Do you like

our mountain forest community?

Enjoy it while you can.

by Bob Sherman

Member-at-large, Mountains Group Excom

The magnificent Ponderosa Pines, Coulter Pines, Jeffrey Pines, Incense Cedars and White Fir that grace our mountain may soon be “doing a disappearing act”.

The year 2007 has already been one of the driest on record, and that may become the norm according to research on global warming. A recent study, published online in the journal Science, predicts a significantly drier climate by 2050 throughout the entire region. A series of computer models, 18 of 19 in all, converged on a worrisome conclusion, with all but one indicating a trend toward less rainfall. On average, diminished precipitation would result in a decline of approximate 15% in surface moisture available to our forest community. (“Permanent Drought Predicted for Southwest”, Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2007)

The ecological health of our San Bernardino Mountains mixed coniferous forests has already been under assault, as research clearly shows that increased ozone and nitrous oxide pollution (emanating from the populated valleys below) have taken their toll. The effects of these stressors are needle damage, detrimental changes to soils and roots of trees and increased susceptibility to Bark Beetle damage.¹

Based upon records going back as far as 1895, the average temperature in 2006 in Sout California was a full degree higher than the historical average. Previous reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have predicted a global temperature rise from 3 to 10 degrees by 2100. The Association of Fire Ecology, in San Diego last November, issued a statement saying global warming could lead to more intense fires and could completely remake some ecosystems. For example, pine forests could become grasslands. (“A Global Warning”, University of Redlands: Redlands In the News, February 2007) Comparisons of vegetation maps (done at the University of California) showed that since the 1930’s to 1940’s, forests in the Sierra Nevada mountains had shifted 16 miles and had moved more than 1,700 feet higher, climbing an average three meters a year. (“Global Warming Adjusts State Flora, Fauna”, Oakland Tribune, September 16, 2006) Research done by scientists from the Scripps Institute and the University of Arizona shows that the length of the annual wildfire season (originally considered to be March through August) has increased by 78 days, which amounts to a 64 percent rise (when comparing the period of 1970-1986 with the years from 1987-2003). (Scripps News, July 6, 2006)

For thousands of years, our mountain forest community has had the benefit of reasonably consistent moisture and temperature conditions. The rapid changes that mankind is now imposing upon the forest community, will, inevitably, induce changes. In an interview with a environmental professional knowledgeable about our mountain forest ecosystem, this scenario emerged: If these drought conditions continue, then only the pine species at the higher elevations will survive on what little precipitation they receive during the winter months. The lower elevations would experience, as we have before, massive pine tree mortality, with rates sky-rocketing due to pine beetle outbreaks. Over a few decades our forests could convert to an incense cedar, white fir, and black oak community. Eventually, even these species would succumb to drought conditions. Next, chaparral species that we see on the slopes at the elevations below 4,000' would march up the mountain and we could be reduced to an oak and chaparral woodland environment. present nature of our mountain forest community could disappear in approximately three short generations and might only be viewed from a distance in the upper reaches of the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

So what can you do to minimize these losses? Get active; let your elected representatives know that you expect action, not rhetoric. Support those environmental organizations that are fighting to preserve our natural heritage. As English philosopher Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Lend your voice to those of us saying, loudly and clearly, that the loss of our mountain forests is not acceptable!

¹Compiled from: Environmental Pollution, Volume 103, Number 1, 1 October 1998, pp. 63-73(11); Forest Ecology and Management 144, 159-173. (2001); Forest Ecology and Management 200:67-76 (2004); Effects of Nitrogen Deposition on a Mixed Conifer Forest- May 1997, California Environ. Protection Agency (No. 97-5)