I’m currently housesitting at a friend’s cabin in a remote part of northern California with Nikki Hill. The Klamath River has been brown and silty all winter due to the dam removal projects up stream (yay, dam removal!!). Where the Salmon River joins it blue and clear, the contrast is startling. See below:
Flowers and new shoots have been popping (and butterflies with them), and I was inspired by
here on Substack to post some of the photos I’ve been taking.
Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see more photo posts like this. Thanks!
A theme of anthropogenic disturbance theme runs throughout many of these because this region, like at least 3/4 of the planet’s ice-free surface, has been inflected or disrupted by human activity for time out of mind. I’ve definitely got an affinity for such ruderal species, who pop up after changes. I find their scrappiness inspiring. They represent the resilience of nature. They typically play temporary roles while the habitat transforms to the next stage of succession (and while they help transform it), though in the case of roadsides, this stage will persist as long as the road is maintained. Most here are native, and some are not. Previous to settler-colonialism, some of the native plants were already adapted to settings like recently uncovered rock from occurences like landslides, and a road cut is enough of an analogue for them to be at home there. Others just like edges and clearings, which are also provided by roads, homesteads, campgrounds, etc.
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Thank you for a beautiful post. I long ago gave up the native vs non native species thinking. I was firmly in the native species at all costs camp but I came to see all Nature is pervaded by the same energy. All life wants to live and it’s this cultures arrogance that thinks it has the right to dictate otherwise.
This Universe will still go on long after our disastrous culture has vanished.
All of this is amazing, but that polypore fungus made my jaw drop!
Thank you for a beautiful post. I long ago gave up the native vs non native species thinking. I was firmly in the native species at all costs camp but I came to see all Nature is pervaded by the same energy. All life wants to live and it’s this cultures arrogance that thinks it has the right to dictate otherwise.
This Universe will still go on long after our disastrous culture has vanished.
Thank you again for a fantastic post and photos