Toasted forest

[tomjasz]

My view.

“
Urban forests mitigate the effects of urban heat island through evapotranspiration and the shading of streets and buildings. This improves human comfort, reduces the risk of heat strokeand decreases costs to cool buildings.[2] Urban forests improve air quality by absorbing pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, and particulate matter as well as performing carbon sequestration.[3] Urban forestry can be an important tool for stormwater management as trees intercept rainwater in the canopy, and can slow down, filter and pump water back into the atmosphere via their roots.[4][5]Other benefits include noise control, traffic control, and glare and reflection control.[6]

Mental health impactsEdit​

Forests that have been included in urban environments have shown beneficial effects for the residents who live there. Urban forestry has been shown to promote psychological healing, stress recovery, and to improve concentration and productivity.[7]

A 2018 study asked low income residents of Philadelphia "how often they felt nervous, hopeless, restless, depressed and worthless."[8] As an experimental mental health intervention, trash was removed from vacant lots. Some of the vacant lots were "greened", with plantings of trees, grass, and small fences. Residents near the "greened" lots who had incomes below the poverty line reported a decrease in feelings of depression of 68%, while residents with incomes above the poverty line reported a decrease of 41%. Removing trash from vacant lots without installing landscaping did not have an observable mental health impact.[8]

Urban forests and green spaces have been associated with milder ADHD symptoms.[9] Children with ADHD struggle with directed attention - a type of attention that is a part of the theory of attention restoration. Directed attention entails “periods of deliberate focus” and requires breaks to continue productivity.[10]

 

[Art Deco]

"disingenuous information" meaning complaints about trees making dirty cars come from our "completely unbiased" builders of apartments.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

My mother came to visit me out in the country. Later, when she got home, she sent me an email saying that my land had dirtied the undercarriage of her car.

 

[Art Deco]

My mother came to visit me out in the country. Later, when she got home, she sent me an email saying that my land had dirtied the undercarriage of her car.

Can't have a dirty undercarriage ...

 

[Cowlitz]

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.

I just saw this. We had extreme heat last year. Like is common in Las Vegas, but not in W. Warshington. After those super hot days--100 degrees plus, the south facing needles on conifers in areas with exposure turned red. This affected the Christmas tree crops big time. I saw the results. Ferns would have been below the direct sun. We'll find out how it affected the forests. It all depended on aspect and exposure.

I had Rhododendrons look like they had frost damage after one day of 100 degree temperature on the Oregon Coast. It happens.

The Christmas tree farms and forests in that area are not irrigated. I worked in forestry for 32 years.

On the hotter side of the mountains, where I now live, we had super hot weather. I think our high was 117. That is not normal.

 

[Cowlitz]

Also, we plant trees that come from seeds specifically gathered from a similar site. And, in Warshington, you may plant all Doug fir, but other trees like Western Hemlock, are going to seed in naturally. In planting jargon, these are called naturals and you don't need to plant a tree if the space has a natural in it. Western Red Cedar is a pain to get growing because it is like candy to deer and elk. It's got to be tubed to protect it and sometimes the critters rip the tube off to get at the seedling. Naturally seeded cedars don't seem to have that problem.

In lower westside elevations, it is impossible to keep Alder out of the plantation without using herbicides. Now we know that Alder is a nitrogen fixer and there is also a lucrative market for it, so it is left to grow.

The Swiss Needle Cast problems on the Warshington and Oregon coasts have kind of stopped the monoculture way of forestry.

 

[Art Deco]

Yeah 117 degrees is way beyond my heat tolerance. That could probably fry an egg.

 

[tomjasz]

Yeah 117 degrees is way beyond my heat tolerance. That could probably fry an egg.

I worked in Las Vegas outdoors for 20 years. 115F and drinking a couple of gallons of water but never having to urinate. You sweat it out. Very low humidity is far more tolerable than 90-100F with humidity over 50%.

 

[tomjasz]

That could probably fry an egg.

Worst mistake in LV was buying a black car. You could actually get close to a first-degree burn. Almost true!

 

[Art Deco]

Worst mistake in LV was buying a black car. You could actually get close to a first-degree burn. Almost true!

Yeah all my motor vehicles are black. Park one in an Atlanta parking lot and you've got a pretty good solar oven. Most of their landscape trees are crape murtles (spelling?) kept trimmed to about 5 foot tall, so no shade.
And it's humid enough that sweat doesn't really evaporate, it just drips.

 

[tomjasz]

Yeah all my motor vehicles are black. Park one in an Atlanta parking lot and you've got a pretty good solar oven. Most of their landscape trees are crape murtles (spelling?) kept trimmed to about 5 foot tall, so no shade.
And it's humid enough that sweat doesn't really evaporate, it just drips.

A dark grey RAV4 in Minnesnowta. I'd do black here. Except black is a PIA to keep looking decent in winter.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Yeah 117 degrees is way beyond my heat tolerance. That could probably fry an egg.

yep road in those temps it was harsh.

 

[fooferdoggie]

now this forrest will survive no matter what.

 

[Catalyzt]

Yeah 117 degrees is way beyond my heat tolerance. That could probably fry an egg.

117 is exactly the temperature that inspires some fear in Catalyzt. Must be like 13 MPH, the universal average e-Bike speed, or 43 MPH, the (generally) universal max downhill eBike speed.

At 112 or 113, I take some extra precautions, make sure I'm carrying a lot of water in my vehicle, but don't worry too much.

At 117, the air starts getting literally hard to breathe, at least for me. I start thinking, "What happens if I get a flat tire? If there's no shade, I could frickin' croak just waiting for AAA to show up. If I can avoid going outside, I avoid it.

117 seems alien, does not feel like planet earth. Okay, I lived in the northeast, but I never experienced 117 as a kid.

 

[Cowlitz]

117 is exactly the temperature that inspires some fear in Catalyzt. Must be like 13 MPH, the universal average e-Bike speed, or 43 MPH, the (generally) universal max downhill eBike speed.

At 112 or 113, I take some extra precautions, make sure I'm carrying a lot of water in my vehicle, but don't worry too much.

At 117, the air starts getting literally hard to breathe, at least for me. I start thinking, "What happens if I get a flat tire? If there's no shade, I could frickin' croak just waiting for AAA to show up. If I can avoid going outside, I avoid it.

117 seems alien, does not feel like planet earth. Okay, I lived in the northeast, but I never experienced 117 as a kid.

In the part of Warshington that I live in now, it is not uncommon to hit 100 or even 103 degrees for a few days. But 110 to 117 is out of our league. I am lucky to have AC in my house and I only went out to water the shrubberies and garden. It didn't even cool off enough at night to cool off the house like a normal year. In normal weather, we can go up into the mountains to escape the heat, but it was 90 degrees in the mountains and I wouldn't have AC.

It was scary and all we needed was a big fire. The fires came about a week later after a thunderstorm moved through. We had fires to the north, east, and west. I hitched up my trailer and spent a week over on the other side of Warshington on the edge of a friend's hayfield. It was a nice escape from the smoke.

 

[tomjasz]

It was scary and all we needed was a big fire. The fires came about a week later after a thunderstorm moved through. We had fires to the north, east, and west. I hitched up my trailer and spent a week over on the other side of Warshington on the edge of a friend's hayfield. It was a nice escape from the smoke.

In the early 80s, I drove a helicopter chase truck for Sawtooth Helitac. Forest fires are terrifying to me. In the 90s I learned we could actually have sustainable urban forests and leave all the chemicals behind.

Now shifting climate patterns are said to be setting up for perhaps the worst year of GLOBAL fires in recorded history. A fine mess indeed. It seems like so many Americans are just oblivious unless an event is actually in their backyard.

I created my own little "island". A POS property when purchased. A group of trees and native shrubs and 50K in upgrades and I have my little castle.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Good man Santo!! We think alike.
I definitely have the greenest property in the surrounding blocks and am often complimented by my neighbors. Funny thing is... they don't bother to plant anything themselves and continue to cut down trees.
Some I can understand for safety reasons... but then they are rarely replaced with something more appropriate and less threatening. . . smh. . .

 

[Cowlitz]

I used to go to fires on a fire crew when things got desperate. Fire wasn't my day job but if you worked in the field, you went on fires when needed. A friend and I now are relieved that we no longer do that. It's way crazier now, although we would be out for three weeks instead of two, and working super long shifts is frowned upon now.

The PUD (socialist power company) wants me to have them cut down a tree in the front yard. It's a very ugly tree. Spruce don't thrive in the desert. However, it is big enough to shade part of the house and that makes a big difference in AC use. The forester has the ugliest tree in the neighborhood. How fitting!

The trees in the back yard are struggling. Before I bought this place, it was a rental and the renters didn't water the backyard much. My next door neighbor's husband used to sneak over and turn on the water, I guess and this caused an encounter with the police.

 

[BlackHand]

The PUD (socialist power company) wants me to have them cut down a tree in the front yard. It's a very ugly tree.

When we moved into our house my wife called the PUD about the power line in front of our house that weaves between the branches and around the trunks of 5 doug firs.
The first call the PUD person said we didn't want the arborist to look at it because they might just cut all the trees down. The second call my wife was told we were just trying to use the PUD as a free tree trimming service. After the 3rd call when we spoke to a mgr about the first 2 calls an arborist showed up and was totally cool. Had a crew take out just a couple branches, adjust the tension in the line, and add sleeves where the line was rubbing 2 trunks.

 

[tomjasz]

Good man Santo!! We think alike.
I definitely have the greenest property in the surrounding blocks and am often complimented by my neighbors. Funny thing is... they don't bother to plant anything themselves and continue to cut down trees.
Some I can understand for safety reasons... but then they are rarely replaced with something more appropriate and less threatening. . . smh. . .

Our urban forests have been denuded by lazy homeowners and aided and abetted by clueless city councils. Mind boggling ignorance of healthy natural processes. Not unlike the hoards dumping tons of fertilizers and then bagging the lawn clippings and sending the weed killer a a significant level of fertilizer to landfills. Wonders never cease. Here they’re spending thousands to tree ash trees but treating trees that are doomed to fail prematurely because of poor pruning practice and poor structure.