John West Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is a 1964 shot in more or less the same area.
> Not many trees then.
It may be like that again, John -
And maybe not too long from now. IIRC, a lot of pines were cut down in the early years of the D&RG for use as ties and/or locomotive fuel, leaving large open areas which fast-growing aspen tend to fill in first, and then pines gradually take over. There may also have been a fire or two many years ago which cleared a lot of the area around Cumbres Pass, and the aspen are slowly moving in and taking over. Whether or not you believe in worldwide climate change driven by Global Warming that is caused by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it's clear that winters in the Rocky Mountains have, on average, been less severe these past two or three decades than they used to be. This has allowed increasing numbers of Pine Bark Beetles to survive through the winter, and they have pretty much wiped out pine forests in much of the western U.S. Many of these dead trees are still standing, but once they burn or fall down there will again be wide open areas which, over several decades and centuries, the aspen will take over — if the gradually warming weather doesn't lead to heavy infestations of tent caterpillars severe enough to kill off most of the aspen, that is.
For further information on predictions for next year's weather and on the @#$%& tent caterpiggles, see the links on Steve Forney's and Rich Muth's posts at [
ngdiscussion.net] and [
ngdiscussion.net] respectively.
- El Abuelo Loco, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender Grossväterchen
p.s. I notice that the same rock outcropping discussed in previous posts prominently in your photo as well – directly above the first tank car – with what appear to be goat trails or cow paths leading to and from it as well.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2017 06:21PM by Russo Loco.
