The NHM brief however, is perhaps, somewhat misleading as I found as I started to research further. (This excessive research is really a bad habit I’ll have to break someday…nah.)
Many of us here in California, as well as elsewhere believe that chaparral (which is, of course southern California’s primary eco-system) needs fire to stay healthy. Not so, says, The
California Chaparral Institute a fairly awesome website dedicated to the study of this wilderness, with great resources for teaching. Yes so, say a variety of news reports being floated around
here and
here and on the nightly news.
Digging through the conflicting news reports, here’s what I think I believe and what I’ve shared with the Hamster. Yes, the chaparral is adapted to wildfires….but every 30 to 100 years (this seems to depend on which scientist you consult) not every 5 or 10 as we have now. Some chaparral plants have adapted to the wildfires and have seed cases that need intense heat to burst. But, like many eco systems there is a natural cycle. In this case it seems to be….fire bursts seed cases, little sun loving flowers grow and are eventually overshadowed by larger tress and shrubs blocking out the sun. This creates brush on the floor of the chaparral and a canopy (of the small sort, not like a rain forest canopy for goodness sakes…get that image out of your mind) above.
After a large number or years (30 to 100, remember) the forest floor is covered with brush and those hard little seed cases (which need heat to break open). A wildfire caused by lightening (hopefully) runs through the chaparral and the cycle starts again.
Not to tough really. What is different now is the frequency of fires which may or may not be caused by Global Warming which has lead to drought conditions across the southwest. (I’m not above playing the global warming card though if it cuts down on pollution.) These more frequent fires cut down the, still immature, larger trees and shrubs which anchor the earth which, as some of you may remember from earlier fires….leads to landslides during the winter rains which follow this dry, fire season.
What’s also different is the amount of development i.e. rather than fire whipping through the desolate chaparral it is unfortunately whipping through people’s homes. With the root systems of older trees not still in place to hold the earth homes topple down the hills in the rains.
As I explain all of this to The Hamster, I find myself carefully examining my own feelings about development, ecology and conflicting interests. You may want to do so too before launching into a discussion. Those little buggers tend to come up with the knottiest questions mid explanation.
.
chaparral, a semi-arid, shrub dominated association of plants shaped by summer drought, winter rain and intense wildfire.
We’ve been out of school a few days now. We don’t actually live that close to the fires but, The Hamster’s not-quite-crunchy school is a little further south and surrounded by now very dry, chaparral (that’s what is driving these fires by the way) and therefore…closed.
Yesterday we ventured out long enough to drive to The Natural History Museum in LA. I love this museum anyway and its strategic location, pretty much as far away from the fires in both Malibu and Orange County to ensure better, if not great air quality, made it a good choice. It is also…inside.
Since we go there often, we have explored much of the museum. Yesterday though, we wandered off into a new area tucked upstairs dedicated to the California Chaparral. There are, of course, no pictures on the web site but I found this description:
A unique exhibit, " Chaparral: A Story of Life from Fire," demonstrates fire's importance in the life cycle of chaparral through a multi-media presentation that surrounds the visitor with the sights, sounds and even the smells of a chaparral ecosystem.
Wow, how timely! Though small, one room 3 dioramas and a video actually, we took home a little bit better understanding of what has been occurring the last few days.
The NHM brief however, is perhaps, somewhat misleading as I found as I started to research further. (This excessive research is really a bad habit I’ll have to break someday…nah.)
Many of us here in California, as well as elsewhere believe that chaparral (which is, of course southern California’s primary eco-system) needs fire to stay healthy. Not so, says, The California Chaparral Institute a fairly awesome website dedicated to the study of this wilderness, with great resources for teaching. Yes so, say a variety of news reports being floated around here and here and on the nightly news.
Digging through the conflicting news reports, here’s what I think I believe and what I’ve shared with the Hamster. Yes, the chaparral is adapted to wildfires….but every 30 to 100 years (this seems to depend on which scientist you consult) not every 5 or 10 as we have now. Some chaparral plants have adapted to the wildfires and have seed cases that need intense heat to burst. But, like many eco systems there is a natural cycle. In this case it seems to be….fire bursts seed cases, little sun loving flowers grow and are eventually overshadowed by larger tress and shrubs blocking out the sun. This creates brush on the floor of the chaparral and a canopy (of the small sort, not like a rain forest canopy for goodness sakes…get that image out of your mind) above.
After a large number or years (30 to 100, remember) the forest floor is covered with brush and those hard little seed cases (which need heat to break open). A wildfire caused by lightening (hopefully) runs through the chaparral and the cycle starts again.
Not to tough really. What is different now is the frequency of fires which may or may not be caused by Global Warming which has lead to drought conditions across the southwest. (I’m not above playing the global warming card though if it cuts down on pollution.) These more frequent fires cut down the, still immature, larger trees and shrubs which anchor the earth which, as some of you may remember from earlier fires….leads to landslides during the winter rains which follow this dry, fire season.
What’s also different is the amount of development i.e. rather than fire whipping through the desolate chaparral it is unfortunately whipping through people’s homes. With the root systems of older trees not still in place to hold the earth homes topple down the hills in the rains.
As I explain all of this to The Hamster, I find myself carefully examining my own feelings about development, ecology and conflicting interests. You may want to do so too before launching into a discussion. Those little buggers tend to come up with the knottiest questions mid explanation. .