#wilderness conservation

[vyscera]

A sunshower-y day in a north american temperate forest...

Continuing my series of native wildlife scenes close to my heart (pt 1 here ) with some east coast flora and fauna.

The top scene focuses in on the monotropia uniflora Ghost Pipe Plant, a completely non-photosynthetic flowering plant that derives its nutrients from a parasitic relationship (since it is a mycoheterotroph) between the roots of the Ghost Pipe and the mycelium from the Russulaceae family of fungi, here represented by the lactarius tabidus Birch Milk Cap mushroom that will be found nearby, who's own mycelium are attached via a symbiotic mycorrhiza relationship to the roots of a host tree, here represented by the tsuga canadensis Eastern Hemlock tree.

Those with a keen eye may spot the lacricobius nigrinus beetle as a stranger to the north american east coast, but in recent years many states have been cleared to utilize the introduction of this beetle as possible biocontrol against the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid. The hemlock tree feeds and shades the beetle, and in return it unknowingly does its part to protect the entire eastern hemlock species from deforestation. Pretty cool! Gotta love the vast and vivid ways that all organisms are intertwined

I have these up on my INPRNT as well (with and without text), for those interested

[oddestishottest]

Idaho

[oddestishottest]

God, I love October in the Pacific Northwest. The smell of the air makes me want to move to the mountains and never live in the city again. Not too long ago I used to be out there cross cutting, chopping wood, and passing honey jack around the campfire with forest rangers and rafting guides. I can't express how much I miss that time in my life. Hopefully someday I'll be out there again.

[oddestishottest]

Man, I used to do the craziest most wonderful things for work. There's nothing I love more than fixing up and building trails in the wilderness. Putting this out into the world so that someday I can go back.

[honeylemony]

[motherearthnewsmag]

Swimming Hole Season

By Bethann Weick

Here’s how it goes. It’s a hot and dusty day, we’ve worked hard, and it’s not yet time to cook dinner.  We leave the cabin, pass between the scraggly pillars of young balsam to our left and robust cherry sprouts to our right. Jump the hole where we had previously dug a cooler into the ground for summer refrigeration, and step up and over the three-trunk staircase of old pine trees. We head into the woods, walking the well-trodden path along the river’s bank and the shady north slope that brings us past the old sawmill site. The land then levels out to a plateau of hemlock mixed with hardwoods. We arrive at the opposite end of the our property, and the confluence of the South Branch and Rocky Branch of the Baker River. [Keep reading...]

[timtimetoday]

A Note From Me

Hello, i’m wanting to go and be a volunteer for the Askari Wilderness Conservation Project.  Here i will go and contribute to helping this wildlife reserve in Africa; this will include helping unfortunate animals and contributing to the animal welfare. What i want to know is, if i set up a donations page here on tumblr through Paypal would any of you donate to my cause? Thanks.

[motherearthnewsmag]

Your Brain on Nature: Forest Bathing and Reduced Stress

Studies show shinrin-yoku, also known as forest bathing or time spent in green spaces, can reduce the stress hormone cortisol and increase your immune defense system.

By Eva Selhub and Alan Logan

Photo Courtesy Inga Nielsen