When walking through a grove, look for rows of small black holes made by red-napped sapsuckers searching for insects. Birds love quaking aspen groves and the rich understory of shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers. Bears, deer, elk, moose, snowshoe hares, porcupines, beavers, and other wildlife eat aspen leaves, twigs, and bark, especially in winter. The largest in the United States, a giant of 144 feet, is in the Kootenai National Forest near Troy, Montana.Īspen groves provide a lot of food for wildlife. Adult aspen reach 40 to 70 feet high but occasionally grow much taller. Quaking aspen can be easily recognized by their smooth, white bark, marked by dark scars where branches naturally self-prune. These trees form through root sprouts coming off an original parent tree. The aspen forms large stands of genetically-identical trees connected by a single underground root system. So when the leaves tremble, there is a pleasant all-around sound. While most leaves are attached to branches with round stems, quaking aspen have a flat stem that causes the leaf to tremble in the slightest breeze.Īnother plus is that aspen trees aren’t usually found by themselves but in groves. One of my favorite sounds in nature is the rustling of aspen leaves in the wind. With just the slightest breeze, its round leaves tremble almost incessantly, like thousands of fluttering butterfly wings. Quaking aspen is America’s liveliest tree. It ranges from Alaska to Appalachia and along the Rocky Mountains as far south as New Mexico. Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) grow in Boundary County and is the most widely-dispersed tree in North America. “Willows whiten, aspens quiver, little breezes dusk and shiver.” The aspen wood is used for matches, boxes and particle board. The aspen is short lived and often replaced by conifers.
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