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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 23h

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 23h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 23h

I'm just messing with you. You can send your grievances to the California state parks system from like 12 years ago.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 23h

Yes, he should have been wearing safety glasses.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 23h

1546 rings about two meters from the ground height, so it was certainly 1550 years old when it fell over.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 23h

Yes, the tree fell naturally. We only sampled trees that had fallen across roads. We re-cut the trees to obtain their rings and thereby reconstruct past climate variation.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 1d

Two redwood sampling pictures from the archives. This tree cross-dated really well from 1996 to 450 CE.

It fell in a storm during the winter of 96/97 in the Rockefeller Forest area of Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

It was tricky to cut because it was partially buried in the soil from when it fell.

A man standing on top of the lower section of a large coast redwood tree that is egg-shaped in cross-section. He is holding up a very large chainsaw to try and line up his cut. The cross-section is buried up to 18 inches deep in organic soil from when it fell during a storm.

Same as previous image but now the man is bent over actively cutting a cross section with chips flying straight up in the air.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 2d

"drives management". Yes, I would prefer some management and using timber from some forests of this region so as not to export those externalities elsewhere. This is a complicated situation at multiple levels. Let's not treat it as black and white.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 3d

Both of these I have not had in decades but I loved as a kid/teenager...

1: Saltine crackers dipped into margarine kept warm on the top of the refrigerator

2: Thick slab of Velveeta cheese between two pieces of bread, microwaved for 30 seconds

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 3d

I suspect we agree more than disagree. But IMO the benefits of the public being informed about widespread forest dieback far outweigh the costs of a reporter not being on the cutting edge of how fire behavior is modeled in dying forests.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 3d

Welcome to Forestry 101.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 3d

I am no expert on fire behavior. Overall I like to see popular media bringing attention to forest mortality events and if that includes potential links to fire behavior that is fine with me -- as long as it does not cross the line into disinformation.

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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Diana L Six @dianasix.bsky.social · 3d

From beginning to end: the synecology of tree‐killing bark beetles, fungi, and trees - Six - Biological Reviews - Wiley Online Library 😁WE HAVE A NEW ONE OUT. Two years in the making. Give it a look!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

From beginning to end: the synecology of tree‐killing bark beetles, fungi, and trees

Over a century of research has revealed an amazing complexity of behaviours and physiological adaptations that allow tiny bark beetles to overcome large trees, sometimes resulting in outbreaks that k...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 5d

Good reporting on widespread Douglas-fir mortality in SW Oregon.

I lived on the edge of the Ashland watershed mentioned in the article ca. 2012-2014.

Even then I was seeing patchy mortality from crowding/drought that I knew would get much worse as temps warmed.

Zach Urness @oregonoutdoors.bsky.social · 6d

Drought and insects have killed an unprecedented number of Oregon’s Douglas fir trees during the last decade, costing billions in timber value, damaging infrastructure and ramping up wildfire danger.

What is Douglas fir dieback? Where is it happening? What is being done? tinyurl.com/5n9amvx6

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 5d

Went to the Huron Mt Club this weekend for a small conference and caught up with my M.S. advisor for the first time in 16 years.

Rose-Marie Muzika and myself along the shore of an undeveloped beach on Lake Superior.

A viewpoint from atop a gneiss glade on Breakfast Roll in the Huron Mts looking West across white pine/northern hardwood-hemlock forests. Mt Ives is centered between Ives Lake and the pine lake chain that all drain into Lake Superior in the background.

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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 7d

This is very cool. Ornithological archaeology 🕺🏻🧪

Jonathan C Slaght @jonathanslaght.com · 7d

super cool study found human artifacts in Bearded vulture nests, incl. "weaponry like a crossbow bolt and wooden lance, decorated sheep leather, and parts of a slingshot....a shoe made from twigs and grass is ~675-years-old." link to paper: doi.org/10.1002/ecy..... www.popsci.com/environment/... 🧪🌍🦉

Multi-generational vulture nests hold 700 years of human artifacts

Crossbow bolts, sandals, slingshots, and more.

www.popsci.com

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 9d

Well said

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 9d

Like me and the manuscripts I have started writing.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 9d

Walking in the deep UP woods recently I came across two of the biggest trees I have seen a beaver go after -- two ~20 inch dbh aspen.

It felled the first tree (that had some decay) but gave up most of the way through the second -- which is still alive and mostly well.

Beaver-gnawed aspen stump. It bit through about 50% of the wood before the tree fell down. Truck keys are on the stump for scale.

A beaver-gnawed aspen tree (growing next to the first) that has about 2/3 of its live sapwood removed but the central core of the tree is intact. Truck keys are again provided for scale.

Looking up in the canopy of the gnawed but not fallen second aspen tree. Its trunk splits into two main branches at a height of about 30 feet and then above the crown/leaves are illuminated in sunlight and appears healthy.

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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Alice Gauthey @a-gthy.bsky.social · 10d

New PhD position in tree ecophysiology at BiFoR-FACE (Uni of Birmingham) 🌳 Looking at tree carbon and water dynamics under elevated CO2 and warming 🌡️
Start Jan 2026. See more info here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/376950

Doctoral Research Fellow - FutureForests - School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences - 106218 - Grade 7

Position Details School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK Fixed salary of £49,747 additional allowances may be applicable depe...

euraxess.ec.europa.eu

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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Lauren Rosenthal @laurenthal.bsky.social · 11d

Electricity now costs 267% more (!!) for 1 month vs. what it cost 5 years ago near data center hotspots. Awesome reporting from Josh Saul @dinabass.bsky.social Leonardo Nicoletti @naurtorious.bsky.social Demetrios Pogkas (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Dr. Robert D. Bullard @drrobertbullard.bsky.social · 11d

Trump officials shut off funding for climate adaptation centers - Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Trump officials shut off funding for climate adaptation centers

A third of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Climate Adaptation Science Centers are expected to drastically wind down and possibly close after Sept. 30.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Adam Csank @acsank.bsky.social · 15d

I love that this particular bristlecone looks like a dragon

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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 12d

Tree inside tree.

I don't know the origin of this photo, I saw it via Forest Machine Magazine. It shows a cut log with internal scarring and heartwood discolouration creating the shape of a tree within the trunk.

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Steve Voelker @thetreecorener.bsky.social · 15d

I am pretty sure most people who follow my posts more or less know what bristlecone pine trees look like. There are so many iconic images from high elevation.

But at low elevation in the Rockies their form can get crazy. Here is a pic from one site I sampled a while back when I lived in Utah.

Image looks upslope showing sparse vegetation and trees and white rocks across bare red soil with a background of blue sky and clouds. A dead bristlecone tree in the foreground shows a conventional excurrent form whereas a live bristlecone tree in the foregroumd shows a decurrent form.

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Reposted by Steve Voelker

Sally Aitken 🇨🇦 @sallyaitken.bsky.social · 15d

We are searching for a Forest Ecophysiologist (tenure track Assistant or Associate Professor) to join the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry. Please share! Details are here: ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjobs

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