Steve Voelker

"drives management". Yes, I would prefer some management and using timber from some forests of this region so as not to export those externalities elsewhere. This is a complicated situation at multiple levels. Let's not treat it as black and white.

Both of these I have not had in decades but I loved as a kid/teenager...

1: Saltine crackers dipped into margarine kept warm on the top of the refrigerator

2: Thick slab of Velveeta cheese between two pieces of bread, microwaved for 30 seconds

I suspect we agree more than disagree. But IMO the benefits of the public being informed about widespread forest dieback far outweigh the costs of a reporter not being on the cutting edge of how fire behavior is modeled in dying forests.

Welcome to Forestry 101.

I am no expert on fire behavior. Overall I like to see popular media bringing attention to forest mortality events and if that includes potential links to fire behavior that is fine with me -- as long as it does not cross the line into disinformation.

From beginning to end: the synecology of tree‐killing bark beetles, fungi, and trees Over a century of research has revealed an amazing complexity of behaviours and physiological adaptations that allow tiny bark beetles to overcome large trees, sometimes resulting in outbreaks that k...

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Good reporting on widespread Douglas-fir mortality in SW Oregon.

I lived on the edge of the Ashland watershed mentioned in the article ca. 2012-2014.

Even then I was seeing patchy mortality from crowding/drought that I knew would get much worse as temps warmed.

Rose-Marie Muzika and myself along the shore of an undeveloped beach on Lake Superior.

A viewpoint from atop a gneiss glade on Breakfast Roll in the Huron Mts looking West across white pine/northern hardwood-hemlock forests. Mt Ives is centered between Ives Lake and the pine lake chain that all drain into Lake Superior in the background.

Went to the Huron Mt Club this weekend for a small conference and caught up with my M.S. advisor for the first time in 16 years.

This is very cool. Ornithological archaeology 🕺🏻🧪

Well said

Like me and the manuscripts I have started writing.

Beaver-gnawed aspen stump. It bit through about 50% of the wood before the tree fell down. Truck keys are on the stump for scale.

A beaver-gnawed aspen tree (growing next to the first) that has about 2/3 of its live sapwood removed but the central core of the tree is intact. Truck keys are again provided for scale.

Looking up in the canopy of the gnawed but not fallen second aspen tree. Its trunk splits into two main branches at a height of about 30 feet and then above the crown/leaves are illuminated in sunlight and appears healthy.

Walking in the deep UP woods recently I came across two of the biggest trees I have seen a beaver go after -- two ~20 inch dbh aspen.

It felled the first tree (that had some decay) but gave up most of the way through the second -- which is still alive and mostly well.

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AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

Electricity now costs 267% more (!!) for 1 month vs. what it cost 5 years ago near data center hotspots. Awesome reporting from Josh Saul @dinabass.bsky.social Leonardo Nicoletti @naurtorious.bsky.social Demetrios Pogkas (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Trump officials shut off funding for climate adaptation centers A third of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Climate Adaptation Science Centers are expected to drastically wind down and possibly close after Sept. 30.

Trump officials shut off funding for climate adaptation centers - Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

I love that this particular bristlecone looks like a dragon

I don't know the origin of this photo, I saw it via Forest Machine Magazine. It shows a cut log with internal scarring and heartwood discolouration creating the shape of a tree within the trunk.

Tree inside tree.

Image looks upslope showing sparse vegetation and trees and white rocks across bare red soil with a background of blue sky and clouds. A dead bristlecone tree in the foreground shows a conventional excurrent form whereas a live bristlecone tree in the foregroumd shows a decurrent form.

I am pretty sure most people who follow my posts more or less know what bristlecone pine trees look like. There are so many iconic images from high elevation.

But at low elevation in the Rockies their form can get crazy. Here is a pic from one site I sampled a while back when I lived in Utah.

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Just SE of Grand Marais Airport-Y98, MI, USA.
maps.app.goo.gl/XbSx3onyVynp...

The nearest rugged 2-track road is 1 mile away as the crow flies, 1.7 miles following the contours. I did note a four-wheeler track to access the cabin that was barely perceptible and cleared of logs about 20 years ago. Otherwise there are no hiking trails so this place is remote for Michigan.

Door to the cabin is open it is dark inside but mostly dry. Above the door is a Forest Service sign that states no tresspassing.

Small A-frame cabin in a pine under large pine trees with maple trees in the background. It looks delapitated, and yellowing fall vegetation is growing up around the outside of the cabin.

Side of the cabin showing a fallen log leaning on the cabin, some peeling tarpaper and some small holes in the roof.

Today on a bushwacking treck to find remote stands of red pines in the western UP I found this abandoned Forest Service cabin.

If everything goes to hell, this could be a viable option -- with a little work.

Small, 4 acre seepage wetland/pond with low ground-water levels in April 2012 so that vegetation covers the pond but has not greened up yet. In the wetland vegetation there are many linear features extending from shore that indicate a taller structure and/or different shrubby species present. There are conifer trees around the outside of the pond where they have not been recently clear-cut with some remaining seed trees.

Small, 4 acre seepage wetland/pond with moderate ground-water levels in June 2014 so that vegetation covers the pond and has started to green up. In the wetland vegetation there are many linear features extending from shore that indicate a taller structure and/or different shrubby species present. There are conifer trees around the outside of the pond where they have not been recently clear-cut with some remaining seed trees.

Small, 4 acre seepage wetland/pond with high ground-water levels in May 2019 so that the pond is completely full. The wetland vegetation is completely immersed under water but the many linear features of the previous vegetation extending from shore are more clearly visible. It is spring and most of the vegetation has not started to green up yet.

Here are three images of the same wetland/pond surrounded by intensively managed UP red pine forest that transition from dry to wet conditions (2012, 2014, 2019).

The linear features -- ecological legacies of old growth pine trees that fell into the pond 10s to 100s of yrs ago are really cool!

A climate science network may lose its Pacific hub. Here's what that means for local researchers A local hub for climate research is facing an uncertain future. As HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote reports, time is ticking for them to receive crucial federal funding.

Three regional CASCs - the Northeast, South Central and Pacific Islands - will cease operations in coming weeks because Dept of the Interior won’t approve their next 5-year agreements.

Other CASCs have had projects cancelled and funds reprogrammed in violation of Congressional appropriations.

Yes, core samples, rings measured and cross-dated to assign each ring to a calendar year.

I don't know! My guess is it is a highly variable trait that undergoes little selection in riparian environments compared to fire-prone environments.

Twos similarly sized bur oak stems amidst lush, green, mid-summer floodplain vegetation. The stem on the left has thick furrows in the bark that cast shadows making it appear very dark whereas the stem on the right has relatively thin and closely appressed and peeling bark that makes the tree appear much lighter in color. Both trees have a blue-handled increment borer inserted into the stem and a backbpack at the base.

You think you know oak trees by their bark? Here are two >200 year old bur oaks I sampled in Northern Wisconsin, a St Croix River flood plain/terrace.

14,000 yr-old in situ stumps sampled today! 🥰

Wood that old cannot be found in the Alps, but in the Prealps!

In Southern Alps, some torrential systems feature Lateglacial Pinus sylvestris outcrops!

So BEAUTIFUL!
(Rooted stumps+paleosol+alluvial sediments)

📷 L. Francon
PI: C. Miramont
(both IMBE)

Tree ring 14C and 13C content reveal reliance on fast cycling carbon for pine growth in semiarid montane forests Trees harbor large stores of nonstructural carbohydrates, some of which are quite old (> 10 yr), yet we know little of how these older stores may be used for woody growth. Crucially, the use of old ...

Tree ring 14C and 13C content reveal reliance on fast cycling carbon for pine growth in semiarid montane forests

Too Hot to Handle? Managing the Ecological Impacts of Extreme Heat in the Northwest. Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center. 2025 Deep Dive. Planning Committee: NW Climate Adaptation Science Center, UW Climate Impacts Group, US Geological Survey, WA Dept of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Squaxin Island Tribe, Portland State University.

The NW Climate Adaptation Science Center recently convened 100 scientists & managers to synthesize what's known and unknown about the ecological impacts of the 2021 PNW heat wave, and what can be done to manage risks from extreme heat events.

Products now available! 👇 nwcasc.uw.edu/programs/act...