mycology, fire ecology & beetles... oh my!

This past weekend, the current grads spent three days naturalizing in the north cascades while trying to come to terms with what naturalizing really is. Some people describe it as poking around, others explain it as the art of understanding our surroundings both culturally and physically. Others believe it is a dying art or science, depending on your perspective. Someone once told me that if you know somethings name, you are more likely to be tied to it. I believe that naturalizing is teaching someone a name, so that they can be more connected with the natural world around them and ultimately creating a desire in them to preserve or restore that world.

On Thursday, we explored the world of mushrooms. Pictures from that day can be viewed from one of my posts from last week. On Friday we drove to the Methow and explored the Chewuch River valley where the Tripod fire of 2006. The Tripod fire burned over 175,000 acres in the Methow valley up to the Canadian border. It was one of the most destructive fires in the area in decades. I found the below picture taken from a local of the plume they saw one day during the fire:



Part of the reason they attributed to the fire being so fierce and having so much fuel was the impact of various beetle tree deaths. There is the mountain pine beetle, white bark pine beetle and many more that have devastated the area, as well as many more around the country. To further the issue, scientists believe that with warmer winters due to climate change, the beetles are not meeting their annual death rate of 70% of the total population and larger populations of larvae are surviving through the winter. We spent most of Saturday learning about the Mountain Pine Beetle, and its current impact on stands within the North Cascades. So... to summarize - Climate change = more beetles = more dead trees = more fuel = hotter fires = larger fires = imbalance in the ecosystem.

Here are some shots from Friday:

Katie teaching us about fire scars. This Ponderosa was near the valley floor, at the beginning of the fires edge

Freezeout pass looking toward Tiffany mountain. What once was a beautiful white & lodge pole pine forest is now filled with burned trees

All you can see from the ridge are more dead and burned trees

Signs of life

We encountered some cows meandering on the way back to camp


Nick.