Was the groundhog wrong? - iKnife Collector2024-03-28T11:06:26Zhttps://iknifecollector.com/forum/topics/was-the-groundhog-wrong?feed=yes&xn_auth=noFires tend to make things mor…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-21:3181080:Comment:14749162017-03-21T04:09:15.538Zdead_left_knife_guyhttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/deadleftknifeguy
<p>Fires tend to make things more fertile, certainly, & do things like clear detritus from forest floors. For a long time people fought fires because they only focused on the destructive capacities of those fires, which only led to more detritus building up, the fires being far more devastating when they finally, inevitably occurred. Some people realized what the problem was early on, but it took a lot to convince those in power & those who had something to lose that sometimes you just…</p>
<p>Fires tend to make things more fertile, certainly, & do things like clear detritus from forest floors. For a long time people fought fires because they only focused on the destructive capacities of those fires, which only led to more detritus building up, the fires being far more devastating when they finally, inevitably occurred. Some people realized what the problem was early on, but it took a lot to convince those in power & those who had something to lose that sometimes you just have to have fires.</p>
<p>Which is to say, people were able to control and thereby impact these environments, often on rather large scales, but it turned out they were doing the wrong thing and having a negative impact on the environment. Eventually, the powers that be listened & acted accordingly, controlled burns became the standard practice, & the more environmentally sound proposition eventually became conventional wisdom (despite its counter-intuitiveness in smaller, more local contexts).</p> Dale, you are right about the…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-20:3181080:Comment:14747912017-03-20T22:54:37.519ZCharles Samplehttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/CharlesSample
<p>Dale, you are right about the resurgence of life after the fire. I was in Yellowstone the year before and the year after the great fire. The year after we saw much more wildlife than the year before the fire. Why? Because before the fire the ground was covered with debris and litter that had built up for many years making it difficult for new growth to get started. Without controlled burning or natural forest fires that litter and debris just keeps building up. It chokes out new…</p>
<p>Dale, you are right about the resurgence of life after the fire. I was in Yellowstone the year before and the year after the great fire. The year after we saw much more wildlife than the year before the fire. Why? Because before the fire the ground was covered with debris and litter that had built up for many years making it difficult for new growth to get started. Without controlled burning or natural forest fires that litter and debris just keeps building up. It chokes out new growth. The year after the big fire there was a tremendous amount of new growth for the wildlife to graze on. The animals didn't have to spread far and wide looking for graze. One thing we saw the year after the fire that we had never seen before in multiple trips to Yellowstone was the baby buffalo calves. The cows were grazing on the lush new growth and of course the calves were with them. One thing the park rangers told me was that they didn't lose much wildlife to the fire. They said that they lost more to the winter than they did to the fire. All that litter and debris provided a tremendous amount of fuel for the fire which is what made it so big and so hard to put out. Controlled burning is a good thing. It consumes the debris before it can build up so much.</p> I agree Dale. Yes Charles! …tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-20:3181080:Comment:14749382017-03-20T19:15:21.964ZJan Carterhttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/JanCarter
<p>I agree Dale. Yes Charles! LOL</p>
<p>I agree Dale. Yes Charles! LOL</p> That is .. if there's adequat…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-20:3181080:Comment:14748862017-03-20T18:33:31.550ZD alehttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/DaleDavenport
<p style="text-align: center;">That is .. if there's adequate rain.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">That is .. if there's adequate rain.</p> I believe .. you'll be surpri…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-20:3181080:Comment:14748692017-03-20T15:23:28.054ZD alehttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/DaleDavenport
<p style="text-align: center;">I believe .. you'll be surprised @ the resurgence of life. In some cases .. the canopy of treetops will be gone allowing for a higher level of light reaching the ground. Forms of plant life not typically seen will become evident. Only to be replaced in a couple years time with new life of other forms. In the longer term .. if left undisturbed .. the original forest will return. I believe .. a documented cycle. It will indeed be interesting.…</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">I believe .. you'll be surprised @ the resurgence of life. In some cases .. the canopy of treetops will be gone allowing for a higher level of light reaching the ground. Forms of plant life not typically seen will become evident. Only to be replaced in a couple years time with new life of other forms. In the longer term .. if left undisturbed .. the original forest will return. I believe .. a documented cycle. It will indeed be interesting.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Enjoy</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">D ale</p>
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<p><br/> <br/> <cite>Jan Carter said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://iknifecollector.com/forum/topics/was-the-groundhog-wrong?page=1&commentId=3181080%3AComment%3A1474677&x=1#3181080Comment1474674"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"> We are still waiting to see how last years smoke covered month and lack of water has effected the trees and plants, we will know in just a few weeks.<p></p>
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</blockquote> Thank God for global warming.…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-19:3181080:Comment:14746772017-03-19T22:15:12.764ZCharles Samplehttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/CharlesSample
<p>Thank God for global warming. Otherwise we would still be in the ice age!</p>
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<p>Thank God for global warming. Otherwise we would still be in the ice age!</p>
<p></p> The Appalachian temperate rai…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-19:3181080:Comment:14746742017-03-19T21:38:42.458ZJan Carterhttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/JanCarter
<p>The Appalachian temperate rainforest is located in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern U.S. About 351,500 square kilometers (135,000 square miles) of forest land is spread across southwestern Virginia, western North Carolina, northern Georgia, and eastern Tennessee</p>
<p>So yes, I live in a North American rainforest. Last year and maybe even this year, if the rain trend continues, we will be in a severe drought at the end of summer and all of fall. You all watched the fires…</p>
<p>The Appalachian temperate rainforest is located in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern U.S. About 351,500 square kilometers (135,000 square miles) of forest land is spread across southwestern Virginia, western North Carolina, northern Georgia, and eastern Tennessee</p>
<p>So yes, I live in a North American rainforest. Last year and maybe even this year, if the rain trend continues, we will be in a severe drought at the end of summer and all of fall. You all watched the fires in Gatlinburg last fall and while we were watching those, we were also watching the MANY surrounding us, most within a 6-10 miles range of us. It is scary but it is not unprecedented. According to USGS our reoccurance interval is 10-25 years, with a time frame of about 5 years at a time. Our most recent was 1999-2000 so YEP! we are due.</p>
<p>It changes the topography of the mountain because run off areas get rockfall and leaves, other organic material which build it up. That means when the rains do come they have to forge a new path. Trees fall or have to be taken down because they did not make it through. We are still waiting to see how last years smoke covered month and lack of water has effected the trees and plants, we will know in just a few weeks.</p>
<p>While I am sure that humans effect this in many ways, this is a pattern seen for a couple hundred years. Nature has a way of changing all by itself, it is a part of the big picture. The world has remade itself a number of times, shifts on its own and brings back what it will.</p>
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<p></p> I've seen weather pattern cha…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-19:3181080:Comment:14748282017-03-19T16:55:11.826Zdead_left_knife_guyhttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/deadleftknifeguy
<p>I've seen weather pattern changes occurring in ways that is out of the usual even for Minnesota, & I'm only in my mid-40's. 20 years ago, we started reliably having January thaws, usually just a few days. Those seem to be gone now, for the most part, but we've had what seemed like December in November & November in December. This year, we had February & March apparently trade places. And that's not good.</p>
<p>It's important when the cold comes & goes, because it's…</p>
<p>I've seen weather pattern changes occurring in ways that is out of the usual even for Minnesota, & I'm only in my mid-40's. 20 years ago, we started reliably having January thaws, usually just a few days. Those seem to be gone now, for the most part, but we've had what seemed like December in November & November in December. This year, we had February & March apparently trade places. And that's not good.</p>
<p>It's important when the cold comes & goes, because it's related to the moisture in the air & ultimately in the soils, as well as the streams & rivers, as well as our almost 15,000 lakes.</p>
<p>Take note of the species around you that you may or may not see anymore, both flora & fauna. They're affected by these things immensely. A species need not go completely extinct, or even extinct in a certain area, to cause disruptions by significant decreases in numbers -- & these decreases can lead to significant increases in other, less desirable species.</p>
<p>But it's also impacting people in very obvious, very direct ways. We've had significant bouts of unemployment in many areas of out state Minnesota in places that rely on winter tourism (usually skiing, snowboarding, & snowmobiling). Not just the employees of ski resorts or state parks, but also people who work in the hotels & the restaurants in these areas, have been laid off in droves simply because there was no snow to bring business to the area. We've also had a number of low water levels in prominent lakes recently, & that has all sorts of impacts on the fish & other life in those bodies of water -- & predicatably also significant impacts on things like fishing, but also things like water use by the residents in those areas.</p>
<p>We'll have rather normal winters occasionally. However, I don't recall many winters recently where the snow cover has been higher than usual, & most the snow cover has been lower than usual -- which means we are having less snow on average than in decades past, & that's not good for our mix of deciduous & coniferous forests. If things change too quickly for the native plants & animals, they tend to disappear, not adapt, & the same can happen to us.</p> It is, as Dale said a wonderf…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-12:3181080:Comment:14739182017-03-12T16:52:28.304ZJan Carterhttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/JanCarter
<p>It is, as Dale said a wonderful day in the neighborhood, just 6 hours later and all the snow is gone</p>
<p>It is, as Dale said a wonderful day in the neighborhood, just 6 hours later and all the snow is gone</p> We ended up with a bit of sno…tag:iknifecollector.com,2017-03-12:3181080:Comment:14739172017-03-12T15:06:57.466ZD alehttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/DaleDavenport
<p style="text-align: center;">We ended up with a bit of snow on the ground here too yesterday.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">'tis gone now ..but.. still cold.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The weather here transposed it's temp</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">73 deg on Thur .. 37 deg on Sat</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood ...</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">We ended up with a bit of snow on the ground here too yesterday.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">'tis gone now ..but.. still cold.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The weather here transposed it's temp</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">73 deg on Thur .. 37 deg on Sat</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood ...</p>