Will Western Oregon eventually be a scrubland like eastern Oregon? (Marion: ice cream, floods)

[Random_Walk]

Well, it could always just get overrun, with Blackberry bushes getting as aggressive as Kudzu is in the Southern US...

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Arghhhh, the scourge of Algeria!

(Spent lots of sweat this weekend tearing out the infernal vines!)

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

Arghhhh, the scourge of Algeria!

(Spent lots of sweat this weekend tearing out the infernal vines!)

MMm... but just think of the black berry jelly, black berry pies, black berry ice cream topping, black berry lemonade, black berries and cream, black berry BBQ sauce and black berry pies you'll be able to make this summer!

(Yes I said pies twice. I LOVE Black berry pie!)

[callmemaybe]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

The real threat is that population growth will eventually pave the whole west side of the state, which completely destroys the ecology of an area.

I don't think so. Global population isn't growing very fast anymore - where are all those people gonna come from?

[pdxMIKEpdx]

California and New York.

Oh, and maybe one poor homeless dude from Las Vegas.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by callmemaybe

I don't think so. Global population isn't growing very fast anymore - where are all those people gonna come from?

From the desert.

[Squidlo]

Silverfall "There is a silver lining – Oregon businesses can position themselves to take advantage of the business opportunities inherent in addressing global warming." Perhaps I am just a huge skeptic.


That was the only silver lining in the article mentioned. Never mind that a longer warmer growing season in Oregon's fertile Willamette valley would be an agricultural boom. Less fuel or energy needed to heat homes. Would it get sunnier? Swimming outside in May or October? There is an upside to all most anything if you can wrap your head around it. There is a business now in promoting the idea of climate change. It baffles me that people imagine that they will see a significant change in climate in their lifetime. In the terms of geologic time we just came out of an ice age. An 80yr potential human life doesn't compare to the earths climate trends. The beauty of it is: it all sounds plausible and seems logical, but you have to live 1000 years to see if you have been duped.

[mdvaden]

Originally Posted by callmemaybe

With global warming, invasive beetles and ivy, are the green forests of Oregon's days essentially numbered? In 1000 years, will all these beautiful mountains and valleys be desert?

Actually, I understand the present climate changes have actually increased the growth of some trees along the west coast, like with Coast Redwoods, which grow in northern CA and the SW corner of Oregon.

They are actually putting on more wood per year on old growth, than in the last couple of centuries according to samples taken.

Although I don't like Ivy, the forest floor looks greener where I see it growing in a lot of areas.

Beetles?

They seem to come and go.

Back to global warming, I don't think there's been enough change to merit calling the change "warming". Also, given what we do know, or estimate, about historical climate, it sounds like far bigger shifts of climate and temperature are the norm for this planet. So it sounds like mankind has not triggered anything out of the ordinary, even if we do add a tiny influence.

[Fiddlehead]

I think in this case, past can provide some prologue.

During warm periods in the early Holocene, most of W. Oregon looked a lot like N. California. The chaparral formation was much more widespread and the grasslands would be annual vs. perennial (i.e. like the Rogue Valley vs. Willamette). In fact, the vegetation of the inner gorge (near The Dalles) and the Rogue are relictual elements of the past Mediterranean climate that extended northward through the low elevations of W. Oregon. The diversity as a whole would be quite high (as N. California is richer in plant species than W. Oregon), as the moisture loving species would likely persist in the mountains, riverside valleys, and near the immediate coast, but the ridges and south facing slopes would be invaded by the California / Sierran floras, which are drought-adapted and very rich in species. A lot would depend upon how well the species could migrate if changes were too rapid. But I think a warmer, summer-dry Mediterranean climate would ensue, not a cooler desert/steppe climate. Or at least the former species would outcompete the latter. Just my speculation base on the scientific papers I have read of our paleohistory, and my understanding of the climates and vegetation types of CA, W. OR, and E. OR.

[Larry Caldwell]

When I moved to the Umpqua basin from the Willamette basin, I was interested in the number of broad leaf plants that put up shoots in the spring, flower, set seed and die. Grasses don't do so well because the drought kills them.

The Willamette Valley is actually a huge layer of silt washed in by the Missoula floods. The Willamette River bed used to be 30' to 100' below its current level. Of course, sea level was lower then too.