natural disturbance-based silviculture

Links:

• Minnesota DNR’s Native Plant Community Field Guides
• Natural disturbance and stand development principles for ecological forestry

Ecological forestry: Restoring late-successional forest structure

Links:

• Restoring Late-successional Forest Structure, by Tony D’Amato and Paul Catanzaro (PDF)
• More info and links on restoring late-successional and old growth characteristics from MassWoods.net.

Your turn

How does (or doesn’t) ecological forestry fit into your woodland plans?  Why or why not?  Leave a comment below or add to the initial discussion begun by Tom.

Related posts:

1. Silviculture and Carbon in the Cloquet Woods
2. November email update is out
3. How forests grow

The last of the meadowhawk dragonflies will put in an appearance in early November. These small, bright red, insects are among the last to fly about in the fall. A warm day or two in the early part of the month will send them out in a last and probably fruitless search for other flying insects.

Flickr photo “Ruby Meadowhawk” by Jim Frazier. Original.

If you have been observing them throughout the fall you may have noticed them flying in tandem with the female periodically touching her abdomen to the grass. She is depositing eggs. Her strategy is to place her eggs on stalks of grass that will be inundated in the spring. Once awash the eggs will begin to develop and the larval stages will terrorize the shallow ponds and lake edges until late summer when they will emerge and terrorize the flying insects.

Those eggs mistakenly laid in the grass that may be your lawn will likely never develop. No one is perfect and least of all the meadowhawk dragonflies, but what they lack in foresight about those areas likely to flood they make up for in sheer numbers of eggs laid. Some of them will end up underwater and the species will survive.

Flickr photo “Dragonfly” by Chris Coomber. Original.

In the case of the meadowhawk dragonflies they survive the winter as eggs or larvae, but what about the Compton’s tortoiseshell or Mourning cloak butterflies? How do they survive the cold? They over-winter as adults and without an approach to overcome the cold they would freeze and die. For many insects the strategy is freeze avoidance.

There are three elements to freeze avoidance. First, the insect produces an anti-freeze which circulates in the blood. These special proteins bind with any ice crystals that may form keeping them small and preventing them from doing damage.

Second, they produce sugars and sugar based alcohols which act to lower the freezing point of any water in the body. These typically take the form of glycerols that by mid-winter may constitute 20 to 25% of the insect’s total body weight.

Flickr photo “Chionea species” by C Wood. Original.

The final part of a freeze avoidance strategy involves finding a dry location. Staying away from water and the resulting ice is imperative. Ice can act as a nucleator for the development of further ice crystals. The butterflies must find secure dry locations, other insects might construct waterproof cocoons or some other personal protection, but the butterflies lack this ability. This perhaps explains why I find so many of them in my garage.

John Latimer is well known throughout northern Minnesota for his phenology work. He appears weekly on KAXE radio in Grand Rapids, and audio and twitter archives are available here. His work is a frequent feature on MyMinnesotaWoods.  This article also appeared in the Duluth Senior Reporter.  It is printed with the author’s permission.

Related posts:

1. Northern Minnesota phenology report: June 2009
2. Northern Minnesota phenology report: July 2009
3. Northern Minnesota phenology report: May 2009

Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability

Dec. 1-2, University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center, St. Paul campus

Hosted by University of Minnesota Extension and the University of Minnesota Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment. Cost is $50 per day, $85 for both days.
Program schedule and registration.

This two-day conference will bring together national and local players from Minnesota’s bioeconomy to explore renewable energy opportunities. Agricultural producers, landowners, community and business leaders, and citizens interested in economic development and biorenewables are encouraged to attend and identify ways they can participate in solutions to the global climate change and energy supply issues facing Minnesota.

On December 1, you’ll be part of a virtual conference hosted by 12 Midwest universities. You’ll get a big picture overview of the issues through broadcast viewing and a live panel discussion. Speakers include: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu, Renowned biochar and climate change expert Dr. James E. Lovelock.

December 2 is all about Minnesota. We’ll focus on local success stories, getting your questions answered, and giving you information you can put to use right away.

Learn more about the conference, including agenda and registration, here.

Related posts:

1. Conference: Living in the Avon Hills, Jan. 24
2. Fueling the Future: Presentations from the Role of Woody Biomass for Energy Workshop
3. Forest Values and Carbon Markets: Opportunities for Minnesota

Out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day,
I paused and said, ‘I will turn back from here.
No, I will go on farther – and we shall see.’
The hard snow held me, save where now and then
One foot went through. The view was all in lines
Straight up and down of tall slim trees
Too much alike to mark or name a place by
So as to say for certain I was here
Or somewhere else: I was just far from home.
A small bird flew before me. He was careful
To put a tree between us when he lighted,
And say no word to tell me who he was
Who was so foolish as to think what he thought.
He thought that I was after him for a feather -
The white one in his tail; like one who takes
Everything said as personal to himself.
One flight out sideways would have undeceived him.
And then there was a pile of wood for which
I forgot him and let his little fear
Carry him off the way I might have gone,
Without so much as wishing him good-night.
He went behind it to make his last stand.
It was a cord of maple, cut and split
And piled – and measured, four by four by eight.
And not another like it could I see.
No runner tracks in this year’s snow looped near it.
And it was older sure than this year’s cutting,
Or even last year’s or the year’s before.
The wood was gray and the bark warping off it
And the pile somewhat sunken. Clematis
Had wound strings round and round it like a bundle.
What held it though on one side was a tree
Still growing, and on one a stake and prop,
These latter about to fall. I thought that only
Someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks
Could so forget his handiwork on which
He spent himself, the labor of his ax,
And leave it there far from a useful fireplace
To warm the frozen swamp as best it could
With the slow smokeless burning of decay.

-Robert Frost

Related posts:

1. Poem of the Month: Fireflies
2. Poem of the month: Winter Haiku
3. Poem of the month: Before you thought of Spring