AbleGuy
Officious Intermeddler
This is an interesting issue that potentially might some day wind up impacting your OHV use, and right now it’s getting some media attention in the Sedona AZ area. But the dying trees problem looks more complicated upon a closer examination. One thing the embedded video makes clear though, is that bumper to bumper traffic (literally) on these back roads shows the hugely increased popularity of outdoor exploration is running the risk of ruining the experience for everyone. Will restricted/limited access and permit lotteries be far behind?
Video shows popular tourist activity is killing trees around Sedona
SEDONA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in this case, the video explains it all. Trees and plants in the forest around Sedona are being damaged. Some are dying.
Sedona is considered one of the most beautiful places in the world. Visitors describe views of majestic, towering red rocks as 'spiritual." But if you leave the quaint town that draws more than 3 million visitors a year and drive a short distance into the forest, you see brown, brittle, dying trees along the dirt roads and trails. These areas have seen a dramatic increase in traffic, especially off-highway vehicles (OHV's), during the pandemic. The problem appears to be dust.
Homeowner Dianna Bindley was so concerned over the die-off that she hired an arborist who found the increased traffic is kicking up dust, which settles on the trees, blocking their ability to photosynthesis, the process in which plants turn sunlight into food. The plants are starving. This is not typical dust. OHV's have tires designed to grip the ground.
According to the arborist's report, the heavy traffic pulverizes the dirt on the roads into fine powdery dust, which is kicked up into the air. Especially with the wind, the fine dust can be carried higher and a greater distance, affecting more trees farther away from the roads. Video shows a thick coating of dust on plants and trees. [1]
But this issue clearly seems to need a bit more scientific study done on it because at the same time, we’re also reading news that trees in the piñon/juniper forests here are dying off because of the severe, prolonged drought:
Drought causing juniper die-off in central and northern Arizona
The U.S. Forest Service is investigating a significant die-off of juniper trees across much of central and northern Arizona.
On the Prescott and Kaibab National Forests approximately 50,000 to 100,000 acres of junipers have been affected in the area between Paulden and Ash Fork along Highway 89 and I-40.
Mortality has also been noted north of Williams along Highway 64. Most affected trees are shaggy bark juniper species, including Utah juniper and one-seed juniper.
Mortality is varied, with most areas showing die-off of 5-30% of trees, with some larger pockets of dead junipers ranging from 1 to 15 acres. In addition, forest officials have been noting mortality of individual and small patches of alligator juniper in the higher elevation upland areas surrounding the City of Prescott.
Current assessments by U.S. Forest Service-Forest Health Protection office in Flagstaff suggest that the majority of this mortality is caused by the exceptional drought that this part of Arizona is experiencing.
While there have been some scattered observations of insects on dead trees, Forest Health Protection believes that the initial cause of death is directly tied to water stress. Trees impacted by drought show a change in color of their needle-like scales, which typically starts at the branch tips and spreads down the tree, fading from green to a bright yellow.[2]
[1]https://www.azfamily.com/content/tncms/live/
[2]https://www.paysonroundup.com/news/...cle_d28476ec-d095-5522-a859-9913d2fc8623.html
Video shows popular tourist activity is killing trees around Sedona
SEDONA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in this case, the video explains it all. Trees and plants in the forest around Sedona are being damaged. Some are dying.
Sedona is considered one of the most beautiful places in the world. Visitors describe views of majestic, towering red rocks as 'spiritual." But if you leave the quaint town that draws more than 3 million visitors a year and drive a short distance into the forest, you see brown, brittle, dying trees along the dirt roads and trails. These areas have seen a dramatic increase in traffic, especially off-highway vehicles (OHV's), during the pandemic. The problem appears to be dust.
Homeowner Dianna Bindley was so concerned over the die-off that she hired an arborist who found the increased traffic is kicking up dust, which settles on the trees, blocking their ability to photosynthesis, the process in which plants turn sunlight into food. The plants are starving. This is not typical dust. OHV's have tires designed to grip the ground.
According to the arborist's report, the heavy traffic pulverizes the dirt on the roads into fine powdery dust, which is kicked up into the air. Especially with the wind, the fine dust can be carried higher and a greater distance, affecting more trees farther away from the roads. Video shows a thick coating of dust on plants and trees. [1]
But this issue clearly seems to need a bit more scientific study done on it because at the same time, we’re also reading news that trees in the piñon/juniper forests here are dying off because of the severe, prolonged drought:
Drought causing juniper die-off in central and northern Arizona
The U.S. Forest Service is investigating a significant die-off of juniper trees across much of central and northern Arizona.
On the Prescott and Kaibab National Forests approximately 50,000 to 100,000 acres of junipers have been affected in the area between Paulden and Ash Fork along Highway 89 and I-40.
Mortality has also been noted north of Williams along Highway 64. Most affected trees are shaggy bark juniper species, including Utah juniper and one-seed juniper.
Mortality is varied, with most areas showing die-off of 5-30% of trees, with some larger pockets of dead junipers ranging from 1 to 15 acres. In addition, forest officials have been noting mortality of individual and small patches of alligator juniper in the higher elevation upland areas surrounding the City of Prescott.
Current assessments by U.S. Forest Service-Forest Health Protection office in Flagstaff suggest that the majority of this mortality is caused by the exceptional drought that this part of Arizona is experiencing.
While there have been some scattered observations of insects on dead trees, Forest Health Protection believes that the initial cause of death is directly tied to water stress. Trees impacted by drought show a change in color of their needle-like scales, which typically starts at the branch tips and spreads down the tree, fading from green to a bright yellow.[2]
[1]https://www.azfamily.com/content/tncms/live/
[2]https://www.paysonroundup.com/news/...cle_d28476ec-d095-5522-a859-9913d2fc8623.html
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