#yaak

[yore-donatsu]

It's the Wanderer's turn !

[trapincher0]

Had an itch to draw some cousins!

[rjzimmerman]

Old-Growth Forests Know How to Protect Themselves from Fire

People keep trying to help old-growth forests survive fire by cutting trees, even though the forests have done fine on their own for 1,000 y

Excerpt from this story from Scientific American:

In Montana’s northwestern corner, centuries-old trees rise to a late September sky: ancient cedar, giant hemlock, shaggy sharp-needled spruce. Western larch, which can live for 1,000 years, tower above. Early morning’s light, filtered through the multilayered canopies, shimmers green and iridescent as it hits the forest floor, where bright ferns and mushrooms sprout from a carpet of blue lichen and emerald mosses. Mammoth fallen trees are slick with moss, their exposed root balls as big and round as a Volkswagen Beetle. The ground is so spongelike and moist that it squelches underneath my boots. A breeze moves through the overstory more than 150 feet above, and the forest creaks. A raven calls. A distant woodpecker drums its beak into a tree’s thick bark, foraging for beetles and ants. Otherwise this old-growth, primary forest is quiet.

Deep in a remote and rugged region known as the Yaak, this 192-acre expanse I am walking, unceremoniously called Unit 72 by the U.S. Forest Service, offers a rare glimpse of an original arboreal landscape. This is what the forests that cloak the surrounding mountains and valleys looked like before the axe and the chainsaw. For decades much of the region has been stripped of its timber, yet this lush section of old-growth forest appears to have never been logged, and there is no evidence that it has burned.

This stand, and a few others like it remaining in the Yaak, is vital habitat for grizzly bears and other threatened and sensitive species, as well as more common wild creatures and plants. Elk, moose, gray wolves, Canada lynx and the diminutive northern bog lemming (weighing in at a mere ounce) live here. Mayflies rise in clouds from the marshes and streams where otters play. Trumpeter Swans soar above.

Winters across the Yaak are typical of the Northern Rockies: bitterly cold with deep snowpack. But in the spring and fall, maritime weather drifts in from the Pacific Northwest, bringing clouds, fog and drizzle. The convergence of the two weather patterns results in a confluence of flora and fauna. As I step, I see the same tree species that grow along the coasts of Washington State, British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. I also see the lodgepole and ponderosa pines that thrive in the Rockies.

The name “Yaak” is derived from the native Kootenai term for “arrow” or “bow”—the same name given to the river that flows through the heart of this region. The USFS considers the Yaak River’s watershed—roughly 398,000 acres that touch Idaho to the west and British Columbia to the north—as the Yaak region, even though locals say it reaches much farther. Just 3 percent of the watershed is privately owned; the rest is part of the 2.2-million-acre Kootenai National Forest.

[greattideflow]

Tumblr - Yaak!

Users so from Tumblr chatting in one big group chat!

If you want to join the group chat I made on YAAK and be my friend, that would be cool. I need new friends and YAAK is a fun place to chat

[ghouliecruz]

This is my gorgeous pally Jas... and I’m super proud of her 💕🥰

[goharbalti]

The Himalayan Yaak in Gilgit Baltistan #Yaak #wildlife #gilgitbaltistan #animal #wild #tibetanmastiff #goharbalti #abgohar #Baltistan #northernareasofpakistan #northernareas #khapalu #skardudiaries #landscaping #mountains #kharkoo #khaplu #kharmang #hunza #nagar #babusartop #naran #kaghan #dawndotcom #etribune #samaatv #igpakistan #iropakistan #terrace #deosai #skardudiaries https://www.instagram.com/p/BtvTpmQlozE/?igshid=1u6c7tg0j7w01

[goharbalti]

Yaaq the animals love to play with dangours and live in risky mountains. #fallphotography #autumningb #grazing #nomads #yaak #yaq #Gilgitbaltistan #Abgoharclicks #Thalleyvalley #thalleybroq #backtohome #abgohardatcom #lifeingilgitbaltistan #desilifestyle #Himalayakarakoram #mountaintravel #mountainpeople https://www.instagram.com/p/BuGkoDTlUmw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=p9rhnblmzoo3

[goharbalti]

The Himalayan Yaak #Yaak #wildlife #gilgitbaltistan #animal #wild #tibetanmastiff https://www.instagram.com/p/BtvTpmQlozE/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=4nu3s129yq1e