Robert’s Crystal Range Project – Year 2, 2020

[Robert]

Arturo,

Thank you for answering Arnold’s question.

Right now part of what I do is in the “frontlines” of restoration activities. It seems meaningful to me even if whatever I do does not make any difference. At least I am putting out the effort toward something I believe in. Personally, I am not interested in policy, or politics. My efforts are 100% toward finding ways to restore what is broken. The patch  and repair job frequently does not resemble the pristine past, but it is a success in my mind if nature can take over and function in a dynamic, biodiverse way without human intervention. Some repair jobs are very difficult and nature responds with many scars.

Anyway, I will be back posting soon.

Right now the extremely dry weather and lack of snow will be my topic of discussion. How our native species are responding is up most on my mind and part of my general thesis.

[hamparstum]

Robert
whatever you do towards restoring nature is very meaningful! Looking back at my work, a first effort of stopping damaging large scale human intervention is always beneficial. As you have found already, in many cases it is not enough and pick and choose actions are necessary at a much finer level. Can nature restore itself if left by its own means? Years ago I would have said yes. Now I know that not. Specially because human action has a global effect contributing or causing climate change. So your next question, how are we going to aid individual species to overcome this. That is an herculean endeavour! Yet, even if, as you say, it is only merely meaningful in your mind, one can only reach peace  if one contributes even minimally to mitigate human damage to the environment, in any way possible. Studying how individual species withstand extreme climate conditions is invaluable for their conservation. Some will do alright, others will need assistance, and even a few will be doomed. The latter however could still be maintained ex-situ and eventually returned to their original sites when the global climate change issue is better understood and controlled. Restoration of wildlife (animals) has been going on for quite a few decades by now. Restoration of plants is much more difficult because, what keeps infrequent species in a site is very poorly understood. Ecological determinants are easy to measure for the dominant or frequent species but for the time being it doesn't seem to condition the existence of the infrequent, rare or endangered plant species. The biodiversity of any site however is determined by the latter, not by those frequent species that define a natural landscape. Only a keen observer like you, can spot what makes a place so unique! Two sites may have a very similar overall canopy, yet in its entrails one may be very diverse whilst the other quite uniform. This poses serious difficulties to explain to the forester or policy maker : the why such place is unique and should be excluded from human intervention. This has been your permanent battle, from what I gather from looking back at your years long Crystal range project. I greatly appreciate what you do, because you are reporting in detail all aspects of human intervention including that of mitigation or species restoration. The long term reporting is a success in itself, because it can easily help others pin point where failures became apparent and their possible causes . Imo, politics become worthless heated debates when the underlying long term policies were unable to address the real issues. With your work, you are helping your community and the world to come up with real policies. Policy makers need reliable data and gradually you are providing it.
Arturo

[ArnoldT]

 Arturo, thanks for the answering the question.

Just struck me, a guy in New Jersey asks a question of a guy in California, the question is answered by a guy in Argentina.

My condolences on the passing of an all too young Argentinian who was able to bend the laws of physics and change the way time passes, RIP DAM

[hamparstum]

My condolences on the passing of an all too young Argentinian who was able to bend the laws of physics and change the way time passes, RIP DAM

Now I ask for an explanation for this last sentence... perhaps certain laws of physics are restricted and not such when applied to other realms of existence. Imo many realms of existence are unfurling intricately intertwined, as layers of an onion bulb, although in direct touch with each other. For instance there's not only astronomical time as measured by a wrist watch. There are others too that tick at a different pace.

Arturo

[ArnoldT]

Arturo

I'm sorry if I was too cryptic.

I was referring to the recent passing of Diego Armando Maradona, a great Argentinian soccer player.

He was very proficient at doing things on a soccer ( football) field that many could only imagine.

He moved in spaces that he  shouldn't have been able  to, and seemed to freeze time at his whim.

[hamparstum]

Arnold,
thank you for your explanation. Within the wide array of types of people that comprise any country I belong to a 'rara avis' group here. I simply have kept alien to football ( soccer there) all my life and therefore hardly ever would I have made the connection. DAM passing away is just a distant sad note because it causes sorrow to so many of his fans. Of his undeniable football virtues I haven't got even a faintest clue; other aspects of his personality I don't share and  yet wouldn't dare a comment. Anyway, now that I understand your message, thank you for your kind wishes.
Arturo

[Robert]

The big news around Northern California is the lack of precipitation to date. Currently at the Placerville farm, the accumulated precipitation total through the end of November is running 27.83% of average. I use an older methodology to calculate precipitation to date, which for me means using 1 July as a starting date for the precipitation season. I started keeping weather records in the 1960’s and have chosen to keep a few of my antiquated methods. In the Crystal Range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains the precipitation situation is not much better. Below 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) there is, more or less, no snow on the ground. Snow depth and liquid equivalents above 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) are better, but are also slowly deteriorating each day as the sunny dry weather continues. It is still early in our precipitation season. These deficits can be overcome and have been in the past. However, each day that remains dry intensifies the precipitation deficit. From 1 December through March average daily precipitation totals for the season increase rapidly. Currently, there is no precipitation is sight for the next 7 days. We are hoping for a change soon.

Hello Trond,

Yes, I will continue to follow the events and progress at many sites in my region of interest. In several cases I am marginally involved with the USFS and their restoration projects. For the most part, I will continue with my independent research. This has advantages as well as disadvantages, the big one being financing. Nothing is perfect! The freedom to think independently is very liberating and creative.

Arturo & Cohan,

I have found what works best for me are the following:

I continually ask myself “How” of “What” do I need to do to make a difference concerning my projects or a USFS restoration project, etc.? For me these are questions of personal responsibility and a call to action on my part. For me it is important to make zero effort to change others, thus my disinterest in politics. I take the initiative to stay current in rapidly expanding fields such as plant physiology, atmospheric science, etc. I guess I like this stuff; I am easily motivated.

Some of the current USFS restoration projects have very challenging features. Presently, I am attempting devise a workable plan to correct some very challenging aspects within one project. Nobody is asking me to do this, so the ideas will likely get filed away, never used. I am fine with this. For me, this is a great exercise in imagination, resourcefulness and self-improvement (for example, how does one fix something that has never been fixed before, at little cost, and with relative ease of implementation).

[Hoy]

Robert,

If the climate continue changing and you steadily get warmer and drier years you have to consider that in your restoration plans I suppose.
This year 2020 seems to be the warmest or the second warmest since observations started in 1867 here in Norway. 2014 is the warmest till now. But we have also gotten more precipitation, mostly as rain.

[Robert]

Hello Trond,

My mother passed on 7 December (95). Currently I am helping my brother settle the estate. Needless to say I am tied up with stuff right now. There is light at the end of the tunnel! I will be back out soon enough. 

I enjoyed your graphic immensely. 

Yes, a well-designed restoration project will take climate change into consideration. There are some very interesting methods that will influence the outcome and ameliorate some of the detrimental impacts of projected climate changes within natural systems that make full use of existing natural processes. An important key is to find processes that function and can be implemented with a minimal amount of human intervention, monitoring, and capital expense. In other words – a well designed plan that is implemented well.

We have good news. There is precipitation in the forecast! This after some record breaking high temperatures, both for the day and the whole month of December. 

[Hoy]

Hello Robert,

So sorry to hear about your mother. My condolences. I know you have much to think about and much to do these days but better days will come.




Seems you will get more rain than us the next days!

[Gail]

So sorry for your loss Robert and hope you have the support of family and friends at this difficult time.

[ArnoldT]

Robert

My condolences to you and your family.

[Robert]

Trond, Gail, and Arnold

Thank you for your messages of condolences. My mother had dementia for 15 years. It progressed very slowly over this period of time. For my brother, my wife and I, it was a long haul caregiving. In the end my mother went very quickly (only a few days) and this was a blessing. The last month with my mother was very sweet. This was good. Now that she is gone, there is much less grief. At 95, it seemed like a life well lived. Now many things are different for me and it will take a while to sort out a new schedule for work, research, and other activities. There is much for me to look forward to.

Trond,

Your photograph of the ocean was very fitting! 

[Robert]

We finally received some much-needed precipitation during the past week. Our average precipitation to date jumped from 19.7% of average on 12 December to 34.5% of average as of 19 December. Although the short-range forecast indicates somewhat dry condition for the next week, my longer-range seasonal forecast for January looks promising. Some of the factors in favor of average precipitation during this time period are: The weakening of the current strong La Niña pattern in the Equatorial Tropical Pacific. An emerging MJO pattern that is likely to be favorable for enhanced precipitation during parts of January. How the current anemic Walker Circulation pattern will evolve in the coming months will likely have a strong impact on our winter weather.

Snow amounts in the Crystal Range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are low. In the mid-elevations, plus or minus 5,000 feet (1,524 meters), snow liquid equivalents are 48.2% of the 5-year average. The higher elevations are fairing better, with liquid equivalents running about 93.1% of the 15-year average. During the last 30 days, there have been long periods of time with no snow cover in the mid-elevations and very little snow cover in much of the higher elevations of the Crystal Range. This pattern, with its associated positive feedback loops, has been accelerating over the past 5 years. This is something to keep a close eye on.

My last outing several weeks ago to the Peavine Ridge area revealed a few perennial species emerging from their summer dormancy. The most noticeable was Poa secunda ssp. secunda. Due to the dry conditions, germination of autumn germinating species has been very weak. It looks promising that I will be getting out again soon. I will be very curious to see how things are shaping up.