The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –
CATOCTIN MOUNTAIN, Md. — The rain has stopped for now as the days grow shorter and cooler. The Autumnal equinox will be upon us next Wednesday, September 23, when the day and night will be of equal length, marking the start of Autumn.
I would love nothing more than to report on the natural cycles at work on planet Earth. Alas, signs and evidence that the world and nature are off-kilter are all around us, as in a bit askew or off balance. Henry David Thoreau would be apoplectic.
Just this morning, NPR reported that a single fire killed thousands of Sequoias trees in California, and scientists are racing to try to save what’s left.
“It’s not easy to kill a giant sequoia. They can live more than 3,000 years and withstand repeated wildfires and droughts over the centuries. Now, with humans changing both the climate and the landscape surrounding the trees, these giants face dangers they might not survive.”
Last year, the Castle Fire burned through the Sierra Nevada, fueled by hot, dry conditions and overgrown forests. Based on early estimates, as many as 10,600 large sequoias were killed — up to 14 percent of the entire population.
One year later, the sequoia groves are again under threat. At the time of publication, wildfires burning in Sequoia National Park are within a mile of a grove with thousands of sequoias. Firefighters are battling to contain the blazes.
Hurricane Ida as it made landfall in Louisiana: NOAA
Hurricanes have occasionally hit the Gulf Coast over the centuries, but now they are becoming a scary, devastating annual event.
Scientists are reporting that the summer of 2021 was the hottest on record in the United States, and because of damaging right-wing political rhetoric and media coverage, surveys show Americans are less concerned about climate change than people around the world.
Our information system is off-kilter too.
The Delta variant of Covid is still raging and filling up hospitals at a level not seen since last year, but the CIA and the mainstream media still can’t seem to figure out the origin of the coronavirus and how it jumped from animals to humans.
Right here in the campground, as the hickory nuts bombard the top of the camper van in what appears to be an acorn mast year, the invasive European hornets are everywhere, replacing the local population of bald face hornets. These killer bees not only kill other more environmentally friendly bees like honey bees. They go after dragonflies and other species.
Two years ago I saw a hive of them go after and kill a timber rattlesnake, which by the way are native to this area.
Video: A timber rattler crosses the road, tracked by a wood thrush
“Mast years” occur in irregular cycles of two to five years. An abundance of acorns is often said to augur a bad winter, the theory being that the squirrels know somehow that they need to stock up. The Farmers’ Almanac explored that hypothesis, and, to judge by the answers, it’s a bad winter every year.
But global warming has altered nature’s cycles, and the winters here in the Mid-Atlantic region are not as cold and severe as they used to be.
Many of the invasive species that seem to bug us so much seem to come from Asia, and that includes the brown marmorated stink bug, which seems to love invading RVs and camper vans in the fall. This stink bug apocalypse, as one YouTube video producer is calling it, began here this week.
On top of all of that, super-sized mosquitoes that thrive in flood waters after hurricanes are not just invading Florida, Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states this year. I killed two in the campground yesterday. They were obviously blown here by Hurricane Ida, and now the West Nile virus has been spotted again in Greenbelt.
On a positive note, we survived and even thrived this year after making it to the region in May. By staying much of the time in the mountains east of the coast and the cities, the weather has been picture perfect for much of the summer here.
Looking west from Hogback Overlook, Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park: Glynn Wilson
We will see what the fall and winter bring our way.
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