trees

Thankful Thursday: Olympic National Park

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

It’s almost two weeks since we reached the Olympic Peninsula and because we’ve been busy with all sorts of tasks related to moving and relocation, we hadn’t yet visited the Olympic National Park. This morning, Zippy suggested a walk in the sunshine (!) to the Visitor’s Center to check it out. Kind of a recon mission. Well, before reaching the Visitor’s Center, we came upon a trail just off the street.

We stepped into the forest.

Oh my goodness. It was immediately like being in a whole different world. The sounds and smells of traffic disappeared, along with the stress I carried. Below you can see my spouse and our dog Emma, seemingly tiny beings against the backdrop of magnificent trees.

I’ve already developed a bit of a crick in my neck/shoulders from constantly tilting my head back in an attempt to see the tops of trees here and I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of admiring moss-covered trunks and limbs.

Here’s Zippy working on his own neck crick while checking out these two trees growing from a cedar stump.

We had plans to hike another few miles but when the trail got so slick it took down Zippy, we decided to turn around for the day.

Today I give thanks for the Olympic National Park, its proximity to our rental home, and the rejuvenating properties of time spent in the natural world.

I receive these gifts.

 

Climate Movement Monday: protect mature trees

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. Today I’m returning to an issue I highlighted in March of 2023 when I asked for personalized letters in support of old-growth forests. There’s good news: on December 19, 2023, the Biden administration put out a press release First-of-its Kind National Forest Plan Amendment to Conserve and Steward Old Growth Forests, stating that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a proposal to amend all 128 forest land management plans to conserve and steward old-growth forest conditions on national forests and grasslands nationwide.”

That’s a very good start. But we need to keep applying pressure to also protect mature trees and forests. Per Earthjustice: The proposed plan could protect old-growth trees in national forests from most logging. But the Forest Service also needs to issue strong protections for mature trees, which are our future old-growth forests and exist in much greater numbers than old-growth.

Photo by Zetong Li

Protecting mature trees and forests on federal lands should be a no-brainer as we face climate collapse. Big, old trees do so much for us. They store carbon! They provide habitat for wildlife! They help clean the air and water! They stabilize soil during floods! Also? Big, old trees are beautiful and balm for our stressed-out souls.   

Earthjustice has provided a letter template for us to get our comments to the Forest Service. Remember, we don’t have to write a whole lot of words and the most effective letter is one that shows why the issue matters to us. I know there are many tree-loving readers here. 🙂 Please, take a moment in support of mature trees and forests!

Solidarity! ✊🏽

These dark days of autumn

/ Tracy Abell

My sorrow, when she’s here with me,
thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be;
she loves the bare, the withered tree;
she walks the sodden pasture lane.
 ~ Robert Frost

Park View Trail, Trinidad State Park 10.10.23

Renewing a weary spirit

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts,
as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees,
that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Climate Movement Monday: hope + determination

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays! Last week I was out in nature, refilling my well as we camped in Pike National Forest. We hiked the West Jefferson Trail through many lodgepole pines, marveling at the way the trees worked in community to support each other. Massive trees leaning on smaller trees that continue to grow as they support the weight of others. Witnessing that felt sacred and brought tears to my eyes.

July 25, 2023

Our trip was a much-needed respite from the realities of our quickly changing climate and today I’d like to offer some thoughts and hope from the frontlines of the fight for a stable climate and just transition off fossil fuels to renewable energies. The good news is that we have the answers and technology, and only lack the political will. Also? Many, many people are speaking up and more are joining the fight each day. But we need people to understand that we do, indeed, have the power to avert the worst of the climate crisis. As Rebecca Solnit tweeted: We spent a lot of time trying to convince people climate is real and urgent; that has mostly been accomplished. Now we have to convince people that we can do something about it, that we have the solutions, that most people already take climate seriously and support action, that doing what the climate demands could produce an era of abundance, not austerity, that the main obstacles are political, that civil society has overthrown regimes and status quo and changed the world before and can again.

The status quo is not permanent! However, the powers-that-be want to normalize this extreme weather and are feeding us headlines like this:

We must not buy into this narrative that wants us to accept an unlivable planet and future. Instead, let’s center this sentiment:
And this:
There are more of us than them and at the forefront are young people who are literally fighting for a livable future. Elise Joshi, executive director of Gen Z for Change, interrupted Biden’s press secretary at the Voters of Tomorrow’s summit last week to confront the Biden administration over its climate policy. Newsweek wrote about it and you can watch the video here. (See how brave, young Elise takes a steadying breath before she begins speaking.)
                                                                                                                                                                                                   On a final note, I think it’s helpful to remember that we’re raised in this country to pride ourselves on our individualism. We’re told to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps rather than accept “handouts.” But humans are social beings and we need each other–socially, emotionally, and physically. We are better and stronger together, and our survival depends on each other. So, I invite you to step into this moment and join the fight. Make your voice heard! I’d love to connect with you and hear what’s happening in your corner of the world, so please leave a comment. (And don’t think your comment has to be in agreement with what’s here–my intent is to start a conversation and find some common ground. Any and all thoughts are welcome!) Let’s be like lodgepole pines and lean on each other!
                                                                                                                                                                                                   Solidarity! ✊🏽

Dust in the wind

/ Tracy Abell / 1 Comment

The wind is BLOWING right now. (Per my phone, weather is currently: “62 degrees and blowing widespread dust.”) It’s warm and very dry here in Colorado and one wildfire’s already burning in Park County. My wildfire anxiety is HIGH. Emma’s pressed up against my feet right now because the house shakes and the roof creaks with each particularly strong gust of wind. Making matters worse, tomorrow’s supposed to be even windier than today. Ugh.

I’m going to abort my writing plans and instead play loud music to drown out the nightmare outside while I create some art. Before I go, here’s a tree I photographed yesterday when we hiked at Castlewood Canyon State Park (where the wind had already started). We still had a lovely time.

I went searching for a wind-related quote and found this which feels like a good antidote to my current windy reality and a good match for this photo.  Enjoy.

We never look deeply into the quality of a tree; we never really touch it, feel its solidity, its rough bark, and hear the sound that is part of the tree. Not the sound of wind through the leaves, not the breeze of a morning that flutters the leaves, but its own sound, the sound of the trunk and the silent sound of the roots.
 ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

Climate Movement Monday: updates + quick action on old growth forests

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which I highlight frontline communities experiencing the worst of the climate crisis and then offer a quick way to take action on behalf people and planet. Confession: today feels especially difficult because:

  1. It’s the 20 year anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq despite the millions of us around the world who took to the streets to shout NO! (surprise: war causes ongoing harm.)
  2. The final report from the U.N.’s  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)  was released today and, among other things, says “The suffering is worst in the world’s poorest countries and low-lying island nations, which are home to roughly 1 billion people yet account for less than 1 percent of humanity’s total planet-warming pollution. But as climate disruption increases with rising temperatures, not even the wealthiest and most well-protected places will be immune.” But the report’s not all doom. Despite its stark language and dire warnings, the IPCC report sends a message of possibility, said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and a member of the core writing team for the report. “It’s not that we are depending on something that still needs to be invented,” she said. “We actually have all the knowledge we need. All the tools we need. We just need to implement it.”

All the more reason for us to keep on fighting for policies that ensure a just transition to clean, renewable energies for ALL. We CAN do this if we join together. So, please, read on.  🙂

UPDATE on legal challenges to the Willow Project:

Here’s the press release about Earthjustice filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration on March 15, just two days after Biden authorized the Willow Project. (Trustees of Alaska filed a separate challenge on behalf of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic ((SILA)) and conservation groups.) From the press release:  

This is the second time the Bureau of Land Management has approved the Willow project. The Trump administration first approved the project in 2020. Conservation and Alaska Native groups challenged the approval, and the court threw it out as unlawful in 2021. It instructed BLM to reassess the project’s full climate impacts and consider alternatives that would lessen its overall impacts. In approving Willow for the second time, the Biden administration has failed to heed these instructions, producing an environmental analysis that falls short in these same respects.

TAKE QUICK ACTION FOR TREES!

I received an email from Earthjustice this morning asking for action on old growth forests. On Earth Day 2022, Biden took an important step toward protecting mature and old-growth forests on federal lands. Now, we need to push Biden to create a strong, lasting, national rule to protect those forests from logging. You can do that here. (If you’re pressed for time, here’s my letter you can copy and paste:

Thank you for your executive order directing the conservation of mature and old-growth forests. The next step is to create a strong, lasting national rule that protects mature and old-growth trees and forests across federal public lands from logging. Protecting and recovering these natural climate solutions would be a key piece of U.S. climate policy, a sign of international leadership, and an enduring legacy of your administration.

Safeguarding and expanding carbon-rich forests on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands is an important, cost-effective, and timely approach to fighting the climate crisis. Mature trees store and continue to absorb large amounts of carbon in addition to providing the public with clean drinking water, habitat for imperiled wildlife, and world-class recreational opportunities.

Please, be a leader and act to protect these forests.

(Note to anyone not wanting to receive emails as a result of the petition: remember, you can always opt out!)

Thank you for reading and taking action.  Solidarity! ✊🏽

Who knows where the time goes?

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

Somehow it is seven o’clock and the daylight’s fading fast.

April 20, 2022

Here I am , still wearing the running togs I wore on the trails this morning, hair a mess and body somewhat odiferous.  In between that run and this blog post, I did some stuff, mostly little bits of this and some of that. But instead of feeling anxiety at the end of such a piecemeal day, I’m at peace.

Who knows where the time goes? Who cares?

Listening to the trees

/ Tracy Abell / 1 Comment

April 20, 2022

I like to take the time out to listen to the trees,
much in the same way that I listen to a sea shell,
holding my ear against the rough bark of the trunk,
hearing the inner singing of the sap.
It’s a lovely sound, the beating of the heart of the tree. ~ Madeleine L’Engle

Monday discoveries

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

While walking around our neighborhood this morning, we — Zippy, Wildebeest, Emma, and I — spotted what seemed to be a tiny bird’s nest dangling from the branch of a tree. Zippy went closer to investigate and declared it a seed pod. And after searching the ground below the tree, he brought us a sample.

We’d never seen anything like this . . . outside a Mexican restaurant. Using my keen online research skills, I typed in “bean pod that looks like taco” and learned this seed pod comes from a Kentucky Coffeetree. Who knew? Here’s a better shot of the interior that looks an awful lot like lettuce and/or guacamole, and enormous black beans:

Kentucky Coffeetree pod

As if that wasn’t enough natural wonder for our outing, there were also plenty of ice formations to admire along the way . I took this photo at the end of our driveway.

We’re supposed to get a bunch of snow tomorrow and again on Wednesday so I’m grateful for the blue skies and balmy temperatures of the past several days. Also? I’m exceedingly grateful that today’s High Wind Warning did NOT result in 80-mph gusts.

“from her heart grows a tree”

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

This post is inspired by Melanie at the blog The Nature-Led Life (shout-out to Mark at Naturalist Weekly for putting this cool experiment on my radar). While Melanie was reading The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge by Manuel Lima, the phrase “from her heart grows a tree” came to her. Melanie wrote about it on her blog (that post is “the trunk”) and invited others to contribute “branches” by posting on our blogs something that includes “from her heart grows a tree” (Melanie hopes to make a visual tree of all contributions and the deadline to contribute is Aug 2, midnight PST)

This is my “branch.”

Uncompahgre National Forest. July 28, 2019

I remember standing in these aspens two years ago, my heart expanding as I gazed up, up, up at this tree reaching for the blue sky. However, aspens are not only magnificent above ground, but also below, because groups of aspen share a root system. A system one might imagine as an enormous “beating heart” below ground.

“From her heart grows a tree.”

Her heart connecting with mine.