By Star Childs

A good old-fashioned winter has come and gone here in the Icebox of Connecticut.

Asked to comment on how our local forest ecosystem fared in a winter like this, I would

simply have to say “quite well.” The forests throughout the state entered the dormancy

of winter with more than enough precipitation to fill the wooded wetlands and swamps

to overflowing. Thankfully, in our part of the state, the forest was spared much of the

potential windthrow and damage from Sandy’s Halloween hurricane gusts that injured

so many trees along the coastlines of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. The

harm to local trees tended to hit on the weaker pine trees and hemlocks, many of which

had hidden structural defects and invisible heart rot. The deciduous trees, for the most

part, had already dropped their leafy “sails” and were easily able to withstand the wind’s

buffeting blows.

Generally speaking, to enter winter with such an abundance of available soil moisture

ensures that spring leaf-out, seed germination, new growth and woodland wildlife will be

well supplied regardless of what weather may follow, provided temperatures drop down

into the freezing range and store that moisture in its solid state. And solid state it was.

Ponds, lakes and wooded wetland areas froze over early on, well before our forested

landscape became blanketed under Nemo’s deep, insulating layers of snow. The early

cold snaps and still-open ground allowed frost to penetrate deeper into the soil this past

winter providing an additional benefit to our forests and landscape trees.

Frozen soil surrounding a tree’s roots helps to anchor them upright in the ground. This

winter seemed to pack a number of extremely prolonged windy periods, but our trees,

frozen securely in the solidified soils of the Icebox, stood their ground.

While we may be only too glad to say goodbye to an old-fashioned snowy winter, we

should be happy that the deep wind chills we experienced succeeded in killing off

the eggs and larvae of noxious forest pests. Furthermore, a respectable snow pack

generates a slow, but oh so valuable release of adequate moisture to ensure a green

and successful burst of buds and fertile flowers throughout the forest canopy this spring!