> But the forests have turned dangerous - climate change and repeated draughts
> are responsible for that - you have to watch for those branches of dead,
> dying, decaying trees as you process along the trails. An officer of the
> National Forest commission recently told me our own forest WILL be unsafe to
> hike or stroll in within a few years just because of that. Pity the FoxNews
> bickerers won’t listen ...
That's usually the result of various bark beetles. We have another
infestation of Spruce Beetles here and just in the last three years
living here, the forests have dramatically changed. However,
historically, this has always occurred at various intervals. The pine
cone production this year is at an all time high (I've never seen as
many cones on trees as this year) as the forest responds to the beetle
attacks and we'll see a record number of seedlings this next year.
It's when combined with other forces (multi-year droughts, acidity,
lack of light due to canopy, fire suppression), the new seedlings
don't take and there may be a hundred year void until they finally
work their way back in.
Last year was EXTREMELY dry and hot here, and combined with the
beatles our spruce trees were decimated. I photograph the same spots a
lot and there is a big change in some of my pictures. The forest
around here is probably 5% spruce by tree population. The age of the
forest is pretty uniform as it is consistent with the occasional
wildfire. Last year's fires gutted hundreds of square miles of forest,
but in doing so, it eradicated a lot of pestilence and that forest
will grow back healthy. It's the areas where we try to prevent the
fires that end up being unhealthy and breeding grounds for nasty
things. Alaska is a huge state and we have major forest fires
somewhere every year. Nearly all are just left to do their own thing
and let winter take care of it. It's only when there are populated
areas being affected do we really get involved. Last year we had big
fires near Anchorage and we were getting very nervous ourselves, as
our house is right up against the forest with not much of a firebreak.
One fire affected a subdivision over the hill from us and the
helicopters were flying over our house to fill up from the river right
behind us. Three years ago, a wildfire took out a couple hundred acres
just on the other side of the river. Had it crossed the river, it
would have raced right up the hill.
It's sad to see the spruce trees dying all around us right now, but
it's just part of the cycle of life.
Is climate change causing this? Well, yes and no. Is it contributing
to the warmer summers? Yes. But that's not uniform. Last year's "heat
dome" that caused our problems was a localized high-pressure system
that planted itself right over the top of the Cook Inlet. While we
were hot and dry, two hundred miles away, it was the opposite
condition. This summer was actually pretty "normal". I had to run the
furnace almost every day, even in July, to make my downstairs home
office comfortable.
I've talked before about localized effects causing global change. The
Denver, Colorado area is one such location. Denver's increased
moisture and warmer microclimate has changed the downslope wind
patterns and this has an effect across a significant portion of the
northern US. This is just one example. There are plenty more.
Fortunately, people don't like concrete jungles and as cities age, the
tree canopy continues to grow.
AG Schnozz
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