Steve Harrell

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 222:
Piggyback plant (Tolmiea menziesii) is one of the many plants named for Archibald Menzies, whose name, I'm reliably informed by one of his descendants, is pronounced /Mingiss/. Commonly cultivated as a house plant, it's native on our forest floors.

Wright, Burgum, and Zeldin will pressure them to re-open it.

Opinion | Trump Is Destroying the Future of America to Own the Libs

@robinsonmeyer.bsky.social nails it:

"And if he keeps at it, Mr. Trump will demote America into a deindustrialized power that relies on technology developed elsewhere and doesn’t know how to sell much more than crypto, soybeans and petroleum products."

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/o...

Should be day 220. Getting harder to count.

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 221: Graphic definition of the word “uprooted”.

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 219: Signs of late summer #4

Ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor)’s sprays are now brown.

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 219:

Signs of late summer 3.
Whatcom Falls, a torrent in fall, winter, and spring, is two tiny trickles now.

Damn autocorrect. Alnus rubra.

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 218.
Signs of late summer #2:
(Since the purpose of this series is to document forest seasons, not necessarily with pretty pictures)...
Especially in a dry summer, alders (Alnus ruby) are already dropping leaves around this time.

Whoops, day 217.

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 207:

Signs of late summer are in the forest, day 1. Osoberry/Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) is the first to green in the spring and the first to yellow as an early sign of fall:

@steveharrell.bsky.social and I inherited this mature climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subs petiolaris) when we moved her 8 yrs ago. We righted its tilting trellis with ground-fastened guy wires (usually hidden by ornamental grass). One of my favorites on our non-native side, year round ❤️ 🌱

Summertime somewhat local.

Solar is EU’s biggest power source for the first time ever in June 2025 | Ember

In June, for the first time ever, solar was the largest source of power in the EU.

A year ago spring, I pruned the pink hydrangea so radically that it didn't bloom. This year I used a lighter touch, and that combined with the help of local deer (see photos) produced enormous bloom clusters:

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 216:

Mountain ash (Sorbs sp.) is now in full berry. Robins love 'em, humans, not so much. Souuu--err.

The Biggest US LNG Exporter Is Claiming a Massive Tax Credit for Using Its Cargo as an ‘Alternative’ Fuel - Inside Climate News Critics say the claim relies on a dubious interpretation of a law intended to promote natural gas and other fuels. An Inside Climate News analysis put the potential windfall at more than $140 million.

Can't believe the hypocri...well, yes I can.
insideclimatenews.org/news/3107202...

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, day 215:

Blue elderberries (Sambucus cerulea) in various stages of ripening.

Green Heron! Union Bay Natural Area, Seattle, WA #birds

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 214:

@bbharrell.bsky.social is creating a new forest (or at minimum extending the adjacent one) on a former lawn. Lawns, even if you don't pour chemicals all over them, are boring.

Pulled this out of our herb bed this morning, thinking it might be some variant of clover. Probably cached by a Steller's jay. (We don't see many squirrels inside the fence, and we do see jays with peanuts.) Didn't know peanuts would grow here, lol. 🌱 #Bellingham #PNW

Contrarian climate assessment from U.S. government draws swift pushback Researchers say DOE report cherry-picks data to downplay threat of greenhouse gases

@naomioreskes.bsky.social has long seen through thick smoke:

“This shows how far we have sunk,” says Naomi Oreskes, a historian of science at Harvard University. “Climate denial is now the official policy of the U.S. government.”

Or maybe the smoke ain't so thick.
www.science.org/content/arti...

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 213:

Low Oregon Grape (Mahonia/Berberis nervosa) is the most common Oregon Grape in Bellingham. It's now in full fruit:

Whoops. Shoulda been 211.

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, day 212: I had to look this one up. Melilotus alba or albus (why?) or white sweet clover is non-native but naturalized in every state. Considered invasive in a few places, but not here. Also apparently attracts bees.

Department of the Interior Curbs Preferential Treatment for Wind Energy | U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced four policy measures to advance President Donald J. Trump’s commonsense approach to affordable, reliable energy development in America

The war on wind continues. Couldn't have anything to do with the Secretary's being an oil man, could it?

www.doi.gov/pressrelease...

Army Secretary Orders West Point to Pull Appointment of Former Biden Official

Is it paranoid to suspect that they're lining up the military, at levels from senior command down to the academies, with
MAGA loyalists in preparation for a coup if the Democrats win the next presidential election?

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/u...

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, day 210:
We don't see too many, but we found this specimen of our native bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata) on Samish Crest. I've tasted them. They live up to their English name.

'fraid so.

#Bellingham #Forests 2025, Day 210:

Red elderberries (Sambucus racemosa) on the Samish Crest are just about ready to drop.