Photos Reveal Changes in Sierra [Carry_Okie was right!]

Los Angeles Times ^ | December 27, 2001 | BETTINA BOXALL, TIMES STAFF WRITER

[snopercod]

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- A drive into the Sierra Nevada can seem like a retreat from time, a return to landscapes unmolested by the 20th century...blahblahblah...

The 74-year-old retired federal wildlife biologist hiked, bushwhacked and occasionally helicoptered his way to dozens of mountain spots recorded in photographs taken in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He hunted for the same peaks and boulders, the same vantage points. And when he found them, he took another photo. In a just-published book, Gruell matches the new and old images, showing how much the landscapes have changed. In scene after scene, the contemporary photographs document dense forest and lush growth. Their historical twins show leaner country in which the trees were fewer, the ground more open, the meadows more abundant....

[Carry_Okie]

Carry Okie is a libertarian????

Not by any stretch. It's a new approach and therefore requires a new category.

ROTFLMAO!!! The problem with libertarians is that most of them don't understand their own philosophy. Yep, I'm for liberty, an I ain't no libertarian!

From another thread...

What we need is a philosopher...

Hey Rockie!!! Watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!

[Lancey Howard]

Thanks for posting the link. I enjoyed your first Chapter - - well-written and understandable. Is this a college text?

[Nebullis]

Any idea about extent of forestation long before the first set of photographs?

How do you determine if the trend you see is not a reforestation of deforested land?

[RnMomof7]

The tree huggers do not understand the benefit of natural fire to a forest.

[Carry_Okie]

Good question. There is quite a lot of work going on in the realm of forest and fire archaeology. Here is the best reference of which I am aware (it's a VERY expensive book):

Bonnicksen, Thomas M.; Department of Forest Science, Texas A&M University; AMERICA’S ANCIENT FORESTS, From the Ice Age to the Age of Discovery; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2000.

[Rowdee]

From recall, back 10 years or so.....regarding teaching sheep to consume selected species...I believe back then we referred to it as creating "addicted" sheep, and even goats will work.

In Montana, sheep were being used to control Leafy Spurge. It seems like goats were really good on Canadian Thistle and spotted knapweed....I can remember breaking off branches of spotted knapweed and feeding it to my two Angora bucks that were penned up.

Here in Idaho, where I live, my neighbor has over 400 goats which are used for 'weed patrol' in various areas...BLM Land, college land, and I think maybe some forest service test plots...but I'm not sure on the latter. Bonnie was telling me what all they were doing with the critters, but because I'd been there, done that, I sort of let it roll off the brain.

[Nebullis]

Thank you for the reference. It's an immensely interesting topic and weeding out the "unnatural" impact of man from "natural" cycles and progressions is a difficult puzzle.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Smokey the bear

How old (young) are you? Did Santa come by your house this year? LOL

[Carry_Okie]

As for whether it becomes a text, I certainly hope so. There are some PhD biologists, pholosophers, and economists who say that it should be. It is an enormous departure from existing policy that some have called an entirely new philosophy.

The problem is that I'm an unpublished nobody without an advanced degree. It will take time without a lot of help from somebody noteworthy. I certainly don't have any money left to promote it. Working on that. :-)

[Lancey Howard]

I bet your work would be of interest to Dr. Walter Williams at George Mason.
When you are ready, please contact him.

[placebo]

Hey, let's give the land back to God, , and the hunters!

[SierraWasp]

"But then California which also allows mt lion hunting is BAD"

You're joking, right? Yesssssss... the mountain lions are so overpopulated that they are hunting the humans for something to eat! Little bitty humans, waiting in the dark of daylight savings time at the ends of rural roads in the bus shed with Charlie the lonesome Cougar, sneakin up on 'em for his breakfast.

Another "extreme measure" (cause of the month club = save poor Charley Cougar) submitted to CA's voters by touchy feely EnvironMentalCases, raised on too many Walt Disney movies that humanized all of nature! EVEN TREES!!!

[SierraWasp]

"City planners should be required to keep the book in their library"

And judges, law schools, all elected officials at all levels of government, actuaries, economics and environmental science professors, County planning commissioners, forestry officials and Fish & Wildlife officials (State & Federal)!!!

[KneelBeforeZod]

yeah, I was playing a bit. Once in a blue moon they let people shoot mt lions....Down here in the bay area there are enough attacks, especially in the east bay hills.

I had a little email debate with some guy who ran a anti mt lion-hunting site. He was trying to say that we should ban cars first because per capita mt lions kill less people. I told him per capita is NOT a legit yardstick... he should compare the number of car trips which is in the several millions per DAY vs. the number of people hiking in the VERY FEW areas where there are mt lions, which is what...a couple hundred a day....

anyone without an agenda (unlike him) would know that deaths per car ride is nothing compared to the deaths in mt lion territory.

Of course being a liberal, he still insisted on using the per capita argument.

Sorry I don't remember the site, I just did a yahoo search on "mt lion attacks" or something to that effect...

[B4Ranch]

I'll tell you ahead of time this is not a book that you'll read just once. I am on my third go 'round with it. It is great, but requires a LOT OF THINKING.

[SierraWasp]

"It is great, but requires a LOT OF THINKING."

The most difficult task in America, TODAY!!!

Also, the most demanded task since the American Taliban, (the EnvironMentalCases in control of Government Agencies) now rule with an iron hand!!!

[Carry_Okie]

IMO, the best way to absorb what is in the book is to apply its principles. Try a series of successive thought experiments about how a problem might be managed or the sprecial attributes of a property might be marketed. Then go through the steps of visualizing the day to day operations and how those would be managed. Put yourself in the office selling the products and discussing production problems or setting aside funds for R&D projects. Think about justifying investments and how that process might be automated. It's a lot of fun.

I had never considered it, but it might be interesting to create a series of test cases or exercises for readers in textbook format.

[winodog]

My all time favorite run is the Bridgeport Jamboree held near the end of june. It is beautiful riding around there. Cold too!! Like you said still lots of snow.