Posted on 03/16/2022 3:29:31 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Imagine a forest the size of Raleigh and Durham. Now imagine a forest that size dying every single year.
It’s an unfortunate reality that’s happening right now across the North American Coastal Plain, including part of our backyard here in North Carolina.
Our North Carolina beaches are a popular vacation spot or weekend getaway where we soak up the sun and relax to the sound of waves. But just a few miles inland, our coastal wetlands are facing a crisis. Vulnerable ecosystems are changing, and trees are dying, leaving nothing but ghosts.
“A ghost forest I think is a very fitting name because the ghost part, you think about a ghost it’s a relic of what used to be,” explains Dr. Elliott White Jr.
Dr. White led a team of researchers across the North American Coastal Plain to study and document the loss of our coastal forested wetlands, and what they found is sobering.
Their research showed that the North American Coastal Plane was losing 684 square kilometers, or 264 square miles of coastal forested wetlands every year. That’s the size of Raleigh and Durham combined......
“It’s happening all over the place, anywhere water tables are rising, or marine salts are getting upslope and salinizing the soil,” says Dr. Bernhardt.
So why should we care? The reality is the trees dying can’t thrive in water that is becoming saltier and saltier, so as sea-levels rise and stronger hurricanes produce more storm surges, it’s harder for these trees to survive.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
If you're going to document the loss of forested wetlands and blame it on sea level rise, the sea levels need to be documented. However, no data is provided proving sea level rise. What about other causes such as erosion? Hurricanes? Road salt?
“What about other causes such as erosion? Hurricanes? Road salt?”
Don’t forget pumping out the underground fresh water to go to the cities which causes the salt water from the ocean to intrude.
This is probably more to do with population.
Saltier water = less fresh water.
Fresh water coming into those zones are slurped up by people and peed out saltier.
Just a guess of course, but if this happens over a short time scale, that is more likely.
Seal level changes are long term events which also include tectonics.
“Don’t forget pumping out the underground fresh water to go to the cities which causes the salt water from the ocean to intrude”
Didn’t consider it, but amazing the environmental wackos don’t fall all over themselves to push it, just think that is a direct link to man-made forest destruction (AKA: Climate Change)
What about other causes such as erosion? Hurricanes? Road salt?” and newly imported plant diseases and pests. There are many invasive species from China that are killing trees all over the country.
The ecology of the earth is always changing. The continents were once one big gigantic land mass (Pangaea).
Who knew that the dinosaurs drove gas powered automobiles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea
What happens to these in gales and hurricanes?
Global warming! There’s nothing it can’t do folks! No problem that it can’t be blamed for! Isn’t it amazing! Call now!
Ooooooo scary
Our mountains are changing in size every day!
We must stop the changes to our beautiful skylines!
Give me money and I will create a program to stop this.
Subduction, land subsidence, sink holes, etc
Wonderful use for prime farm land, almost as good as building apartments and shopping centers on it.
It’s ok to write fiction..it’s another thing to believe it.
No worries. Obama took care of that sea level thing. At least he promised he would.
More Fake News, created by only telling a part of the story. Sea level is indeed rising. IT’S BEEN RISING FOR THE LAST TEN THOUSAND YEARS. It’s been rising ever since the glaciers started melting. The rate of increase has diminished considerably since the melting first started, and has ABSOLUTELY NOT CHANGED IN THE LAST TWO CENTURIES.
I’m surprised the environmental extremists never seem to complain (at least publicly) about the drain on our resources from the 10s of thousands of illegal immigrants who come into our country every year.
Adapt, change and overcome.
Turn the changes into new opportunities.
When I traveled the coastline of Vietnam recently I was amazed at the utilization of the coastal waters. Oyster farms, fish farms, dikes to separate salt water from freshwater...
We can bitch and complain or see opportunities.
add one more to your list: DEVELOPERS
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