https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/206890403
"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.
Comentarios
Hi Daniel,
That is such a cool find, where did you come across this specimen? I have been told that we do have Willow trees in Southeast Alaska, though I have never been able to find one in the Ketchikan area. I think that there may be some father north but have not seen any firsthand in this area. The only time that I have seen them in the wild is in the Anchorage area. Also, I had no idea that they made up so much of a moose’s’ diet—that is pretty cool! As humans, I bet we would get so bored of eating that much of one thing.
Elizabeth
Wow, "Uqpik" for the Feltleaf Willow—that's a new one for me! It’s pretty fascinating how the willow is like the Swiss Army knife for Indigenous Peoples, being used for just about everything. And who would have thought that what we pop as aspirin starts right there in the Alaskan wilderness, in willow bark?
It’s crazy to think there are that many willow species up there, fifty is no joke, and they're tough to tell apart? I would never have guessed. I might need a botany degree just to figure out which is which. And the moose diet thing? That's next-level nature trivia—trees fighting back with tannins is some real-life Plants vs. Zombies stuff.
Don’t worry about not nailing the identification right off the bat. With that many willows and their shape-shifting nature with the seasons, sounds like you need to catch them at just the right time. Keep at it, and who knows, you might become the willow whisperer of Alaska.
And hey, all those survival shows actually paid off, huh? Next time I'm in a pinch, I know who to call for the wilderness hacks! Keep me posted on your willow adventures!
Hi Elizabeth,
I live in Juneau near the Lemon Creek area, so this one was only a short walk away from my home. I have seen them in Haines as well, but I am not aware of their specific requirements for preferred growth. There is a Beach tree in my yard planted who knows how long ago, prior residents tried to trim it back but instead made the tree fight back more. Now that I have read that article in my initial post, it might be a willow because of its aggressive return from the trimming. As I have never paid enough attention to its flowering parts to know off-hand whether it is one or the other. I also think that would be a very boring diet.
Hi Riz,
It is amazing how industrious the Indigenous Peoples were, long before the industrial revolution or our modern era. Using every part of something so there is no waste is a wonderful way to live one’s life when there is no garbage dump. Garbage dumps are a weird thing from my perspective, as most things can be repurposed and still useful even when they can no longer do their original purpose. In that sense the Indigenous Peoples made much better progress and strides to live in harmony with the natural world than the current modern society.
Much of what I have learned is simply from experience, the longer you are alive the more information you soak up. Of course, it helps to have time spent learning from a university as well as practical field experience.
Agregar un comentario