Evidence of destruction
These trees are victims of the blight that has decimated some areas in California. Big Sur is one of those areas but the incidence of trees that can be killed by it is less than places like Sacramento, where I live. Nevertheless, the damage is obvious once you see these trees up close; from a distance they looked so starkly beautiful that I was reminding myself to capture a pile of them in photographs for use later, especially in black and white. But once I knew what it was that I was seeing, a lot of the charm dropped away immediately: Sacramento has Dutch Elm Disease wiping out thousands of years of massive elm trees. We are all too familiar with the ravages of a scourge removing the beauty, shade and history of our city.
As of yet, there’s no way to really know how to control Big Sur’s blight. But with fire toasting infected trees easiest, should we be more happy nature is fighting back against a disease or more scared that the very smoke we’re all breathing may contain spores of the disease, spreading it more effectively than even the wildlife running from the flames? Sure makes you pause to wonder, doesn’t it?
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solareclips~Ju...
Is there any kind of mask that you could wear to cover your nose and mouth?? Would that even help???
barnsis
Beauriful stark scene, the wild flowers give it a hint of life.
Lenny La Rue, IPA
Yes, the scene is stark and a bit depressing but Creamery Meadow is (or was!) a beautifully alive place with wildflowers abounding. If it was ravaged by the Big Sur fires, it will be terrible but not irreplaceable since almost all of the dominant landscape was brush which would return quickest.
As for the protection of people or where they carry the contagion, I doubt masks would do anything but gather the possible spores on the surface of the mask and be just another thing that needs to be carefully destroyed before leaving the quarantined area. By guess is that this scourge will need to run its course, killing until it reaches its threshold or is checked by something else in nature. If it is this massive fire, the price to pay is indeed VERY steep. :-(