Sympathy for Engineers

I have sympathy for the road engineers, I really do.  When all your infrastructure is at the bottom of the canyon, it is hard to prepare for the worst.  Meaning, of course, fires and floods.  In this case, after the last flood, 20 years ago, I'm sure they thought the culvert was big enough.  And maybe it was.  But then it got plugged by a bunch of debris, and the creek quickly made a new channel.  Directly through the road.

Here They Come

One thing that is really interesting about all the burned areas is that they provide an instant lesson in plant succession.  The thing that arrives first on the site is the one that never left.  That is, the sprouters.  Many "hardwood" and riparian species—such as aspen, birch, and maple—sprout from living roots.  So, when the top is killed, the roots immediately send up runners.

Not so the conifers.  Conifers germinate from seed, so when the trees are killed and the immediate seed source is gone, it can take several decades for them to return.  At any rate, it is time to celebrate the sprouters.

Let Your Horses Do the Walking

We were out this week, looking at post-fire conditions in the headwaters of Waterfall and Bosman Creeks.  I've walked there before, but it is a long way—7 to 12 miles round trip, depending on the ultimate destination—so a couple of my colleagues suggested the horses.  They are accomplished riders; I am not.  As a result, I don't particularly like the horses, but it is true that, on horseback, one can see a lot of country without very much walking.  Big, beautiful country.

August Collection

In August 2015, I shared a scenic collection.  It had been a hot month, and the pictures were mostly of high elevation forests.  August of 2017 was, if anything, hotter.  But the pictures I made were mostly from the valley or from the foothills.  It was an odd month.  We had some big storms, a partial eclipse, and a lot of fire killed trees.  Anyway, the pictures turned out to be eclectic, but this is the best of it.