Dreamin'

At the end of summer, after temperatures had been in the 90s in July, I couldn’t help but remember and dream of days of low temperatures and deep snow. Now a lot of people think that a winter with little snow and mild temperatures is a good winter, but they are wrong! wrong! wrong!

Why are they wrong? They’re wrong because many of our steams depend on spring snowmelt for their water supply,

 

Because our native brook trout depend on those streams' cold, clean water,

Because tree seedlings are protected from the browsing of overabundant deer by deep snow,

Because many plants’ seeds have an internal dormancy that is best broken by a long period of cold temperatures.

I also have selfish reasons for liking cold and snow: I’d rather clear snow than mow grass, 

I can follow the wanderings of wildlife by their tracks in the snow,

I can get warm more easily than I can cool off, and I’ve always enjoyed traveling on skis and snowshoes,

Yup, I like cold and snow –

And I’m not the only one –

But now the winters aren’t as cold and what snow there is doesn’t last as long and it’s likely to get worse – thanks to the changing climate.