I live near the HJA. I recently received their email detailing the state of affairs currently. It's heartbreaking, true, but I suppose some good data on fire behavior will come out of it. Our megafires of recent years do hurt, especially when they run through old growth. Of course, they wouldn't be so disturbing if we didn't feel that we were losing the last bits of our old growth, our last never-logged forests. They are both--the megafires and the sense of loss--the nasty sequelae of a century of rampant PNW logging that left us with somewhere around 10% of the pre-colonial old growth acreage. Talk about rapid ecological shift. Thanks for this. Lots to think about here.
I'm glad you dug into this months-old post. Thanks for a very apt perspective about this. I know I'll be thinking about my time there and what this means for quite some time.
I'm glad to read ppl like yourself are thinking more deeply about the rapid rate of change that is underway, increasingly in western NAmerica ushered in by fire. The loss of old forests like HJA and many others that will not be coming back in generations (if ever) is something most do not care about or are willing to contemplate. One can attempt to "think lke a forest" and see this as another change, but in the larger scheme of things, it's actually much more distressing -- entire ecosystems and landscapes are being pushed into the unknown, and taking us with them. I think many ppl, if they're honest, can feel this happening.
I live near the HJA. I recently received their email detailing the state of affairs currently. It's heartbreaking, true, but I suppose some good data on fire behavior will come out of it. Our megafires of recent years do hurt, especially when they run through old growth. Of course, they wouldn't be so disturbing if we didn't feel that we were losing the last bits of our old growth, our last never-logged forests. They are both--the megafires and the sense of loss--the nasty sequelae of a century of rampant PNW logging that left us with somewhere around 10% of the pre-colonial old growth acreage. Talk about rapid ecological shift. Thanks for this. Lots to think about here.
I'm glad you dug into this months-old post. Thanks for a very apt perspective about this. I know I'll be thinking about my time there and what this means for quite some time.
I'm glad to read ppl like yourself are thinking more deeply about the rapid rate of change that is underway, increasingly in western NAmerica ushered in by fire. The loss of old forests like HJA and many others that will not be coming back in generations (if ever) is something most do not care about or are willing to contemplate. One can attempt to "think lke a forest" and see this as another change, but in the larger scheme of things, it's actually much more distressing -- entire ecosystems and landscapes are being pushed into the unknown, and taking us with them. I think many ppl, if they're honest, can feel this happening.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment that prompts me to keep thinking about this. I appreciate that!
So good. Well, they all are. But I really appreciated this one, Adam!
Thanks, Laura. I didn't know where I'd end up when I started. Kinda of surprised me, but in a good way. I appreciate you reading.