The summit of Gregory Bald (el. 4,949 ft/1,508 m) in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.

The character and distribution of Appalachian balds remained stable from the time the first naturalists explored the region, until forestry regulations no longer permitted annual pasturing of local cattle. While there is some evidence that grassy balds have natural origins, the forest quickly started to reclaim the balds once large-scale livestock grazing was eliminated by the creation of national parks and national forests, with some such as Gregory Bald being maintained by the National Park Service.

While it seems that the balds are maintained by the feeding activities of herbivores, another theory is that the balds are isolated artifacts, not natural landscapes, and a result of Native American activities or the European settlers’ agricultural practices. In other words, that the land is maintained by humans herding herbivores up there.

#Ecosystem #Prehistoric #NorthAmerica

Grassy Ridge Bald, one of the highest grassy balds in the Appalachian Mountains, at Roan Mountain on the N.C.-Tennessee state line.

Balds are home to a variety of what Weigl calls “rare, endemic, relict and disjunct plant species.” These species are light-dependent and cannot exist in forested habitats, and they must have existed over large enough distances and periods of time to speciate. Balds that have grown over have a significant decrease in vertebrate diversity, as well.

There are other places with similar stories. The polonina in Poland are one such habitat that Weigl has studied. They also support rare plants and have large herbivores including European bison, red deer, wild horses, and wild cattle. In addition to fossil data, there is a record of megafauna left by drawings on the walls of caves in that region. There are also grass balds in the Oregon coast with a similar history and rare species.

Whatever their origin, the unmanaged balds are disappearing.

#Ecosystem #Prehistoric #NorthAmerica

This but real i violently hate being restricted by my van

Last week my wheel bearing blew out and i have to get the brake caliper replaced too you know what doesnt randomly blow out mid ride and leave you stranded in a no reception national forrest? A horse

Dont call yourself trad until you cook with dried shit like the pioneers

Goes to show what I've been saying for years, doctors dont know what the fuck theyre talking about when they say oh your seratonin is off take these pills they didnt do a brain scan and test your hormone balance they dont know its off they dont even really know how the hormones work youre a lab rat and destroying your mind

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210916131312.htm

« The elk that you glimpse in the summer, those at the forest edge, are survivors of winter, only the strongest. You see one just before dusk that summer, standing at the perimeter of the meadow so it can step back to the forest and vanish. You can’t help imagining the still, frozen nights behind it, so cold that the slightest motion is monumental. I have found their bodies, half drifted over in snow, no sign of animal attack or injury. Just toppled over one night with ice working into their lungs. You wouldn’t want to stand outside for more than a few minutes in that kind of weather. If you lived through only one of those winters the way this elk has, you would write books about it. You would become a shaman. You would be forever changed. That elk from the winter stands there on the summer evening, watching from beside the forest. It keeps its story to itself. »

British Primitive goats sighted by a friend on Glyder Fach.

Also known as the Old British or British Landrace goat, this ancient breed dates back to the Neolithic period, around 3,000 BCE.

Only around 1,200 British Primitive remain in the isles, with their primary remaining herds across the Snowdonia and Black Mountain regions of Wales, Northumberland and Somerset in England, and deep in the Highland ranges of Scotland.

Yosemite - Forest fire in moonlit landscape (1886)

by Jules Tavernier (1844-1889)

A Khanty mother and her child eating raw reindeer meat in the Yamal Peninsula (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), northern Siberia, Russia, 1991.