Most trees likely to recover from winter snow load

The early winter storm that knocked out power for more than 20,000 Minnesotans left a mark long after the power was brought back into service, in the form of trees bent over from the weight of stubborn ice and snow.

"The pine trees seemed to hold more than some of the deciduous trees, but it seemed like it wasn't too selective," said Jim Etzel, of Earth is Our Home Environmental Solutions in Hackensack. "Anything that held snow was on the ground. We went to a friend's place and shook trees to release them and pop them back up. If they got released, they jumped right back up."

Etzel has degrees in biology. He also worked for the forestry service for three years improving timber stands and has been working for 20 years in timber layout and forest succession improvement.

The first big snow storm of the season was a kind of perfect storm where a combination of sticky, wet tree branches and heavy snow caused hundreds of downed trees throughout the state, with many interrupting utilities.

Cold temperatures that followed ensured the snow loads did not quickly melt, keeping trees long under strain.

Travis Grimler / Echo Journal

While the initial storm caused havoc, trees — especially evergreen trees — remained weighed down with heavy snow long after the utilities were back online. Other than trees that broke under the strain or were intentionally cut down during recovery, most of the trees that remained under strain have a good chance of recovery.

Particularly flexible green wood found on branches and younger trees and shrubs put on the biggest show following the snowfall, with branches and small trees bending so much under strain that they often touched the ground.

However, that green wood is designed to do so by nature, and even survive it, so long as the living cambium was not severed. The cambium is a vital, living layer between the hard wood of a tree and the bark that transports nutrients throughout to the entire tree.

"They are pretty resilient that way," Etzel said. "If you think we got it bad here, in Buffalo, New York, they got 14-15 feet of the same type of snow. So if these recurring storms were that detrimental, their forests out there would be pretty decimated out there because they get it over and over again. Trees are fairly resilient, but the weaker ones are going to suffer."

It is possible that some trees suffered damage to the cambium, similar to past summer wind storms.

"Typically with storms, when they're moving back and forth, if it bends over and doesn't break that cambium layer the tree can survive," Etzel said. "If that cambium layer breaks away, which I saw years ago after the Wadena tornado, they didn't look like they were damaged at all but they all died. That wind was slapping the trees around and broke the internal part of the plant and they were dead everywhere. Could it happen with this storm? I don't know."

Travis Grimler / Echo Journal

However, the cambium is a fairly resilient, flexible layer that naturally resists many types of damage. In some cases even when the more rigid interior of some trees may be damaged, the tree may still survive so long as the cambium is still intact.

Trees are naturally resistant to survive many types of inclement weather, within limits. Though this storm and its aftermath may have been uncommon to the area, it is part of a natural process that has been eliminating weaker trees forever.

"It kind of weeds out some of the weaker plants, and the stronger ones will survive," Etzel said. "I was out walking around and in a lot of places you can already hardly tell anything happened. There are some still bent over or leaning a bit, but they're pretty resilient."

Many trees have finally had a chance to straighten out as time and temperatures have allowed them to drop their extra weight. However, those trees that remain bent as the weather warms up could possibly receive help from property owners that want to straighten them out.

Travis Grimler / Echo Journal

"Personally I try to straighten them up," Etzel said. "I'll take a garden hose and cut it into strips and run twine through it and put a stake down to help the tree get vertical again. I've had success with that in the past."

Some trees or shrubs may not spring back so well following the winter's chaotic storms. While some may simply be straightened out, there may be some, particularly varieties that are not perfectly matched to the local growth zone, that may need additional care or which might have sustained too much damage from the additional stress of the first winter storm.

Etzel said stressed trees might have the most trouble if the spring and summer aren't wet enough.

"When people are pushing the growing zones, I always tell them not to be upset if it dies," Etzel said. "If plants aren't acclimated to where they are, they might make 10 years, but then we might get a really drastic, hard, cold winter and it will kill them. Or winter is followed by a drought and they're gone."

There are some simple signs of tree and shrub health that can be used to identify trees that are at greater risk of illness or death.

"On sick trees the branches will start dying," Etzel said. "Or they can start losing bark."

Travis Grimler is a staff writer for the Pineandlakes Echo Journal weekly newspaper in Pequot Lakes/Pine River. He may be reached at 218-855-5853 or travis.grimler@pineandlakes.com.