Hello Dirt readers and Happy Automn Equinox!
At the start of this deliciously crisp salmonid season of harvests and pumpkins Songster Writer Zeratha invites you to appreciate and explore our local Pacific Northwest ecosystem jewels that grow to form our "temperate rainforests."
Although they make up a small portion (only 2-3%) of all the world's forests, these amazing ecosystems harbor more biomass per acre than any other forest type including tropical rainforests! Many people often picture tropical rainforests as ultimate life-rich systems. But temperate rainforests support an estimated biomass between 500-2,000 metric tons per hectare, as well as being home to some of the last remaining "old growth" forests to be found in this country.
To qualify as a temperate rainforest, a forest must receive more than 50 inches of rain per year and have a mild climate - as are often found on the coast of the Northwest United States in northern California, Oregon and Washington. These rainforests usually come with heavy summer fog and are characterized by the presence of sitka spruce, nurse logs, colonnades, trees that stand on stilts, a profusion of lichens and mosses and big leaf maple trees with clubmoss draperies.
But these details only skim the surface. Dig deeper, Zeratha explores these ideas and more in greater depth with her article on "Temperate Rainforests."
Be Well,
Laura Nobel, Zeratha Monique Young and everyone at The Dirt! Spreading Roots, Spring Forth
This fall Reed College is partnering with the environmental non-profit Illahee to present the lecture series “The Challenges Ahead: Emerging Environmental Issues.” Using an interdisciplinary approach that draws from the resources of the sciences and social sciences, the lectures will highlight selected environmental issues facing society and what we need to know to be effective in addressing them. Three leaders in the environmental debate, Richard White of Stanford University, Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State University, and Buck Parker of Earthjustice will explore what the public can do to address these emerging problems. Our ability to meet the environmental challenges of the future will depend on both policies and people – people who understand the implications of their actions and the actions of their leaders, and people who possess the experience and skills to develop solutions to multi-faceted problems. Richard White, Jan Lubchenco, and Buck Parker bring perspectives from history, science and public policy to examine today’s complex environmental problems in lectures co-sponsored by Reed College and Illahee.
*September 29 * Richard White "Mistakes We Should Stop Making..."
*October 4 * Jan Lubchenco "The Environment and Human Well Being..."
*October 5 * Buck Parker "Moving a Environmental Agenda when the Government Won't."