tree identification

Can someone please help me ID this tree?
Very grey bark, wood is rich brown color (ie not light like ash) and there are cones and buds.

Could it be alder?

Alder, not larch.  The buds are breaking into leaves not needles, and the "cones" are catkins.  You may find old cones from last year as well, they tend to hang on to them so you get this year's and last year's at the same time.  The bark is also deeply fissured rather than flaky in layers like most conifers tend to have. Couldn't say the species.

Definitely looks like Alder to me. They have catkins like birch, but they present more like a hops flower.

Those are definitely catkins, which means it's either an alder or a birch. Birch usually (but not always) has smooth bark, so I'll go with alder as well.

Late response and all, but do you have an update pic?  The leafscars look like walnut to me, the 'catkins' look like early flowers from same. Would explain wood color, too.

The bark is what is throwing me for a loop.  The young branches look like Alnus incana (Gray Alder) but then when I see the older trunk, that throw that tree out of the mix. The gray and deep furrows with catkins. Hmmm...  

Can you describe to me the site?

There is a chance it's a hybrid. Alnus genus likes to hybridize.  

I disagree, I think that is a butternut tree

To be honest I'm thinking some type of willow. The trunk looks almost cottonwood, which would rule out alder or birch for me. Plus the calkins don't look like the small cones of alder. But I'm not overly familiar with Canadian trees. Alder cones generally come in bunches and look like this image below.

Most likely some sort of walnut. The cones are premature catkins, and the leaf scar is quite unique, pointing to walnuts.
http://www.treetopics.com/juglans_cinerea/butternut_9404crop1-320.png

http://www.bobklips.com/BOBS_WEBSITE/JUGLCINE-twig-czm-27Dec08-D.jpg

if there is a "mustache" on top of the leaf scar, then it points to Juglans cinerea , aka butternut.

-Janne