d_glackin's Journal

While looking for uses for this moss I came across this publication from a lab based out of the University of Victoria; this moss is known to grow in moist coniferous forests from low to subalpine elevations, it grows on forest floors by covering other species to become dominant over decomposing logs and rocks (Fretwell). It is used most often for decoration in store window displays and hanging baskets (Fretwell). It was quite short but there was more to find within the Alaska state publications.
The lanky moss is part of a collection of organisms called bryophytes which are very simple green plants that produce no flowers, have no true root system or complex vasculature, do not make seeds, and have no woody tissue (“Mosses and Liverworts of the National Forests in Alaska”). There are an estimated eight or nine thousand true moss species worldwide and approximately 620 of them can be found in Alaska (“Mosses and Liverworts of the National Forests in Alaska”). Mosses have been used for filling the gaps between logs of log cabin homes, lining cooking pits for steaming food and steam wood bending, for padding and bedding, floral arrangements, garden decorations, removing the exterior slime from fish, and some curative teas in China (“Mosses and Liverworts of the National Forests in Alaska”). It is also the dominant ground cover in lowland and montane forests (“Mosses and Liverworts of the National Forests in Alaska”).
I have watched plenty of survivor television shows such as Alone and Survivor and I can say that I have seen them use moss many times to act as a ground cover for their initial bedding. Having that material offer a gap between the dirt and your body is good insulation to help keep you from freezing overnight. The modern air bed mattresses are much more comfortable for me though when camping. The most interesting thing I read about though is that they don’t produce seeds or flowers at all, it does make a bit of sense as I have never seen flowers on them in all my time in Alaska. That this one grows along the ground like peat moss makes me think that it too could hide holes that someone might accidentally step in and be gone without leaving behind any trace.

Works Cited

Fretwell, Kelly. “Lanky Moss • Rhytidiadelphus Loreus.” Edited by Brian Starzomski, Biodiversity of the Central Coast, The Starzomski Lab: Research and Teaching, 2013, www.centralcoastbiodiversity.org/lanky-moss-bull-rhytidiadelphus-loreus.html. Accessed 05 Apr. 2024.

“Mosses and Liverworts of the National Forests in Alaska.” United States Department of Agriculture, Tongass National Forest Botany and Ecology Program, Chugach National Forest, Forest Service Alaska Region, Sept. 2008, www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_069239.pdf. Accessed 05 Apr. 2024.

"Uqpik" is the Inupiat name for the Feltleaf Willow which is another common name for the Alaska Willow (Siddiqi). The willow is a supple and durable wood that has been used for thousands of years by Indigenous Peoples for providing food, tools, shelter, and medicines (Siddiqi). Willow is a natural source of salicylic acid, which has been synthesized for medicines such as aspirin (Siddiqi). There are upwards of fifty distinct species of willow in Alaska, and they are notoriously hard to differentiate between, willow is also known to grow back quickly and ferociously when trimmed (Siddiqi). It is known to biologists that willows comprise between 50 and 80 percent of a moose’s diet, not just any single willow and for various parts of the willow in various times of the year (Siddiqi). Their diet varies because willows can increase the amount of protein binding tannins in their body after they were gnawed on, which makes that specific tree near indigestible for herbivores that might want to take a bite (Siddiqi).
The website I gathered the above information from also lists a few common willow varieties specifically and how to identify them, right now it is not clear to me that I have the right one. There are far more types of willow in Alaska than I could have imagined there would be. I will have to go back and revisit this identification to be more accurate when the leaves and buds are more prominent.
I did not know that moose eat that amount of willow in their diet or that the tree could defend itself against foraging by producing more tannins. I did know about the natural aspirin of the inner bark layer due to various nature and survival series that I have watched on television.

Works Cited

Siddiqi, Sanaa. “Willows and Moose.” Alaska Fish & Wildlife News, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, May 2022, www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=1037. Accessed 12 Apr. 2024.

Western Hemlock is known to be one of the most shade-tolerant tree species and is often overlooked when growing near Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, or Western Redcedar (Van Pelt). It has been recorded as tall as seventy-eight meters (255.9ft) and having a 209 cm (6.8ft) diameter and though the trees do not represent much of the volume in an old-growth forest it does represent a substantial portion of the foliage which impacts the understory light exposure (Van Pelt). It can persist in dark forest understories for decades, without gaining much height due to the lack of sunlight, these suppressed trees often develop into umbrella shapes for capturing more light (Van Pelt). They do not prune themselves as often as Douglas Fir and their bark appearance belies their age even after several centuries of growth, but you can estimate that the tree is over 150 years old if it has large branches that exceed 10 cm in diameter (Van Pelt). The tree does not produce decay-resistant extractives in its heartwood and will usually die before reaching three hundred years of age in elevations less than 1,000ft because of fungal infections (Van Pelt).
The Western Hemlock is an important timber tree because it is used for making treated lumber which has the highest water and insect damage rating in construction (Bressette). This tree is also a principal source of paper products and cellulose fiber used to make other products. Deer and Elk have been known to eat the foliage and twigs (Bressette). Indigenous Peoples have used young trees and saplings to make poles and fish traps and the bark was used to make brown dye for painting and as a tanning agent for hides (Bressette).
I did not know that Western Hemlock could get so large or that they do not tend to survive long in lower elevations. I did notice when I was getting the lumber for building my above-ground home heating fuel tank shed that they do list the type of tree that the treated lumber came from, but I never really thought that would have influence if it was treated lumber. I also just noticed as I type this last sentence, that both of my sources chose titles for their works that are almost the same.

Works Cited

Van Pelt, Robert. “Western Hemlock (Tsuga Heterophylla).” Identifying Mature and Old Forests in Western Washington, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, 2005, www.dnr.wa.gov/publications/lm_hcp_west_oldgrowth_guide_wh_hires.pdf. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Bressette, Dana Kelley. “Western Hemlock, Tsuga Heterophylla.” Native Plants PNW: An Encyclopedia of the Cultural and Natural History of Northwest Native Plants, 3 Feb. 2014, nativeplantspnw.com/western-hemlock-tsuga-heterophylla/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Invasive species are a threat to blueberries and bird vetch is an invasive one that can invade undisturbed areas that most other invasive species do not (Rader). Do not use a rake of any kind to harvest the blueberries, it may be swifter, but you invariably damage the plant and can reduce the harvest of next year as the berry buds can start forming as early as late June for the Vaccinium uliginosum L. (Rader). Bees help improve pollination and fruit production from blueberry bushes (Rader). If you plan to have your own blueberry bush, then you should prune up to half the plant after the leaves dropped from a frost (Rader).

I have an unrelated plant known as Rhubarb which I learned that should not be harvested for more than a third of the plant as what we eat are the aboveground stalks. Which is a fair amount of the plants mass and what it takes back for nutrient survival at the end of the season. I see that Rader stated pruning the plant improves production but as it is a berry bush and we eat the fruit from it rather than its woody branches, I can imagine that removing the branches allows the bush to spend less energy producing fruit the next year. It may have more clustered buds for harvesting the blueberries from that fact alone. Of course, it is general knowledge that blueberries are used for everything from pies to jams. I have even added them to oatmeal for a change of flavor.

Work Cited
Rader, Heidi. “Blueberries-Wild and Citified.” It Grows in Alaska: In the Alaska Garden with Heidi Rader, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 16 Apr. 2020, itgrowsinalaska.community.uaf.edu/2020/04/16/blueberries-wild-and-citified/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.