Fervor for fall foliage boosts Aroostook County coffers

By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
    AROOSTOOK COUNTY — Mother Nature plays her part in creating the pristine snowmobile trails that help bring nationwide attention to The County, but tourist dollars generated from snowmobilers are the result of countless hours of labor contributed by dedicated year-round volunteers coupled with some hefty machinery and that quintessential Aroostook County know-how.
    A seasonal diva in her own right, Mother Nature seems to kick it into overdrive during autumn when the only effort it takes is a little marketing to draw a crowd to northern Maine with a fervor for fall foliage.
    “The fall foliage begins in Aroostook sooner than anywhere in New England,” said Tourism Coordinator at the Northern Maine Development Commission Leslie Jackson. “For many, fall is their favorite time of year and people are anxious to get their first look at the scenes. In addition, many ‘empty nesters’ and retired people who travel south for the winter like to view the foliage before they leave,” she added. Even by Aroostook County standards, the color-changing process is starting early this year.
    Leaves started turning vibrant hues in early August and according to Aroostook County Forester Dave Rochester with the Maine Forest Service, summer conditions have been favorable for a bright and colorful fall (pending a drastic shift in weather).
    “Things are looking good,” Rochester said, “Last fall wasn’t very vibrant because there were lots of clouds, lots of rain and not a lot of sunshine,” he explained. “Certain conditions favor maximum leaf coloration, like a good summer rainfall, a good bright sun for adequate sugar accumulation and then bright, cool sunny weather going toward fall without a frost.”
     Rochester also pointed out that all the pigments that create the autumn hues are present in the leaves all season long, “but you don’t see that because chlorophyll is green and that’s the dominant color of the leaves.”
    While the change in foliage has started early, vibrant colors only dot The County as of yet.
     According to Joan Connolly of the Salmon Brook Valley, which grows and produces county-made maple syrup, “everything is still green out here in Perham.”
    Fall turns golden when plants and trees stop producing chlorophyll; the balance of a leaf’s other pigments determines what color they’ll wear for fall — according to Rochester, xanthophyll makes the leaves yellow, carotene makes the leaves orange, and, depending on the level, anthocyanins can make the leaf either red or a rich, dark purple. Non-evergreen softwoods generally turn brown or gold.
    Tamaracks, like the ones found in the swamps and wetlands around the former Loring Air Force Base, are generally the last trees that will show their seasonal hues, but the broadleaf colors tend to be what leaf-peepers look forward to.
    Not that all trees are color-coded, but foresters can usually identify a tree by looking at its hue: red maples and oaks tend to turn bright red or scarlet, yellow leaves are characteristic of ash, beach, birch, box elder and poplar trees while the almost fluorescent-orange is typically the signature shade of a sugar maple.
    Leaf color isn’t exclusively indicative of tree species and to help educate the public on the subject, the Maine Forest Service will be hosting a color and tree identification tour on Sunday, Sept. 19 at the Aroostook State Park in Presque Isle.
    Tourists and natives alike can agree that there’s nothing like a New England fall, and Maine has one of the highest percentages of tree cover in the States; 89 percent in 2008.