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The Daily Bucket: Old Growth and Hydropower [1]

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Date: 2023-01-31

We walked the Evergreen Trail, the green one.

We’ve hiked through this park in all seasons. We hiked it about a week ago, the subject of today’s bucket. A midwinter hike finds the park practically empty. The leaves of bigleaf and vine maple and shrubs have fallen leaving a thinner understory more exposed. Moss and fern rule the ground. Lichen drapes the branches.

Cathedral

Small creek flows under a tree root

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Sometimes wind, snow, rot, or old age tumble the giants. The root systems are wide but shallow. The trees rely on each other for shelter and support.

Maybe wind or heavy snow felled this one.

Obstacle

Shallow root system

For scale

During the winter season when the rains fall, mosses flourish. There are many moss species in our lowland rain forests. Mosses are ancient plants with no root or vascular system. Moss can dry out completely and come back to life with a little moisture. I was able to ID a few mosses we saw.

Douglas' Neckera Moss (Neckera douglasii)

Stairstep Moss (Hylocomium splendens)

The stairstep configuration is formed by annual growth increments.

Oregon Beaked Moss (Kindbergia oregana)

This moss is not found outside of the temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Lichens also thrive during the winter season when the rains fall.

Tree Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria)

Associated with old-growth forests, its presence and abundance may be used as an indicator of forest age.

Witch's Hair (Alectoria sarmentosa) hangs from branches and sometimes falls to the forest floor.

Commonly associated with old growth forests.

Interesting fungi, too.

Toothed Jelly Fungus (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum). Most jelly fungi are yellow or orange. This one is white.

We ambled up to Newhalem after hiking through Rockport State Park. We wandered around the Gorge Powerhouse and Ladder Creek Falls. Spectacular setting. Remnant evidence of the 2015 Goodell fire, scorched trunks, bleaching snags, and fallen logs. The Gorge Dam dewaters a section of the Skagit River. The river water behind Gorge Dam is sent through a tunnel into the Gorge Powerhouse to generate electric power. Could salmon swim up again?

Did salmon actually use the Skagit River before the Seattle dams were built?

The upper Skagit Indian tribe calls on Seattle to remove the Gorge Dam

Gorge Powerhouse

Salmon swim in the tailrace below the Gorge Powerhouse. Salmon bring marine-derived nutrients (MDN) and seawater-specific carbon/nitrogen isotopes far upriver. MDN and carbon/nitrogen isotopes are distributed by animals who eat the salmon. In turn, the plants and trees uptake MDN. That connection between the ocean and far upstream environments is so interesting

Skagit River below the Gorge Powerhouse

Ladder Creek Falls

Forest, river, salmon, and ocean all connected. Can dam removal reconnect? Can hydropower coexist? There are no easy answers. On that ...

What’s going on in your natural worlds lately?

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