Interesting Fungi from a recent hike 8/31/2023. We recently had some rain and this time of year in Southeast Alaska, the rain forest yields various kinds of interesting mushrooms.
a few are edible and many are not, I honestly do not know which are which. Still they are fascinating to look at, and have a very short life span, usually a few days and then they are gone.
#Tongass
#Alaska
#FungiFriday
#mushrooms
#mosstadon
#nature
#forest

I think these are High Bush Cranberries that I saw on a hike August 2023. I am surprised no one has picked them yet, nor did I actually try one, but they were sure were pretty.
#Tongass #nature #berries #forest #Alaska

More images from my August 2023 hike of Perseverance Trail through the Silverbow Basin near Juneau, #Alaska.
#nature
#Hiking
#Tongass

https://www.ktoo.org/2023/08/05/city-recommends-evacuations-as-juneau-sees-record-flooding-from-glacial-outburst-flood/

There is some serious natural disaster type stuff happening here in the #Tongass
#nature #floods

I am seeing these critters on my recent walks in the #Tongass. If I can get a good photo I will share it, but the USDA has already done considerable work to explain details on this topic.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/r10/forest-grasslandhealth/?cid=FSEPRD646066&width=full

From a July 2023 walk in the #Tongass National forest. These images from the West Glacier Trail, which runs along the perimeter the Mendenhall Lake.
#nature
#mosstadon
#forest
#Alaska

A few pictures to share from the #Tongass forest. Since it is berry season everything is ready to harvest at least those berries that are edible. Besides humans who like to eat them the berries are also important to wildlife like bears and others.
#Alaska
#nature
#forest

A few pictures from a recent black bear visit to our neighborhood, and also a walk in the #Tongass, It is berry season here and that bear was snacking on salmon berries growing in the neighbor's yard.

Living in a rain forest has its benefits. One can go for a walk and forget all the crazy crap going on in the rest of the world. These images from a recent morning walk after a gentle summer rainfall.
#tongass
#Alaska
#nature
#forest
#FungiFriday
#mosstadon

Walking a nature trail near Auke Lake July 1, 2023.
#Nature
#Tongass
#mosstadon
#forest
#Alaska

From today's walk in the #Tongass
#nature
#forest

by #CalWinslow in #Jacobin:

"There are many reasons to save the Tongass. The forest cools the earth, deters wildfires, cleanses the water and air, and provides shelter for hundreds of creatures, including scores of threatened species — above all, salmon.

"Then there is the sheer size of the Tongass, home to the vast numbers of old-growth trees that remain. The big, old-growth trees are highly effective at trapping climate-warming greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and storing them — the larger the tree, the more sequestered the harmful gases are. The largest trees in the Tongass, cedar and western hemlock, are extremely effective at sequestering carbon dioxide; no single forest in the US can compare."

https://jacobin.com/2023/07/north-america-tongass-national-rainforest-climate-change-carbon

#NorthAmerica #Tongass #forest #rainforest #trees #carbon #GreenhouseGases #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateChange #climate #environment

A great way to spend a rainy day in the #Tongass rain forest. I was on the lookout for bears, but none visible today. The Devil's Club plants were taller than me. The skunk cabbage also huge and green. Feeling blessed.
#Alaska
#Nature
#hike

Walking on the #Tongass rainforest of Southeast #Alaska helps me cope and forget the news of the day. The air was delightfully fresh and clean, so breathing deep helps, too.
#mosstadon
#FungiFriday

by @jacobresneck #EricStone #EdwardBoyda & #ClaytonAldern in @grist:

"The world depends on the Tongass, seen by many as 'the lungs of North America,' a vital resource for sequestering carbon. The Tongass currently holds 44 percent of all the carbon stored by U.S. national forests. While other forests often burn in wildfires, releasing the carbon sequestered by photosynthesis right back into the atmosphere, the rainforest of Southeast Alaska is different. Forest fires are relatively rare here. In fact, climatologists believe this part of the world will generally get wetter as global temperatures rise. So the Tongass isn’t just a carbon sink, it is a steady one — vital to the long-term fight against climate change. The Tongass 'is some of the most carbon-dense, old-growth rainforest in the world,' said Dominick DellaSala, an ecologist and chief scientist at the nonprofit Wild Heritage. 'Even more dense in carbon storage [per acre] than the tropical rainforest … What it comes down to is really abusive use of the rainforest. When you come in and you clear-cut — and you take out all the trees over an area as large as 40 acres, in some cases, private lands, it’s even larger — that just takes out all of the value of the forest. You lose most of the carbon, which goes up into the atmosphere.'”

https://grist.org/project/accountability/tongass-national-forest-roadless-rule-loophole/

#Tongass #Alaska #logging #trees #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #climate #environment #Grist

A friend of mine captured this photo July 2021 taken near #Juneau. It is somewhat rare to see this type of jump let alone capture it with a camera.
#Tongass
#Alaska
#Whales
#nature

This is my new #introduction. I have been exploring Mastodon since late 2022. Just migrated here from ThePettingZoo as it is closing down and over there I was previously know as Alaskan49. My politics lean "liberal", probably less flame than some, but I strongly believe in #equality and there is plenty of work we can all do to help on that.

I am a mature gay man who believes in democracy and working towards a more verdant world for all. I married my husband in 2008, but we have been together over 40 years. I live on sacred lands of the Auke Kwaan and Taku Kwaan of the Tlingit peoples in present-day #Alaska.

I am not a big social media person, but so far mastodon has been more fun than most I have tried.

I like to post pictures of #nature #flowers #glaciers and images from the #Tongass National Forest. I enjoy #Travel, #PersonalFinance and the study of #economics. I also enjoy #reading, #gardening, #outdoors, #hiking, #cooking, #baking, #massage, #bears, #birds, and I have a thing for pictures of #squirrels.

RT @ryan_bellmore
Interested in doing forest ecology research on the world's largest temperate rainforest? #Tongass #Alaska

Postdoc position open now! @usfs_pnwrs @AK_CoastRainCtr

https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/USDA-USFS-2023-0023

The U.S. restores roadless protection to #Alaska’s #Tongass National Forest, North America’s largest #rainforest

https://worldjournalpost.com/the-u-s-restores-roadless-protection-to-alaskas-tongass-national-forest-north-americas-largest-rainforest/

Tlingit & Haida Hails the Restored Protections to the Tongass National Forest
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JUNEAU, AK – The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida), along with many other Southeast Alaska tribes, is pleased with the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) final rule to...
https://alaska-native-news.com/tlingit-haida-hails-the-restored-protections-to-the-tongass-national-forest/65956/
#tongass #roadlesas rule #biden #southeast alaska