the northern forests are a crossroads
for seasonal visitors and Arctic
specialists
but they are so much more than this
south of the treeline the winters are
shorter so trees grow faster and taller
and forests begin to appear
as the warm humid air from the south
meets the cold arctic air the moisture
it carries crystallizes and snowflakes
fall from the sky
each crystal forms around a particle of
dust
all have a six-fold symmetry but no two
have ever been found with exactly the
same shape
their variety and complexity is
breathtaking
each snowflake is water waiting to be
released in spring for this reason snow
is the lifeblood of these silent forests
and all that live here depend on it in
one way or another
some like the Great Grail appear in
spring for the boom times then vanish
like phantoms
you
