Caribou, Deer, Elk & Moose - Sounds Wild
Moose Vegetation Plots

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Moose vegetation plots

Late April, 2007, in Southeast Alaska, and the snow is seven feet deep along the Gilkey River north of Juneau. More than 20 feet of snow fell during the winter, and spring is coming, but it's coming slow. A helicopter delivered biologist Ryan Scott of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to this remote section of the Berners Bay watershed, and Scott is checking the habitat to see how moose fared over the winter. He's randomly sampling dozens of ten-meter-square plots of vegetation to see how moose browsed on the willow and alder during the winter.

Scott found a number of areas where moose had not touched available willow - because they simply could not get to it. Deep snow restricted moose to the riverbank, side channels and adjacent creek bottoms.

QUOTE: Moose are using the river corridor and adjacent streams and sloughs to travel. Tracks indicate little travel in the deep snow of the forest, most is right on the river. Browse moose can reach is hammered. Willow in the forest is untouched, snow is just too deep.

Scott found that it doesn't matter how much browse is available, if the snow is too deep then it doesn't do them any good.