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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Jun 12, 2015 - 09:37am PT
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There seem to be many trees dying off on the east side..Lodgepole , white fir , and jeffrey with bores marks from the bark beetle..what does it mean...? More toilet paper for Sprock...
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jun 12, 2015 - 08:43pm PT
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hey there say, k-man... i JUST heard this on the public radio news... just now... oh my... wondered about it... :O
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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Jun 12, 2015 - 09:53pm PT
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You people need to keep your damn drought in you own state. You are sending it North.
The Govenor has declared a drought emergency in 19 of 36 counties, with four more pending right now. Those counties comprise about 3/4 the land area of the State.
So far the wine country seems OK.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Jun 12, 2015 - 11:41pm PT
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I tend to think of this issue in terms of my graduate training in population biology.
Consider the following: You have a system stable for centuries, producing a sustainable supply of food and water, and a stable population controlled by periodic natural fires.
Now you change the system, keeping the same amount of food and water, but expanding the quantity of the population by approximately 100-fold.
What do you imagine happens? Evolution dictates that some do better than others. There may be a shift in species, to those that grow faster, but have not been the dominant species. However, ALL the trees are stressed due to the constant competition and stress.
As such, they are all vulnerable to attack by beetles.
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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Jun 13, 2015 - 09:37pm PT
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California in the good old days when there was to much water.
"By one account, the floods of 1861-1862 came from approximately 30-35
Million-Acre-Feet in additional Central Valley runoff from a number of
moderate storms, plus 3 [4?, 5?] "Pineapple Express" storms in the weeks
following December 8, 1861 (runoff figure is an off-the-record guess by a
hydrologist), in effect 110% - 120% of the average annual Central Valley
runoff in 5 or 6 weeks on top of the usual runoff.
The only real levee system in the Central Valley at the time was
Sacramento and that failed repeatedly. Sacramento's failed upstream on
the American and as downtown filled with water they punched holes in the
levees to let the water out, at which point some of the houses in town
floated out the break and downstream. The State Capitol is now on a hill
 the state jacked it up into the air and built the hill underneath it
after the flood. There was some damage to The State Library. After the
flood, the merchants along I and J streets brought in fill and raised the street
level and made their second floors the new first floors. Riverboats making runs to
Benicia stopped following the channels and cut across country. Waters west of
Colusa were 20' deep. Riverboats making runs to Red Bluff navigated by the trees
sticking out of the water and on their way upstream they stopped and plucked people
out of those trees. People died. There was an inland sea 300 miles long and up to
30' deep. It bankrupted the state and state employees did not get paid for a year
and a half.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Jun 13, 2015 - 10:33pm PT
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From the New Yorker:
Get news satire from The Borowitz Report delivered to your inbox.
APRIL 5, 2015
Poll: Americans Starting to Worry About Climate Change Now That It Affects Their Lawns
BY Andy Borowitz
SACRAMENTO – A new poll shows that Americans who were unconcerned about climate change as it wreaked havoc around the world are beginning to worry, now that global warming is affecting the appearance of their lawns.
According to the poll, conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Opinion Research Institute, rising sea levels, the destruction of habitats, and catastrophic weather conditions, such as hurricanes and tsunamis, have not served as the wake-up call to Americans that their lawns’ unsightly barrenness has.
In interviews across the state of California, residents expressed anger and outrage that climate change had been allowed to worsen to the point that it has now severely limited their choice of ground cover, shrubs, and other decorative plantings.
“We are being forced to create a front lawn out of stones and, yes, cacti,” said Harland Dorrinson, a resident of suburban Sacramento. “I’m not sure that this is a world I would want to leave to my children.”
“Right now we’re looking at a situation where we have to choose between saving our climbing hydrangeas or our roses,” said Tracy Klugian, of San Diego. “We are no longer living like humans.”
Carol Foyler, a San Mateo resident who has watched her lawn turn from a gorgeous green to a hideous brown during California’s drought, said she blamed scientists “for failing to warn us of the true cost of climate change.”
“They always said that polar bears would starve to death,” she said. “But they never told us our lawns would look like crap.”
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/poll-americans-starting-to-worry-about-climate-change-now-that-it-affects-their-lawns
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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Jun 13, 2015 - 10:56pm PT
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Interception Losses
- rain that doesn't make it to the ground because
trees get in the way. A measurement of how much water is lost.
Evaporates back into the air from wet bark and leaves.
Lost. Prevented from soaking into the ground to replenish aquifers.
Under California Sierra conditions these interception losses of woodlands
can be disproportionately large , amounting to a 70% or even a 100%
reduction in water yield for reservoirs in some years.
Rim Fire was a blessing in disguise for Don Pedro water storage due to the
removal of vegetation and thereby the interception losses. Muddy water
preferable to no water.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Jun 13, 2015 - 11:12pm PT
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we just need to run a pipe to Lake Superior. seems like a no-brainer
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Jun 14, 2015 - 12:00am PT
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Mitscherlich in 1971 calculated the water storage potential as interception values for different species and stand densities. A storm event might produce 50-100mm of rainfall and 4mm might be the maximum intercepted in this way.
That looks to me like 4-8%, not 70-100%
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jun 14, 2015 - 10:09am PT
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Interesting one here. There has been a leak since 1990, definitely was reported in 2006, and it's still leaking today.
Working on it, it's a hard problem.
Leak flows unabated in San Diego alley
Complaints date as far back as 2006 on fissure behind 33rd Street
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jun/13/city-alley-water-leak/
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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Jun 14, 2015 - 10:28am PT
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I bike ride past a school that has a leak into a concrete lined ditch
that has been going on for years. A 100 yard long micro ecosystem exists there until it empties down a storm drain.
Apex predators (cars) squash various critters that venture into the road.
Ken - your number also could be right for Interception losses by tree canopy.
Its real but with huge variance.
We all have experienced it walking Sierra trails in the rain
and our shoes still puff dust under the trees while mud puddles grow
where there is open sky.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jun 14, 2015 - 10:31am PT
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the goat
climber
north central WA
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Jun 14, 2015 - 10:41am PT
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Dave729, you are spot on. I can only speak to what I've seen locally but since the 2003 Needles fire, the Methow River has remained consistently higher than pre-fire levels, even during low precip years. With reduced canopy and surface mat removed, rainfall and snow-melt have a chance to soak into the ground and recharge the aquifer. Surface vegetation and wildlife forage are also more plentiful than when the forest floor was a dry, silver-snagged mess.
80+ years of "no burn" policies and limited logging have left some areas in atrocious shape, definitely not a "natural" forest.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jun 14, 2015 - 11:50am PT
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The Great Lake Superior Pipeline? Probably need to think twice on it.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jun 14, 2015 - 11:51am PT
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California population
1900-2000
1850-2004
1900-2010
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Jun 14, 2015 - 12:40pm PT
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hands off L.Superior boys and girls. When you choose to live in a desert you got to play by the rules of the desert. In fly over land we don't mind spending our time and energy feeding the rest of you, but you're on your own if you want to try and hustle water.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jun 14, 2015 - 04:23pm PT
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we just need to run a pipe to Lake Superior. seems like a no-braine
Google NAWAPTA.
The plan has been in place for decades. The Canadians will probably complain, but nuke a couple of their small towns as a warning, and they'll shut up.
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