 |
| Sagehen Creek - Sierra Nevada 2019 |
 |
| Sagehen Creek - Sierra Nevada 2019 |
So, we wanted to do a not-too-hard dayhike in the vicinity. There are a lot of choices, but most of them involved driving south to the west side of Lake Tahoe. We found one hike that was north of Truckee off of highway 89. Very nice . . . the trail followed Sagehen Creek to where it ends in a reservoir.
Interestingly enough, this area is the site of the Sagehen Creek Field Station, the subject of a recent New Yorker article on wildfire management:
The Sagehen Creek Field Station, where Brown is the manager,
lies twenty miles north of Lake Tahoe, in the eastern Sierra Nevada. It was
established in 1951 to conduct fishery and wildlife research, and is part of
the University of California, Berkeley. Its amenities include a dozen
radio-linked meteorological towers, snowpack sensors, tree-sap monitors, and a
stream-depth gauge. It is not open to the public, but some twenty small red
cabins are occupied by an ever-changing assortment of visiting researchers,
student field-trippers, and even artists-in-residence.
2 comments:
Interesting article.
Ideas about how to manage forests in the the West have been evolving.
In the past, we've tended to regard "climax" forests as stable, static ecosystems.
But even the great Redwood stands had fires, which cleared out the undergrowth,
and permitted the soil to breathe and transmit moisture.
Global warming will make any kind of burning activity problematic.
It will create an entirely new regional model, one in which we may well have to say good-bye to much of the
forested areas we've thought of as open-ended.
Durin my most recent trip around Mammoth Lakes there was pervasive smoky "haze" in the air. While not being health-threatening it did reduce the clarity of the views. At times.
The smoke was coming from a small lightning-strike fire just southeast of Mono Lake, which it looks like they're letting burn.
Post a Comment