Foliage Outlook Clouded by Storms

The devastating ice storms that swept across New England this month are causing some to worry about next fall’s foliage season. Although many trees have been damaged and some will die--to the detriment of local timber and maple-sugar industries--the effect on foliage is not clear. The colors this year may even be brighter than normal, some suggest.

In northwest Vermont, “a lot of trees have fallen,” but younger trees are expected to fill in, and by summer, the average visitor shouldn’t be able to detect any difference from other years, said Diane Konrady, spokeswoman for the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing.

In northern New Hampshire, about half the yellow and white birch trees, whose leaves turn bright yellow, have been damaged, and “it will probably affect the leaf peepers,” said Bob MacGregor, regional forester with the state’s Division of Forests and Lands in Lancaster. But trees at lower elevations have been generally unaffected, he added, and these include the most colorful species: sugar and red maples, white ash, beech.

In Maine, state forester Chuck Gadzik even saw a silver lining to the storm. “Stressed trees can produce the most spectacular color,” he explained. He said about half of the state’s 17 million acres of forest have been affected but that few trees have died.