by Gillian Martin The remote, two-lane Modjeska Canyon Road in Silverado, California curves through grand old oaks and sycamores that splatter it with dappled light. Engineers appear to have contoured the road to accommodate a few of them; a commendable recognition that this territory is long held by Nature and deserves respect. The trees and steep walls of the canyon … Read More

Trees, like people, should routinely have ‘check-ups’. However, they don’t necessarily need ‘surgery’ annually. Removing limbs has unseen outcomes. Pruning reduces a tree’s ability to make food for itself, so it must use stored energy in the roots to replace what was lost, causing a deficit in the short term. This leaves less energy to defend itself and perform other … Read More

Great Horned Owl asleep by Joe Chandler Not everyone cares about birds. Understandably, some are even considered a nuisance and pose very real conflicts for people. But pause to consider this. Birds represent an epic spanning about 160 million years of paleontological findings reveal they first evolved from dinosaurs. They are, however, products of evolutionary events both prior and after … Read More