What’s with all the fluffy Yellowknife trees right now?

If the white, cotton-like fluff floating in the wind around Yellowknife seems to be everywhere lately, you’re not alone in thinking that.

The fluff tends to accumulate in spider webs, in other trees or in swaths on the edge of trails.

Multiple residents have told Cabin Radio this year, the fluff is particularly abundant.

You may have accidentally ingested some of it while enjoying a bike ride around Frame Lake, or because it landed in the beverage you were sipping on a patio in Old Town.

This fluff comes from willow trees, of which there are at least 16 to 20 species in Yellowknife and at least 44 kinds across the NWT, according to biologist Dr Suzanne Carrière.

The feather-like fluff is a mechanism for propagation that allows the tiny seeds to travel great distances and plant themselves in new areas.

Carrière says she has read studies from the United States in which, two kilometres away from the willow tree of origin, researchers still found 10 seeds per square metre. Carrière suspects that with the right wind, the seeds can travel much farther.

The NWT has a surprising number of these trees and shrubs for a northern climate like ours. According to Carrière, this is because the territory has become a bit of a melting pot for tree species.

We’re located near what’s called Beringia – a section of land that was unglaciated during the last ice age and where trees were able to survive and propagate.

The NWT has also become home to trees from farther south that survived the last glaciation.

“Out of the all the species that are in Yellowknife, five of them are Beringian and three of them are from down south,” said Carrière. The other eight species are boreal, meaning they can be found across North America.

Carrière says willows – and their cousins the poplars and aspens, in the same tree family – are important to ecosystems across the NWT because they don’t burn as quickly as pine or spruce trees during wildfires.

“If you have a big growth of aspen or poplar, it doesn’t stop a fire but it doesn’t make it worse,” said Carrière.

Willows are also known to be a pioneer species, meaning the hardy trees will be the firsts to set up shop in a new area.

“They will be the first shrub, the first woody vegetation to go anywhere and so them and the alders, they are good at preventing erosion,” said Carrière.

There could be any number of reasons why this year’s willow seed production seems more noticeable to some residents.

“It’s been noticed elsewhere in different years that sometimes all the willows in a city will produce seeds together,” said Carrière.

This can help with predation and ensure the survival of some seeds if many of them are being eaten.

Sometimes, trees will also produce seeds in response to stress caused by anything from drought to insect infestations to cool temperatures.

Carrière says it’s possible the seed and fluff production is related to the lack of rain across the NWT, but there is currently no evidence available to confirm this.