We are all grieving, for people lost, lives damaged, and a beautiful town vanished from Cascadia. The scorching temperatures in Lytton this last week, and the horrible loss of the entire town […]
Global Warming in Lytton, A Long View
How Hot is It in the Okanagan?
So hot that the native vegetation has abandoned summer, to wait it out until spring. It’s nice to think of this ancestor as a beautiful springtime sunflower. Truth is, it wouldn’t be […]
A Good Year for Birds (But Not for Everyone)
The robins hatched their young a couple weeks early, but the gold finches are six weeks ahead. Viruses are spreading through the wild roses and some have lost their pink .. … […]
Balancing the Atmosphere With Algae
So, on the grasslands, blue green algae (part of this healthy soil crust in the Cariboo) pulls nitrogen from the sky and makes it available to plants. So does the lichen on […]
Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink
It has been a dry spring. The force of the winds hitting the Coast and Cascade Mountains is creating a stronger than normal mountain of lift to the east. Here’s how it […]
Grassland Education: Reducing Climate Risk 8
The Okanagan Valley is home to a nearly extirpated grassland ecosystem, that exists only in a few endangered pockets. Even so, it is a key grassland area for studying the effects of […]
Hunger: Climate Change in the Okanagan, 7
Here’s one of last year’s fawns looking thin as all get out. Well, yeah. Mule deer browse on willows and Douglas fir in the winter, out of the snow. Here, that means […]
Climate Change in the North Okanagan 6: A Tale of Two Orchards
This is an old apple tree. The government has paid for it to be replaced. Best read that again. The government has paid to have almost all of these trees replaced. Up […]
Reducing Climate Risk in the Okanagan 5: Collect Water in Place
The practice of collecting water in the mountains, delivering it to cities and farms in the valley bottom, and then emptying recycled water into the lakes is placing us at climate risk, […]
Climate Resilience 3: Self-Fertilizing and Self-Watering Islands
That’s right, islands in the grass. They’re not just sitting there. They are creating nitrogen and releasing minerals from the rock into a form that plants can use. In fact, instead of […]
Okanagan Okanogan 