United States
Join the Northside Garden Club on Tuesday, May 24th at 1pm at the South Suburban Branch Library for a discussion about the impact of fire on the landscape at Lava Beds National Monument and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge in nearby northern California.
David Hays, the Natural Resources Program Manager at Lava Beds & Tule Lake, will show how fire is a natural part of the rugged, volcanic landscape, and how the plants that thrive there have adapted to fire in various ways.
But the size and severity of recent fires – as well as exceptional and persistent drought – force environmental experts and activists to wonder: what will the plant communities of Lava Beds look like in the future? What have we lost? What have we gained? Has everything changed? What will grow back after a major wildfire, and what will not? And are we at a tipping point, where what was once forest will be shrubs, or shrubs will now be weedy grasslands – and will we still have wildflowers? Or will the burned area be nothing but weeds? And how will all these changes this affect water, wildlife, and more throughout the region?
For more information, call Northside Garden Club member Andy Swanson at 541-883-8119 or the South Suburban library at 541-273-3679.