White Alder

White Alder, also called California Alder, is most likely found in areas that are moist and open.  Before 1990 this alder species was rarely found north of Seatle among its Red Alder cousins.   A tree and a member of the Betulaceae Family, it grows by Kiosk 01 along with the Sitka and Slide Alders and the ubiquitous Red Alder.  Pilchuck Learning Center’s sponsored Western Washington State University SAM Project extinction possibility is slight.  Alder, like the pea, have nitrogen nodules on their roots and prepare the ground for successor species/crops.  With the warming climate over the past 30 years (0 on the coast, 1 degree at the Columbia River, 2 degrees at the Siskyous; ½ a degree at the Canadian border … 4 degrees at the Montana’s eastern border) the White Alder has been migrating north and a bit east.  Its fluffy cotton-like seeds float in the Jet Stream all the way to Labrodor and Nova Scotia.  Alders have no problem in migrating as long as the winds blow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnus_rhombifolia
https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=ALRH2
http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=Alnus+rhombifolia
https://www.plc215.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Kiosk-01.pdf

The climate in the Northwest, Cascadia compared to 30 years ago is:

drier & wetter
warmer & wetter
colder & wetter

Comments, content, questions appreciated; email bb@plc215.org

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