2008: Week 30
Another week...another week. It was a routine week for the most part, with few stories to tell. Work is quiet, and the summer weather makes concentration difficult - who wants to be stuck in the lab when it's sunny?
The weekend was spent camping in Banff National Park. We stayed at Castle Mountain (my favourite campground) and managed 3 short hikes. Rather less than what we planned, but whatever... July is peak flower season and I saw some new species and some old favourites.
I also enjoyed seeing the effect of fire on the landscape, and comparing it to the rapid regeneration I've seen after bushfires in Australia. We spent time in 2 fire-ravaged areas, one burnt in 1993 (a controlled burn), and the second in 2003 (wildfire!). The area burnt 5 years ago is still a barren field of sticks - the only green comes from fireweed. In a few weeks the green will turn to bright pink as the fireweed comes into flower. The area burnt 15 years ago has regenerated a little more - there are now small pine trees around 1-2m tall starting to take over. Despite the slow recovery, fire is important to the alpine environment, allowing small leafy plants to flourish and provide food for many of the animals who live here.
Best of the week
- Going out for lunch - 3 days in a row!
- Hiking in July, peak wildflower season
- Looking forward to up-coming adventures (details soon!)
Worst of the week
- The poor health of a friend :(
- 4 years today
The weekend was spent camping in Banff National Park. We stayed at Castle Mountain (my favourite campground) and managed 3 short hikes. Rather less than what we planned, but whatever... July is peak flower season and I saw some new species and some old favourites.
I also enjoyed seeing the effect of fire on the landscape, and comparing it to the rapid regeneration I've seen after bushfires in Australia. We spent time in 2 fire-ravaged areas, one burnt in 1993 (a controlled burn), and the second in 2003 (wildfire!). The area burnt 5 years ago is still a barren field of sticks - the only green comes from fireweed. In a few weeks the green will turn to bright pink as the fireweed comes into flower. The area burnt 15 years ago has regenerated a little more - there are now small pine trees around 1-2m tall starting to take over. Despite the slow recovery, fire is important to the alpine environment, allowing small leafy plants to flourish and provide food for many of the animals who live here.
Best of the week
- Going out for lunch - 3 days in a row!
- Hiking in July, peak wildflower season
- Looking forward to up-coming adventures (details soon!)
Worst of the week
- The poor health of a friend :(
- 4 years today
posted by Julie at
1:38 pm
3 Comments:
After the bushfires we had in the National Park around Waterfall in the mid-late 90s, when we all thought it would take decades for things to get back to normal (and the eucalypts and whatnot seemed to bounce right back only a year later!), I find it always surprising that other places in the world don't recover as quickly as the Australian bush.
Maybe because Australia is so old and worn down, it's been through so many bushfires and floods and stuff that when they do happen the landscaoe simply shrugs it off and keeps going. "You call that a flood?" or "I thought you said there was a bushfire here... I just forgot my sunblock this summer..."
Heheh, the Australian bush laughs at other countries' natural disasters. That's because it's harsh and uncompromising. Personally, I think any natural disaster is something to be deplored and worth co-operating extensively among all communities to help alleviate its effects of people and wildlife...
"*on* people and wildlife."
argh!
The Royal NP might not recover so quickly if it had 2-3m of snow dumped on it every year :)
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