Unknown shelter belt trees

Prairie Orca

I have made a few attempts to identify what species these trees are, but with no luck.

I live in Manitoba (Canada), plant hardiness zone 2b.







They do not fare well in 100km/h+ winds:





Took about 14 utility trailer loads to clean up the mess from these trees after a major storm on August 18. Yes that branch is still stuck in the tree. We tried knocking it down with a branch the same size, but it has a limb on each side of another tree's branch, so we're just leaving it for now.

Thanks for reading!

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Brent Ferris

The trees look like willow, maybe Black willow or White Willow (Salix sp). If the leaves are green on top, and pubescent and white below, white willow is likely.
The trees generally grow to around 75 ft tall, and can live to around 80 years. The wood can be brittle, and snaps readily in storms. But it also regrows at an amazingly rapid rate if the root system is intact. Within 5 to 10 years, a casual glance would wonder if a storm came thru.
I would get an arborist in to remove the hazardous branches/limbs safely.

If you have any of the trunk wood left, it can be easily worked and is reasonably springy - so good for chairs, benches - but not as structural material. If you want to burn it, I am told it burns fast, but hot.

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Prairie Orca

The underneath of the leaves are white, so it sounds like white willow!

Thank you very much.

Jeffrey Lovstrom

We call them River willow.
Jeff

Jamie Myers

Salix fragilis