Monday, May 18, 2009

Yes, I was sick of writing.

My specialty being forest ecology, spring in the Northern Hardwoods is always a fascinating time, as the blossoms in the understory appear, grabbing the sun before the sun is stolen by the leaves in the canopy. I apologize for the shots as the lighting was difficult...

A Trillium


A Wild Ginger Flower





And a Bloodroot Blossom

This area had a fairly rich understory. I saw one earlier in the day that had obviously been hit hard by Lumbricis terrestris, the invasive nightcrawler. Notice the complete lack of understory and bare soil.

With a cohort of worm species and heavy deer browsing, the understory is dominated by sedge and a few survivors. Notice the lack of seedlings...


As the canopy trees die off, there is nothing to replace them. The question becomes, what will? What is the extinction deficit for this location? Will it simply be colonized by invasive species and the biomass will be essentially equivalent?

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Big Stone II, Minnesota Public Utilities Commission the EPA and Excelsior:

I'll defer to Legalectric for their coverage, but change can come quickly. Something unthinkable only two weeks ago happened; The EPA objected to the Big Stone II permit. This after the Minnesota PUC and its South Dakota equivalent let the thing walk with a "promise us you will do thigns right permit". Maybe now the reasonable choices needed in Minnesota can actually be made, since the state is controlled by the right wing. Hopefully, this will have an effect on boondoggles like Excelsior.