Hey,
@wireme, I’ve noticed something about wind-influenced trees since our exchange about it three years ago. The trees take on a form opposite to the effect that I guessed was being expressed by your tree. I’ve noticed this on our local mountains, especially while riding up chairlifts, when I have time to study the trees. On the trees along the edge of the run, which are less protected than those deeper in the forest, I notice consistently that the branches, both upwind and downwind to the prevailing winds, are aligned with the slope of the mountain (so uphill branches angle up, downhill branches angle down). The winds on these slopes typically blow up slope and, rather than the downhill branches being pushed up by the wind, they align with what would be the wind streamlines, if you could visualize them. When I thought about it, it started to make sense. It’s not that the wind is bending the branches until they set in a new position. Rather, as a branch grows, I think that shoots that are aligned with the wind grow stronger than those that aren’t. They probably get less desiccated and have less micro-damage to their vascular structure as it’s forming. I think the same thing is probably happening in the uphill/downwind branches, more so than a weather vane effect on the branch itself. Anyway, whether I have the correct physiologic explanation, or not, that’s my observation - at least on spruce and firs! Food for thought.
. Here are a few ideas, although I like what you’re doing and the fact that your’re influenced by your own experiences. The first is my fave. The other 3 just ideas.
