Shuyak Trees

 

Shuyak has the oldest spruce trees on the archipelago or it should.  This is where the trees first colonized the island less than a 1000 years ago. Back in the 1990s on the south end of Afognak I was part of a team that cored the trees there and created a tree ring chronology for the area.  I seem to recall that the oldest tree we found there was from like AD 1604.  But there should be older ones on Shuyak Island.

I remember when we were coring the trees that the guy in charge mentioned that the oldest trees are not in the places with the best growing conditions.  Those trees grow old fast and fall over and rot. The oldest trees are in places where they barely hang on and grown slowly.  It would not surprise me if some of the oldest trees on Shuyak are the stunted Krummholz trees that grow behind the tops of the cliffs that face the sea and wind.

One thing I noticed about the forest on Shuyak is that there is not a lot of devilsclub and salmonberry underfoot.  The forests look surprisingly wide open underneath.  It is like a moss carpet.  This is NOT true of the forests on Afognak further to the south where I hunt elk every year.  On this recent Shuyak trip, I do not remember getting stuck in any alder 'jungles'.

Patrick

Giant kelp - a sea 'tree'