Continued from part 4:
In an opening in the forest on a steep slope, I photographed the distant mountainsides below clouds that provided shadows and moving spotlights on the massive forest.
Much of the mountainsides were covered with beetle killed evergreens. A scattering of color within the mass of dead, grey trees caught my eye as they were highlighted by light breaking through the cloud cover.
There are a few green evergreens and a scattering of Aspens within the mass of dead trees. I wonder how this will evolve with time. Will Aspens replace the evergreens or will the evergreens somehow evolve to resist the beetles?
It was getting late in the day, there would be no golden hour light here due to mountains blocking the late day light and in any case I did not want to try to find my way through the forest in the dark, hiking back to my campsite. So I began to work my way back up the slope. Taking my time and stopping whenever I thought I might get an interest photo.
The late day sunlight filtered through the forest creating narrow, subtle, streaks of highlights in the grassy floor of the forest.
Many fallen trees, partially supported by living trees, created mazes that might have proven dangerous to navigate through after dark.
Near the top of the grassy, forested slope, I stopped to get this shot through the mass of Aspen trunks.
That’s all for now,
Ken
That is so sad with all the dead evergreens from that beetle. It will be interesting to see how that area evolves.
Yes, Shutterpug, it is sad. Before the beetles moved into the Rockies, those evergreen forests in the mountains were so magnificent, especially in the winter with fresh snow covering the trees. My concern is that I will not be around to see a recovery of these once beautiful forests.
Familiar looking scenes Ken! The beetle kill is pretty bad and here it is spotty. What we need are some really cold temps at a specific time to kill the larvae. We’ve heard that in areas of severe damage the aspens are beginning to take over. And that is what your second photo illustrates. I really like that shot with the light on the autumn aspen foliage showing life among death.
Thanks for the comment and like, Denise. I lived in Colorado for several years in the early to mid 1990s, before the beetles arrived. After that I’ve visited and driven through the mountains maybe 1-3 times per year. I saw the progression of the beetle infestation from just a few scattered dead trees to now whole forest intervals dead. It was the visit in September of 2020 that the extent of the problem became so apparent to me. I hope the forests will somehow recover, I’m just not convinced that I will be around to see the recovery.