Sugar maple trees need snow to grow. A new study from Boston University finds when snow is reduced, the trees grow more slowly and store less carbon in the soil. As climate change reduces the amount of deep snow in New England that spells trouble.
About 65 percent of northeastern sugar maples get a deep blanket of snow each winter, which protects their roots from freezing. For five years, BU biologist Pam Templar and her team removed the first weeks of winter snow from patches of New Hampshire forest.
The ground froze deeper and longer, damaging the trees.
“Many people in the northeastern United States rely on sugar maple for a living,” Templar said. “And if these forests aren’t growing as much it’s going to likely affect the livelihoods of the people who rely on this tree species.”
The study finds the amount of northeastern forest with snowpack could shrink from 33,000 square miles to just 2,000 — by the end of the century.
This report comes from the New England News Collaborative: Eight public media companies, including Rhode Island Public Radio, coming together to tell the story of a changing region, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
