#white fir

[handmedownquiltluvr]

i think these are incense cedar and white fir :-)

[pcttrailsidereader]

My Favorite Spot

For 25 years, Ronin Demele worked as a wilderness ranger. In his book, Pacific Crest Trail: Mountain Encounters of a Wilderness Ranger, Demele has gathered 30 short essays based upon his experiences. I appreciate this essay because it serves as a reminder that our favorite spot along the PCT doesn't have to be in the heart of the High Sierra or the North Cascades. It can be a magical place in the midst of nature, immersed in the trees, flowers and animals of the wilderness.

Cover image - Pacific Crest Trail: Mountain Encounters of a Wilderness Ranger

I have my favorite spot along the Pacific Crest Trail . . . where vistas unfold and caused me to sigh in wonder whenever I hiked past this scenic point. The location is up at about 7,000 feet along the trail in the northern Trinity Alps.

In a beautiful sloping meadow surrounded by red fir, I followed a break in the forest and crossed a downed log. A small granite pebble path led me to a large meadow facing east. In the middle of this green oasis of wet grass, red columbine and purple-blue penstemon flowers,, I came upon granite stone blocks of what looked like an ancient sculpture project -- rocks naturally arranged to delight all who passed the small wind- and water-sculpted granite, many the size of living room furniture. Like chairs and sofas strewn in perfect harmony with many angles of artistic interest, smooth grey surfaces placed for aesthetic effect.

As I approached this rock monument, I saw lime green rock lichens mixed with black and red ones covering the north shaded corners of exposed granite. Looking down, with the sun's afternoon rays bouncing off the rock, my eyes were treated to sparkling quartz crystal and mica reflections.

To add grace to glory, the rocks allowed me four steps up on top of this sculptural arrangement. On top, a perfectly flat, smooth rock with a concave shape awaited to accommodate my butt. Around and below me was a circle of light white granite, absorbing and reflecting the day's heat. I settled in.

Soon I heard chip-chip-chip-chip, caw, caw, and chook-chook-chook-chook-chook bird sounds coming fron the surrounding forest.

My eyes bathed on the rows of mesmerizing ridges far out across the sky, rippling perhaps fifty miles beyond. Larger still, and right in front of my landscape and dominating the mountains in all directions was a wonder twice the height of me now -- a volcano with a white hat, snow-covered year-round, and towering above all. The mountain in seen from every high peak around it and from valley dwellers 200 miles away. The Fuji of California, the peak punctures the sky . . . Mount Shasta.

I climbed down from my perch and smiled, and retreated back along the PCT. I thought about why I hike. Many times when I hike in the mountains, I want to get somewhere . . . a lake, a peak, and creek, or a meadow, but if I wanted to be somewhere, I stopped to let the place get to me. So I stopped and sat on a log. This log was grey and solid . . . perhaps a healthy snag until a windy winter storm dropped it there. As I sat, I heard a short chip-chip sound of a Williamson woodpecker.

Out on a large white fir, he surged down into a remaining snag twenty feet away, near the remaining brittle stump of my log. Then, I saw it was a she with young mouths to feed, second later, shooting out again and straight up into a large fir with lime green lichens ringing the trunk. Then, just as fast, shot a finch reaching into her tiny circular home in the same snag only feet away, perhaps feeding her brood.

Thuuuuurrrrrr, echoed above, as a thunderous sound vibrated the ghostly snag nearby. I spied a pileated woodpecker, a rarity around here. Quickly he was gone, a fast flight deeper into the forest . .. not to be seen again that day.

Below, as I looked to the ground around my log seat, black ants and large flies explored the green shoots of a corn lily growing alongside the granite pebbled trail; now some were heading for my boots. I was so used to being recognized as being human in a human-made world that I was reminded that other worlds exist, and this day it was wilderness, and it had come to me.

[spiritheyregone]

03/31/2002

[musicmakesyousmart]

White Fir - Lake Seeds / Pale Smoke Laid Low

Cabin Floor Esoterica

2015

[pcttrailsidereader]

Forests Forever?

Over the past several years we have joined the many voices sounding the alarm about the health of California forests. We have included a number of articles on this website regarding California's ailing forests. About ten years ago while walking the PCT between Cottonwood Pass south to Walker Pass, the number of unhealthy trees was difficult to ignore. And since then, persistent drought and incursion of pests have made things worse. Erik Vance's piece also includes another factor in the deterioration of forest health . . . over-crowding and the resulting competition for water/nutrients/sunlight.

Vance also notes that the casualties are not equally distributed between tree species with the red fir being particularly at risk.

By Erik Vance

California’s iconic mountain forests are in serious trouble, according to a series of recent studies. The latest — an aerial survey of the state’s most forested regions — shows that a combination of drought and insect damage wiped out a startling 36 million trees between 2021 and 2022.

“These last three years have been the hardest, driest three years on record in California,” said Jeffrey Moore, a forester with the U.S. Forest Service and the lead researcher on the survey, which was conducted from July to October. “When you get talking about multiyear exceptional drought, I mean, it’s rough on everything.”

The death toll wasn’t the highest we’ve seen in recent years, but it was troubling because of the type of trees that died and where they were. There are perhaps 40 species of native evergreen species in California, but more than three-quarters of the dead trees detected last year came from one family: firs.

These Christmas-tree-looking conifers are found mostly at higher elevations where there’s more snow. Half of the dead trees in the study were red firs, a crucial alpine tree in places like the Lake Tahoe area, which had avoided the worst effects of the drought until now.

Likewise, the Douglas fir had resisted the drought by using its deep roots to pull up water. But last year saw a shocking 16 times more dead Douglas firs than the previous one. In other words, the trees that should be the most able to survive the drought are now dying in large numbers.

“Doug fir is probably one of the most resilient species in the Sierra Nevada,” said Scott Stephens, a forestry professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “It is the last species that actually has not been really significantly impacted.”

Losing so many mature, drought-resistant trees can be devastating to delicate mountain ecosystems, and it indicates that the forests of the Sierra cannot withstand many more dry winters. And, of course, all of those dead trees may become a fire hazard. A study from last July showed California had lost an area of forest land nearly the size of Delaware since 1985, largely from wildfires.

What’s causing this die off? In effect, it’s a one-two-three punch, Stephens said. First, over the last 100 years, California forests have gotten more crowded, thanks to policies like fire suppression. He and several colleagues recently showed that 60 percent of lower pine forests in the Sierras are so crowded, the trees are essentially choking one another for water and nutrients.

Then came drought. The already thirsty trees reached a breaking point and many started to die. Lastly, pests like the fir engraver beetle arrived and made a meal out of the already desperate trees.

Stephens said California needed to begin managing its forests preemptively to withstand drought. The best way to do this, he said, is selectively thinning out smaller trees and clearing dead ones before they become a fire risk.

It’s not all bad news though. For one thing, about a third of the dead trees from the U.S. Forest Service survey were white firs, which are the forest version of garden weeds. They grow fast and push out trees like red firs that create a healthier ecosystem. With them gone, it’s possible other species might have a better chance.

Also, there has been a lot of snow this winter in the Sierras, which means the remaining trees will soon be healthier and better able to fight off pests. But Moore said he’s ready for at least one more bad year, since many of the trees that died last summer, including oaks in the lower elevations, weren’t spotted by the last aerial survey, because they hadn’t turned brown yet.

Stephens said: “We’re quite fortunate this year that we were able to recharge the soils. We’ll have to watch, but it’s certainly better than being another drought year.”

[mycellpics]

2021 Laurentides

[aromisltd]

White fir essential oil has numerous benefits and uses. Certified and 100% pure essential oil is used for personal care and cosmetic products. In addition, it also helps in calming the stressful situations and encouraging the person to a certain extent.

[ajuliejewelssmootphotograhy-blog]

DoTerra White Fir