Author: rpalma
Source: National Geographic Click here to watch the video Despite being smaller than a grain of rice, mountain pine beetles are causing big problems for pine forests across North America. Bark beetle colonies feed and reproduce on the inner bark of ponderosa and limber pines, wreaking deadly havoc on the tree’s ability to circulate nutrients […]
Source: Phys.org A hybrid population of mountain pine beetles is set to do further damage to one of Canada’s most iconic regions. Using genetic tools, University of Alberta conservation biologists found that the mountain pine beetles in Jasper National Park have an increased genetic diversity, providing the already adaptive species with more opportunity to adapt and survive […]
Source: Phys.org The massive wildfires that burned in California, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, British Columbia and other parts of North America in 2017 in many cases exhibited a disturbing trend: a marked increase in the amount of area burned. The Thomas Fire, which consumed 281,893 acres in California’s Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in December, was […]
Source: Treesource It’s not the way we fight wildfires in the West that’s the problem. The problem is the way we manage our fire-dependent forests. Since 2000, 154 wildfires in the region have cost over $20 million each to control. Many of them cost several times more. Together, these costliest fires, which were less than one-tenth of […]
Source: The Craftsman’s Blog History Flooring, just like everything else in the home had very humble beginnings. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, and that was typically slate or other local stones. Royalty were the first to enjoy the comforts of wood floors. These first wood floors were hand-scraped and literally “sanded.” The […]