 |
|
 |
|
 |
Elton Roberts traveled to the deserts of Southern California after a recent wildfire... here is what he found in one case:
As I walked around the burnt area I would hear a sound of wood clunking on wood like a wooden wind chime. It was a come and go sound so it was not all that easy to figure out what it was. I know that some desert birds make some really different sounds. I think the one that sticks with me the most is the call of the roadrunner. I have only heard it one time and that was for most of one day. The call was really different and is hard to even describe. High up on the cliff beyond the area I was in there was a call that I think was a bird but I do not know for sure as for a couple hours it did not move. As a bit of breeze kicked in again I found the sound of the wooden wind chime. It is there in photo 1, the leaves of the yucca are hanging by the fibers in them and the breeze would get them swinging and they would tap against the dead stump of the yucca. I have to guess that it is just an empty stump as it gave off a drum like sound. If it were alive it would not give that hollow sound. That is the yucca with out branches. I stood there and only the one had that wind chime sound as the breeze came and went. Yuccas have underground toes on the rootstock at the base of the plant. In time some of these will grow and make a clump of plants. There are some that do not grow and must be saved for such as a fire or something else that kills the main plant stems. So most of the plants in that area are showing signs of life as these toes now start to grow. Photo 2 shows a clump of stems that burned to the ground and now a row of toes is making a new clump. It is strange that so many are growing in a line and only one or two are growing on the other side of the burnt stems. Photo 3 shows yucca that were cut down by chain saws to help stop the fire. I do not know if the plants were hauled out or if they burnt there, as there is no sign of them. They are growing new stems also Mother Nature takes care of her own and in time there will be very little signs of the fire or the cut stems. The desert is coming back already; it is alive!
|
|
|
|
