My last day at the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage was this hike on the Thomas Divide Trail exiting on the Kanati Fork Trail. The small group of 9 consisted of 3 Phd botanists. That made for an interesting trip. Two leaders had been guiding at the Pilgrimage for over 40 years and a third fellow who specialized in trees was pushing 50 years at the event.
The first thing we learned on the hike dealt with the dying hemlocks. The adelgid is attacking the trees at there most vulnerable spot, where the needles attach to the branch. This is an evoluntionary defect in the tree. The hemlock never evolved a strong connection and thus is now vulnerable. One of the consequences of the loss of the hemlocks will be rising stream temperatures. Presently, they provide shade and cool ground temperatures. What effect this will have is unknown at this time. About a hundred years ago, the chestnuts which were the dominant tree, died leaving a void which is still being dealt with today. Other species, maples and oaks now dominate but this story is not over yet. The chestnuts may someday return. A 15/16ths disease-free American/Chinese Chestnut hybrid has been developed and could possibly be returned to the eastern forests.
The beech trees we saw on this trip still had last year's leaves. Also and evolutionary tendecy. The trees evolved from tropical ones with year round leaves and has retained that characteristic sill, long after adapting to a colder envirnment.
Moving along, we saw many trout lillies, wild oats, ramps, trailing arbutus, trilliums galore but no sign of the pine sap supposedly seen on this trail.
No comments:
Post a Comment