
Tropical Fossils in Alaska | Geophysical Institute
Feb 26, 2026 · Paleobotanist Jack A. Wolfe of the United States Geological Survey at Menlo Park, California, has found a number of tropical rain forest fossils along the eastern Gulf of Alaska. These …
Cottonwood and Balsam Poplar | Geophysical Institute
Feb 26, 2026 · The Klukwan giant belies the belief that trees tend to get smaller the farther north one goes. Both balsam poplar and cottonwood have value for fuel wood, pulp and lumber.
Northern Tree Habitats | Geophysical Institute
Feb 26, 2026 · Why take a chance with exotics, when native trees have proven their ability to survive? Several reasons prompt testing of foreign tree species. Human activities often create and maintain …
Trees for a Cold Climate - Geophysical Institute
Feb 26, 2026 · The hardiest trees rely on physics more than on chemistry to make it through the winter. When the seasonal chill begins to reach black or white spruce, for example, the sap leaves their …
The Turkey and the Tambalacoque Tree - Geophysical Institute
Nov 14, 1990 · The elderly trees still produced seeds, but none of the seeds gerrninated, even when carefully tended under ideal nursery conditions. It was tempting to think the old trees were incapable …
More on Why Tree Trunks Spiral | Geophysical Institute
Feb 26, 2026 · Granted, not all trees exhibit the same twist, but the majority of them do. The phenomenon can be likened to the claim that water will always spiral out of a drain in a counter …
Bark beetles take Connecticut-size bite out of Alaska
Feb 26, 2004 · The result was an area the size of Connecticut in which spruce trees died en masse, giving the forest ecosystem a makeover from which it won’t soon recover. Now, most of the beetles …
The Kodiak Treeline | Geophysical Institute
Feb 26, 2026 · Spruce trees planted on the islands by the Russians in 1805 are doing just fine and reseeding themselves naturally, although the total tree population hardly amounts to a forest.
The secret life of red squirrels | Geophysical Institute
Nov 27, 2024 · Stan Boutin has climbed more than 5,000 spruce trees in the last 30 years. He has often returned to the forest floor knowing if a ball of twigs and moss within the tree contained newborn red …
Burls - Geophysical Institute
Feb 12, 2026 · Burls weaken trees but do not kill them. The weakening effect, however, makes the trees vulnerable to other diseases which can kill them. Relatively little is known about burls, for several …