Ponderosa pines are dying from a 23-year megadrought in the Southwest US. The drought has reduced the water available for the trees, making them more vulnerable to bark beetles and wildfires. The loss of these iconic trees could have devastating consequences for biodiversity, carbon storage, and cultural heritage.

#Ponderosa #Drought #Biodiversity

https://www.futurity.org/23-year-megadrought-ponderosa-pines-2931042/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=HariTulsidas%2Fmagazine%2FArchetypes

This is the most photographed tree in #ZionNationalPark. It is a remarkable tree which grows directly out of the rock on this small #sandstone #hill.

The #Ponderosa #pines (Pinus ponderosa) of the Southwest highlands can attain a height of 164-feet (50 meters). It is doubtful that this particular tree will ever grow taller than 6 feet.

#LandscapePhotography #photography #TravelPhotography

When you're really procrastinating

"How far was the #Ponderosa from Virginia City"

2 hours on a horse.

God help, me, I remember the courtroom drama episode where the witness said "Two hours on a horse, and even longer in a carriage"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponderosa_Ranch

Burning #firewood to heat my home is part of a cycle of life that has this #winter included a cycle of healing. It’s almost spiritual for this atheist in a way.

Let me focus on this hypothetical lodgepole #pine. There’s plenty like I in the woodpile. It grew 80 feet tall to a circumference of about three feet and then, at around age 80, died of old age.

It’s not my favored species in these woods. #Ponderosa pine, then #larch, then these scraggly lodgepoles. 2/

@TheAtlantic Except the image people have of the "old west" (in reality not even a quarter century) is largely due to Hollywood via movies & television. I guarantee a whole generation thinks it was like the Ponderosa.
#media #television #bonanza #ponderosa #myths #history #oldwest

@Ecosaurian @SecularJeffrey I think of Ben Cartwright of the #ponderosa ranch every time I fold a tea towel to pour coffee from my metal handled mokka pot. #bonanza