Mountain biking through China Camp State Park a few days ago, I was struck by all of the different signs of change in the forest around me. First, I rode through the area that recently burned along the southeast corner of the park. The air still smells of charcoal and the ground is black, but I know that come winter and spring, new green shoots will burst forth, adding to the mosiac of plants and habitats in the grassland. All along that trail, I saw another sign of change - the seasonal coloring of everyone's favorite plant, poison oak. At least the deepening red of the leaves makes the dreaded plant more visible and easier to avoid.
Further along the trail, I moved out of the warm sun of the oak woodlands and into damp and shaded canyons, dim under the canopies of redwood and bay trees. Here the change was not only marked by the shift in temperature and tree species but also by the amount of Sudden Oak Death mortality visible. Immediately upon entering one such spot, I saw a full tanoak canopy down on the hillside next to the trail, leaves brown and dry. While I had seen plenty of dead and dying coast live oaks along other, earlier parts of the trail, the sense of mortality was somehow greater here.
The overall change that Sudden Oak Death will bring to this forest, and other simliar forests in California and Oregon, is still largely unknown. Over the past decade, we've seen the trees go and mourned their immediate loss - but once those skeletel reminders are gone, will we recognize the changes that have occured in these woods?
Finally, a note on changes on a personal level. Due to the financial constraints currently affecting the state and the UC system, my fellow blogger Nicole Palkovsky will no longer be working on Sudden Oak Death outreach. We wish Nicole the best and look forward to a time we can work with her again. Chris Lee and I will continue to post to this blog on a regular basis and welcome your input as well. That said, I'm off for a couple weeks of vacation, so keep Chris busy with your comments and thoughts in the meantime, and I'll be writing here again in August.
