Episode Information

Avalanches tend to follow historic channels down the face of a mountain, sweeping with them standing trees and boulders, while adjacent slopes remain clad in evergreens. Such natural snow courses are known as avalanche chutes. Soil often remains, creating a new opening for pioneering vegetation. A new zone of habitat takes form, habitat favored by diverse wildlife. In the West, the shrubby cover of avalanche chutes attracts nesting Fox Sparrows and provides ideal habitat for MacGillivray’s Warblers. Look along mountainsides for the elongated, vertical stripes that announce an avalanche chute.