Toasted forest

[ChezCheese:)]

The past several days we have been camping around Washington's Olympic Peninsula. We did not take our bikes, but I wanted to share with you all how the heat/drought/climate change has affected the forest. The more open the forest is, the more devastating the effect. The photos below were taken along the Cape Alava trail from Lake Ozette to the coast.

 

[fooferdoggie]

the weekend before last was really bad for plants.

 

[Catalyzt]

Very sad, they look like Christmas trees in mid-January.

One thing that that's occurred to me is that e-bikers are in an ideal position for fire-spotting. It's very dry here in So Cal, too, and on some days, if a fire started in a remote part of Griffith Park, e-bikers or bikers might be the first to see it.

Just another reason why I always carry a phone, even though I kinda hate the things.

 

[Dallant]

The past several days we have been camping around Washington's Olympic Peninsula. We did not take our bikes, but I wanted to share with you all how the heat/drought/climate change has affected the forest. The more open the forest is, the more devastating the effect. The photos below were taken along the Cape Alava trail from Lake Ozette to the coast. View attachment 92358View attachment 92359

And the Olympic Peninsula is usually one of the wetter regions in the PNW. Very sad.

 

[DaveMatthews]

And the Olympic Peninsula is usually one of the wetter regions in the PNW. Very sad.

Yup. Not good at all. B.C. is burning with around 200 fires.

 

[BlackHand]

We were camping near Rialto Beach -about 20 mi south of where @ChezCheese:) is talking about- during the peak of the heatwave last week.

Every time the slightest breeze came up the mature trees we were under dropped so many needles it sounded like a rain shower at ground level. Most of the needles were still green too and the humidity was over 90% so it sure seemed like just a stress reaction to the heat.

 

[Cramer Long]

Climate change ?? Try frost . Otherwise why are the ferns in your pictures Green Green ? And is the first to get water . Because it's branches and roots are closer to the Top . The grasses unattended looks like that along the beaches . Those are dead shoots from previous season . Granted the heat doesn't help . But these trees died from killing frost . Otherwise the larger trees as well as the ferns would be just as Dead.
I worked on Tree farms while paying my way thru college many moons ago. We had sections that looked like this that were irrigated.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Climate change ?? Try frost . Otherwise why are the ferns in your pictures Green Green ? And is the first to get water . Because it's branches and roots are closer to the Top . The grasses unattended looks like that along the beaches . Those are dead shoots from previous season . Granted the heat doesn't help . But these trees died from killing frost . Otherwise the larger trees as well as the ferns would be just as Dead.
I worked on Tree farms while paying my way thru college many moons ago. We had sections that looked like this that were irrigated.

No thats a argument if you don't understand plants. we don't have that kind of cold here.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Fooferdoggie is correct. We don't have frosts like that here, especially not on the coast. Everything in those photos should be green. Pretty much every plant and tree we saw was browning or even white. We also saw a strange phenomenon where a smallish evergreen tree (Western hemlock) would be keeled over and its needles were a weird blue green. Like really blue. Saw that in a few ferns as well. Tree experts have told me that the Western hemlock species is not going to survive climate change, because they cannot handle drought. Shame, as it is one of my most favorite trees and the official state tree.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

About the only plant we saw that seemed to be unaffected by the heat and drought was bunchberry, a low growing flowering plant. If you need a tough native plant for Pac NW shade conditions, plant bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/bunchberry

 

[fooferdoggie]

they are hardy down to -10 degrees. thats so cold here. we seldom make it to 0

 

[tomjasz]

No thats a argument if you don't understand plants. we don't have that kind of cold here.

Apparently the book of convenient interpretations doesn’t have a chapter on basic arboriculture.

 

[tomjasz]

the weekend before last was really bad for plants.

Terrifying. Look to be PWP. Permanent Wilting Point.

 

[john peck]

The past several days we have been camping around Washington's Olympic Peninsula. We did not take our bikes, but I wanted to share with you all how the heat/drought/climate change has affected the forest. The more open the forest is, the more devastating the effect. The photos below were taken along the Cape Alava trail from Lake Ozette to the coast. View attachment 92358View attachment 92359

I camped north of Lake Quinalt where a reforested area was planted so densely inches apart, the
trees are just dry sticks 12´ tall. I´m so glad there have not been fires reported from that area. If it were to catch,
the whole olympic peninsula could go. I hate fireworks!!! Some idiot kid accidentally torched miles
of the Historic Columbia River Trail near Cascade Locks a couple years back. It´s still being cleaned up
& cost millions.

 

[rawlus]

I can’t tell from the photos the cause of the die off, could be a combination of many factors.
harvesting forests in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing if done with re-cultivation in mind.
trees can be a renewable resource if managed effectively but i have an unscientific fear our population and appetite for consumption has surpassed the earths ability to sustain us all.

there’s a lot of carbon footprint, environmental nastiness and rape of the planet that goes into making ebikes so we shouldn’t be so sanctimonious in here. we are of course part of a massive, global problem.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Nobody is being sanctimonious. It's not about blame. It's way past blame time. It's watching what seemed to be moving at a glacier's pace pick up speed and become a tsunami of disasters. All of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth coming to fruition at once. (I apologize for the atrocious metaphors...)

Where these particular photos were taken is in fact a national park and hasn't been logged for a very long time.

 

[rawlus]

Nobody is being sanctimonious. It's not about blame. It's way past blame time. It's watching what seemed to be moving at a glacier's pace pick up speed and become a tsunami of disasters. All of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth coming to fruition at once. (I apologize for the atrocious metaphors...)

Where these particular photos were taken is in fact a national park and hasn't been logged for a very long time.

yeah i get it, i’m just saying that the e in ebike doesn’t exactly stand for environmentally conscious the way many might think it does…. most are made in china, tremendous shipping impact, batteries using heavy metals obtained via unsound mining practices, likely by slave or disadvantaged labor….electronic waste, many riders seem to have multiple ebikes… it’s like a blood diamond. nobody’s hands are clean on this so it’s weird to me to lament the forests as we continue to demand more and more tech in our lives. the two are somewhat diametrically opposed don’t you think?

 

[fooferdoggie]

yeah i get it, i’m just saying that the e in ebike doesn’t exactly stand for environmentally conscious the way many might think it does…. most are made in china, tremendous shipping impact, batteries using heavy metals obtained via unsound mining practices, likely by slave or disadvantaged labor….electronic waste, many riders seem to have multiple ebikes… it’s like a blood diamond. nobody’s hands are clean on this so it’s weird to me to lament the forests as we continue to demand more and more tech in our lives. the two are somewhat diametrically opposed don’t you think?

true but myself I) don't drive a car or even need mass transit much now so it does have an impact.

 

[PatriciaK]

yeah i get it, i’m just saying that the e in ebike doesn’t exactly stand for environmentally conscious the way many might think it does…. most are made in china, tremendous shipping impact, batteries using heavy metals obtained via unsound mining practices, likely by slave or disadvantaged labor….electronic waste, many riders seem to have multiple ebikes… it’s like a blood diamond. nobody’s hands are clean on this so it’s weird to me to lament the forests as we continue to demand more and more tech in our lives. the two are somewhat diametrically opposed don’t you think?

That is something to think about. Though a few of us use their bikes as alternatives to cars or transit, most of us have them for recreational/exercise purposes. It's true that battery production is not clean, and shipping uses fossil fuels, and waste is a huge issue. I don't think anyone likes to be reminded of their own part in contributing to climate change, but, to greater or lesser extent, we all do, which is why we're in this mess . Everything is a trade-off, and nobody's hands are clean. Which is also a big reason why we won't solve this problem.

 

[fooferdoggie]

there is only one solution to fix the problem it has to be profitable. its that simple greed is the only solution.