That's always an interesting topic... where I went today. Well, to be honest I went there yesterday...then I stayed there. But I did get back from the place today.
If storm clouds hadn't rolled in last night around nightfall, I would have seen the sun set over the Mission mountains to the West. If I'd woken up early enough, and those same storm clouds hadn't been there this morning, I would have seen the sun rise over the Swan range to the East.
If storm clouds hadn't rolled in last night around nightfall, I would have seen the sun set over the Mission mountains to the West. If I'd woken up early enough, and those same storm clouds hadn't been there this morning, I would have seen the sun rise over the Swan range to the East.
I guess you've probably figured out I spent last night in the Swan Valley. It sure is gorgeous up there. It's always great to get out of Missoula where I'm always afraid of getting run over on my bike and killed. Out in the Swan all you need to worry about is weather and bears and I guess moose, though they'll usually smell you coming and get on outta there.
I was tagging along with Sarah, the TA from my Forest Ecology class as she did some research for her Masters project. She was studying the difference between old growth stands and clearcut stands in terms of carbon storage, an issue becoming more and more pertinent as climate change progresses.
I learned how to use a clinometer to judge tree height, and the slope of the ground. I'm sure it has other uses too that I could come up with. I got to practice my plant ID which is always a good thing. I learned Onion Grass, and refreshed myself on the difference between service berry and spirea which is always good.
Sarah took us to a Larch tree that was 934 years old. It had been left there though it was worth some money because it was on a relatively steep slope and near a stream, not a place that's very easy to log.
Larch trees lose their needles every year in the fall, and this one had made a collar for itself out of its own needles, a ring around its base made of sticks, needles, moss, the makings of soil! There were some ledges on the bark that also collected needles and moss and lichen thus giving the tree the look of being slowly swallowed.
It's trunk was tall and straight with large plates of bark like armor, but with one weakness where a lightning scar curled around it on one side. The weak, thin limbs sticking out from the bole were so fragile that they seemed to be the very epitome of Larch strategy: every part can go, but I sure won't fall. Just like a lizard that doesn't mind losing its tail. It doesn't keep it's leaves, probably doesn't keep its branches very long. We speculated about how viable its seeds are today given that its genetics allowed it to germinate in the climatic conditions that existed 1000 years ago. Long before white people even laid eyes on the far Eastern edge of the continent where it was gently lifting out of the soil.
I was tagging along with Sarah, the TA from my Forest Ecology class as she did some research for her Masters project. She was studying the difference between old growth stands and clearcut stands in terms of carbon storage, an issue becoming more and more pertinent as climate change progresses.
I learned how to use a clinometer to judge tree height, and the slope of the ground. I'm sure it has other uses too that I could come up with. I got to practice my plant ID which is always a good thing. I learned Onion Grass, and refreshed myself on the difference between service berry and spirea which is always good.
Sarah took us to a Larch tree that was 934 years old. It had been left there though it was worth some money because it was on a relatively steep slope and near a stream, not a place that's very easy to log.
Larch trees lose their needles every year in the fall, and this one had made a collar for itself out of its own needles, a ring around its base made of sticks, needles, moss, the makings of soil! There were some ledges on the bark that also collected needles and moss and lichen thus giving the tree the look of being slowly swallowed.
It's trunk was tall and straight with large plates of bark like armor, but with one weakness where a lightning scar curled around it on one side. The weak, thin limbs sticking out from the bole were so fragile that they seemed to be the very epitome of Larch strategy: every part can go, but I sure won't fall. Just like a lizard that doesn't mind losing its tail. It doesn't keep it's leaves, probably doesn't keep its branches very long. We speculated about how viable its seeds are today given that its genetics allowed it to germinate in the climatic conditions that existed 1000 years ago. Long before white people even laid eyes on the far Eastern edge of the continent where it was gently lifting out of the soil.
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