View from the Office

This week we've been working in the high elevation (10,000 feet) spruce-fir stands of southern Utah. There is, of course, no lack of fir, in this case subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), which is taking over the world, so the species of interest is spruce, Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii). With their thin soils and short growing seasons, Utah's high plateaus do not grow spruce quickly, but they can grow 'em long and large. I found a number of specimens, or their stumps, that were almost 40 inches in diameter and more than 300 years old. While I would guess that an Engelmann spruce could live to 400, anything over 300 years is beginning to exhibit signs of decadence. The trees in these stands are starting to blow over, break off, and fall down. It puts a lot of wood on the forest floor. With about five inches of snow on top of all that downed wood, the reconnaissance conditions this week were treacherous. I found that they were frequently putting me on the forest floor, too.