04/09/2017
Eighty degrees in March. Wow. February 2017 was the warmest ever on record. Now April is here and perhaps we get a reprieve, at least for a while. On-going climatic flips and fluxes keeps me riveted to what is going on outside my window. Carbon dioxide levels broke records in 2015 and 2016! Ever rising. Watching time line videos on NOAA is heartbreaking… sea ice, global temperatures, ocean rise and more. Go online and simply move through time, watching the changes occur right before the eyes. My daughter in Australia says it looks like 80% of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral shelves have been “bleached” due to warming oceans. It is amazing to me that more people are not alarmed.
In the actions against climate disaster, trees are front line. Trees, and other plants, absorb carbon in their photosynthesis processes. Trees excel in helping us repair and clean our atmosphere. By taking in carbon dioxide and converting it to oxygen during photosynthesis, trees naturally remove excess carbon from the air. “Bad" air conditions, common in urban locations, can be improved by increasing the amount of trees to act as natural air filters. Through photosynthesis and evapotranspiration (natural plant processes) air is filtered through the tree, cleaned, cooled, and released back into the atmosphere. Of course, a tree's ability to offset carbon emissions is determined by tree size, canopy cover, health, and age, but large trees can help lower annual carbon emissions in the atmosphere by 2 to 3 percent. An 80-foot deciduous tree has been shown to remove daily carbon dioxide amounts equivalent to that produced by two single-family dwellings. We need that, don’t we?
Indirectly, trees also affect air quality through energy savings. Trees strategically planted to shade homes can generate a savings in cooling expenses and savings of heating costs, to. The extent of savings is determined by tree type, planting location, and climatic factors. This reduces the amount of carbon-based fuels used for indoor climate, therefore reducing emissions that reduce air quality. Denver, Colorado, has been working to build their urban forests, and have reaped significant monetary value! Manitou could use more trees to reduce the heat island effect.
In Manitou there has been a dramatic thinning of our larger trees over the past decade, and perhaps even before that. Now people are noticing big time! I hold concern for our natural, wild habitat corridor that runs through our town, via Fountain Creek. Trees and waterways have a unique, intimate relationship. They are bound together, especially in dry, arid areas such as ours. Vegetation (particularly trees) along waterway edges brings many services which support other plants and native animal lives. A natural zone of tree growth, with native undergrowth, against Fountain Creek works to clean and improve water clarity, holding soils stable and not crumbling into the stream, while slowing and filtering the water is valuable. Root structures provide bank stability and help prevent erosion. Clearer water enables aquatic animals, prey and predators, to see, navigate or hide, improving their habitat. Shade, from canopy foliage, lowers water temperatures. If the water temperature is allowed to climb too high, aquatic animals become stressed and die. Trout are very sensitive to temperature and needs cooler temperatures in the water. Trout want cool and clean water. Nature already knows how to provide that, we only need to allow it.
How do the people of Manitou feel about the wild critters and birds that live here? These creature live their lives right here in Manitou, and, I believe, they should have intrinsic rights. God given rights to their littler lives! Trees should also have intrinsic rights, if you ask me. Mankind, as a whole and thoughtless machine, does not necessarily value nature as living or deserving of any rights. Nature just gets in the way of “progress!” Nature gets in the way of tidiness. Nature gets in the way of our business, but we are not separate from this natural world… we live within it. What happens to nature, happens to us.
Now, in 2017, having more trees and protecting the remaining giants we have is working to save our own species. Yes, us! Half of all the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced via photosynthesis by trees, shrubs, and other plants. The rest of the oxygen is generated in the ocean, and now, ever-more acidic, the ocean is reducing its ability to provide oxygen. Trees sequester carbon, which helps to reduce fossil fuel stress in the atmosphere and directly works against higher temperatures for our grand children and their children. Works in the future’s favor! Helps bring down global temperatures! Breathes out oxygen and breathes in CO2. How can we not embrace a goal to have more trees?
Trees are a food source for animals in and around the stream. For example, branches lying in the stream provide shelter and habitat for smaller fish and critters. Fish like the logs and branches in the stream. It is called natural.
I know that flood danger is always present, but there should be balance in this work. Trees help provide vegetation stability, help prevent weeds, and support native plant growth. Decaying matter provides another food source and contributes to chemical balance in the soil. Tree canopies block rain, protect the understory from hail damage, and help reduce run-off from surrounding land use. Trees intercept precipitation, slowing and filtering the water before allowing it to feed it the waterway.
Let’s bend over backwards to preserve the remaining giants we enjoy. Working to direct development away from sensitive areas, like Fountain Creek, is a good start. This would include the proposed creek walk, which if too close to the creek, will encourage the cutting down of still more trees. Keep the tree cover whole and complete along the water way, and even on hillsides, to stop habitat zones from being fragmented by human interferences. Could we possibly restrict tree work to the winter time when fewer birds are nesting and the resident bird homes are more visible?
Nature’s pattern would plant new trees before the old trees begin slipping. Can we ask for more reforesting of areas that have been denuded? Can we ask for continuing with the planting of peach-leaf willows and cottonwoods, as they are the native creekside trees, with different, diverse deciduous in the non-creek areas? Can we ask for protections for other habitat areas, like the cemetery, wilder park lands and open space.
Do we have a count of the stumps? There is short-term memory within the town and I know there are many, many trees taken down within the last five years.
Almost all plants live in communities, not as stand-alone individuals… the understory can be just as important as the tree that protects it. The understory serves the trees as well. While we are at it, could we actually design in native plants that are useful, and/or edible? I think about stinging nettles, for instance, along the creek where we may not want to encourage people towards the water. Can we allow the beautiful, edible burdock to grow? Could we have native vetch planted in areas that struggle to have blue grass?
Climate change is sobering. Life is beautiful and my life is beautiful. Beauty above, beauty below… Battling my own species to protect the voiceless seems to be where I continually find myself. We can’t really kill the planet, but we certainly can make the planet miserable and extinct our own species. The planet doesn’t need to be saved. People need to be saved! I once heard that every human should plant two new trees a day to offset their personal life’s impact from use of fossil fuels. I know I am way behind on planting two trees a day. But I keep trying, keep planting and keep speaking out in favor of our trees.
In the Crystal Valley neighborhood, I saw a red-tailed hawk. He was on the wing, smoothly circling the hillside and seeking his lunch. Now I have lived in this neighborhood for 17 years and have never seen a red-tailed. Seen golden eagles, sharp-shinned hawks, listened to the owls, but this was the first red-tailed hawk. Beautiful! Simply beautiful. Taking a moment to appreciate the grace and beauty of a wild creature in it’s element, floods me with feelings of gratitude. Nature continues to adapt and fight for life. I think we should too.
