[billg]

On the land here in the W. Mass we are noticing all the tell-tales signs of a mountain pine beetle outbreak...it is possible the beetles have moved in as a result of the pines (northern white) being so damaged and weakened by the massive ice storm 6 months ago...has anybody else seen this on their land?

[billg]

Here are the signs:

http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/landscapes/Solu ... ence.shtml

[FoolYap]

Here in central Mass, we've had an infestation of the Asian Longhorn beetle. If that sucker spreads far & wide in New England, you can kiss maple syrup goodbye, along with most maples & birches.



--Steve

[Caffeine]

Here in central Mass, we've had an infestation of the Asian Longhorn beetle. If that sucker spreads far & wide in New England, you can kiss maple syrup goodbye, along with most maples & birches.



--Steve

Are there any natural predators of the Asian Longhorn beetle that would do well in a New England climate?

[FoolYap]

Are there any natural predators of the Asian Longhorn beetle that would do well in a New England climate?

There may be, but I'm always wary of attempts to import X to try to kill pest Y. I'd want to be really, really sure that X doesn't just turn around and be a worse pest for other things.

Thus far they're trying to contain and eradicate. Doubt it'll be successful, as it seems that every few months I read of beetle finds in new places. It seems it's been in the region for a few years, undiscovered until recently. Believed to have stowed away in infested wooden shipping crates, from China.

Sigh. We have a lot of maples & birches on our property. It'll totally change the character of our woods. If it likes red oak and beech as well, then I guess we might as well kiss the forest goodbye.

It's not like this hasn't happened before. Our woods used to be dominated by American chestnut, before blight wiped those out. So I guess some tree species will eventually recover and reestablish a forest canopy. But not in my lifetime. Say goodbye to my plans for firewood harvests.

--Steve

[Cid_Yama]

I grew up with Chestnuts. Fond memories. Just like the early darkness, filled with fireflys. So many, it was easy to collect jars full. I've watched the world die slowly all my life. Those born in the last 40 years have no idea what the world was like when it was healthy. Those born 50 years ago saw it only in their childhood.

Kind of like when Heston breaks in on Sol's assisted suicide in Soylent Green and sees it on the screen and says "I didn't know, How could I have known?"

[FoolYap]

I grew up with Chesnuts. Fond memories. I've watched the world die slowly all my life. Those born in the last 40 years have no idea what the world was like when it was healthy.

Cid, too true.

My interests in gardening wandered an odd path. My mom always had a large garden; we grew a large chunk of our food when I was a kid, because they couldn't afford not to. But I never gave much thought to gardening beyond as a means to grow food.

Later, I read Sara Stein's "Noah's Garden" and it changed how I thought about what I grew. I paid more attention, because I realized that the suburban yards my kids were growing up in were a far cry from the more rural place I called home. I've since seen lawns as a green desert, and tried to make the yard a small oasis for species other than myself and Japanese beetles.

Sara Stein wrote something to the effect that the greatest tragedy was a generation of people that only didn't know anything wild, but didn't even know that there once was a wild to now be missed. The yard I remember as a kid was always aflit with butterflies and birds. I used to hear whippoorwills and owls at night, and see galaxies of fireflies in the summer. Used to keep praying mantises and wood turtles as summertime pets. Now, don't see any of those much if at all. Granted, I'm living in a different place, but I think it's also a different time, as you say. With less room for that kind of thing, thanks to us all. I'm younger (49 this year), but even I see the difference. The world's a diluted place.

I may someday soon not have the "luxury" of caring about this stuff, but I'm not going to forget it when it's all gone, and the world's going to be a dismal place with its passing. Maybe we'll all follow soon after. We probably deserve to.

--Steve

[Narz]

Scary stuff g!

[Cid_Yama]

It's not just "somewhere else". It's gone. You're not old enough to know what's missing. You had to have seen the world when it was healthy to know just how sickly it now is.

It's like the difference between a healthy active person and one that is so sick they can barely get out of bed. Or the difference between living a full and pleasurable life and barely surviving.

The biosphere used to be self-sustaining. Now that is breaking down. Now it is dying.

A forest ecosystem today is far different from what it was 50 years ago. Just because there are still trees, does not mean it's the same.

[mos6507]

Just because it's 'not the same' doesn't mean it's a complete writeoff. I mean, everything is relative. Compared to arid Los Angeles, the northeast is a literal cornucopia of biodiversity, desipte the population density everybody says is so terrible here. Southern California is almost nothing but a tinderbox of sagebrush and a few ornamental palm trees thrown in. Nothing worth looking at survives there without irrigation. It's important to appreciate and nurture what's left rather than to just wallow in a funk over what's gone.

[Cid_Yama]

Appearances can be deceptive. The fish in the supermarket are not of the same species and stocks that would have filled the shelves 15 years ago. The film describes how we are working our way down the oceanic food chain, moving on when a species or area is finished. Scientific advice is ignored, with the result that, at current rates, all fish stocks will be commercially extinct by 2050. Ninety per cent of ocean predators are already gone, replaced by jellyfish and squid.

link

The biosphere is dying. It's not about being happy with what's left.

The food web is all interconnected. At a point, the whole system collapses.

Just like a person who's illness progresses to a point where they just experience systemic collapse and die, so will go the biosphere.

I'm not advocating anything.

We will not change. We will go on as usual as long as we can, then experience a massive die-off.(Bold prediction; before 2020.)

It is no longer possible to save ourselves if we wanted to. We are too far down the path.

[mos6507]

I'm not advocating anything.

You seem to be advocating that we walk around in a depressed stupor.

It is no longer possible to save ourselves if we wanted to. We are too far down the path.

Then, to coin a phrase from my other topic, why are YOU still here? Just to be even more of a downer than Monte? Why don't you move to NY City instead of the arctic circle? Then maybe you'd have a little more fun in the little time we have left than playing hockey with the polar bears.



I've got more than enough reasons to be depressed. I battle that every single day. I don't need anyone ramming more of a sense of helplessness down my throat. I'll play the violin concerto in the concentration camp, thank you very much. The show must go on.

[Cid_Yama]

I guess I should have phrased it, I'm not advocating a solution. There is none.

Perhaps I am advocating something. I am advocating seeking peace with yourself. Seeking God in whatever form you envision him.

Face the end in a humanitarian and righteous manner. Focus on matters of the soul. Now is the time to be the best that you can be.

[mos6507]

Now is the time to be the best that you can be.

So I take it you've given up the politics kick? Maybe it's time to change the avatar.