Sandia Mountains (La Luz, House, Manzano: shoppers, bus, cabin)
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Just to be clear for those not familiar with the woods here;
Trees are not dying off - leaving vast swaths of mountainside bare
of trees - as in a forest fire. There is a Spruce dyoff due to insect
infestation. This is a normal part of forests everwhere. Where this
is happening, other species will fill in the gaps. The areas where there
are currently a lot of dead Spruce will someday have more Ponderosa
and Aspen ( depending on the elevation ).
Forest fires don't leave mountainsides bare, they leave charred trees. The bark beetle has killed not only spruce but lots of piñon and ponderosa. The visual effect is not much different from a forest fire. Instead of a green forest you see gray (or after a forest fire, black).
This has happened from NM to British Columbia. From the US Forest Service website: "Data from aerial surveys recorded 2.1 million acres of piñon-juniper woodland and 1.3 million acres of ponderosa pine affected in Arizona and New Mexico during the 2002 - 2004."
Yes, it is "normal" but it is nevertheless discouraging, unattractive, and worrisome, hiking under dead trees that can fall on you. Of course there are still large areas that remain unaffected and healthy. The aspens are still doing well and I'm looking forward to hiking out to Del Agua Overlook in a month or so. I guess my feeling is that I find the destruction caused by the beetle to be a nuisance, just like the growing area of baldness on my head. After 21 years of hiking/skiing Sandia I still never get tired of it, a constant source of inspiration, exercise, discovery, and beauty. If Albuquerque didn't have the Sandias/Manzanos nearby I would find little point in living here.
After 21 years of hiking/skiing Sandia I still never get tired of it, a constant source of inspiration, exercise, discovery, and beauty. If Albuquerque didn't have the Sandias/Manzanos nearby I would find little point in living here.[/quote]
Did you ever look toward the Sandias on one of those rare days when they're entirely covered by clouds?
Blah. Nothing.
These mountains are almost as important to Albuquerque as red and green chilies. ;-)
I love ALL mountain ranges, whether they be in Texas (yep, we have mountains in far West Texas, believe it or not, and I will ignore snarky comments to same), New Mexico, Colorado, Virginia....wherever.
I loved the Ragged and Blue Ridge in VA....I love all of the mountain ranges in NM, all I have seen in CO...and all in my native state of Texas.
I see the Sacramentos every morning when I go out to get my paper in NM...and the San Andres to the west.....and the San Juans out the back of my patio north of Durango.
I see the Glass/Davis/others on my way home to Texas from New Mexico.......I love the drive.
They are all beautiful in their own right, regardless of season, and I never get tired of any of them.
Last edited by Cathy4017; 08-30-2010 at 08:01 PM..
I first saw Albuquerque at 3am in July 1970 driving in through Tijeras Canyon. I rightly
thought it was spectacular at night.
The next morning I saw the Sandias for the first time and I've never lost my appreciation
for them. We have a decent view of them from the rear of our house which was sited
at an angle across the lot to take advantage of that view and the first thing I do every
morning is look out the windows at dawn to see what's happening with them.
I found this on Wikipedia; crowd-sourced, yes, but the figures seem to agree with those provided by MrGoodWX:
"[The Sandia] mountains and highlands beyond the city [of Albuquerque] create a 'rain shadow' effect, due to the drying of descending air movements; the city usually receives very little rain or snow, averaging 8–9 inches (216 mm) of precipitation per year. Valley and west mesa areas, farther from the mountains are drier, averaging 6–8 inches of annual precipitation; the Sandia foothills tend to lift any available moisture, enhancing precipitation to about 10–17 inches annually."
Average annual precipitation at Sandia Park just above 7000 feet: 18.92 in.
Average annual precipitation at ABQ Sunport at 5310 feet: 8.72 in.
Average annual precipitation at ABQ Foothills station (6120 ft): 15.57 in.
Average annual precip at Tijeras Ranger Station (6310 ft): 15.31 in.
Average annual precip ... (6120 ft): 15.57 in.
Average annual precip ... (6310 ft): 15.31 in.
I'm calling those numbers 98.3% the same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrgoodwx
The main source of moisture for most of New Mexico is the Gulf of Mexico.
This sometimes comes in from the East, but usually, it is forced in from
the South via High Pressure to the East or Low Pressure to the West.
Monsoonal flow comes in from the South and you can see this on radar.
Secondarily, the Pacific provides much moisture, but mostly from spent tropical
storms rather than just general moist air. We have gotten some real doozy's from that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aries63
Forest fires don't leave mountainsides bare, they leave charred trees.
OK. Then ( mostly ) bereft of live trees.
The huge area of almost 100% aspen forest on the way to the
Santa Fe ski area is an example of an old fire as is the del Agua
overlook area that was once a burn area.
I agree that I don't like the dead tree areas either. It's like forest
fires, I know that they are a natural part of the system, but the
charred areas are disturbing - like if a predator kills bambi.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aries63
... bark beetle has killed not only spruce but lots of piñon and ponderosa ...
Where have you seen significant widespread damage to the Ponderosa?
Looking up from Ellena Gallegos, you can see lots of dead pines, but
they are all spruce. They have attacked one species there.
The La Luz Trail gives you a variation in scenery and vegetation that
you cannnot get anywhere else without hiking 20 miles. There is
everything from ferns and rainforest plants to desert plants to alpine
species near the edge of the crest.
One additional benefit is that you can hike for a few hours and then
drink beer and/or wine at the end. You can hitch a ride on the Tram
to go down and save the far more difficult descent for the nutballs
who like to hike the round trip.
I would be interested in knowing from people ( when they add a post to
this thread )please say if you have hiked the La Luz Trail.
I'll put that I have hiked it both ways, but have done the one-way+tram
version of the hike also.
The point of showing precipitation averages for Tijeras and the Albuquerque Foothills was to show that...indeed, precipitation at approximately the same elevation is the same on either side of the mountain.
Sources of moisture for New Mexico is an interesting subject, and has drawn a bit of research over the years. Truly, New Mexico is in the region of the country that is the meeting ground for Pacific and Gulf of Mexico moisture. Many years ago, I was involved in the Southwest Area Monsoon Project (SWAMP). One of the big questions we wanted to answer was...where does the moisture come from that ends up falling in the Southwest U.S. We attempted to trace the moisture at different levels of the atmosphere back to its source region. We found the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico both profoundly influential in Mexico (where the real monsoon is). New Mexico tends to benefit from recycled moisture that is spewed into the atmosphere by the 50,000 foot tall storms in Mexico. The farther north we investigated (that is, in the region east of the Continental Divide), the more influential we found the Gulf of Mexico. For Albuquerque, we found the Pacific influential in higher levels of the atmosphere, with the Gulf of Mexico more influential in the lower 10 to 15 thousand feet. That moisture you see streaming northward from Mexico comes from both the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Most of the moisture that comes in from the east and northeast originated from the Gulf of Mexico, was sent far north through the Great Plains, then ushered back south and west behind cold fronts that blast southward through eastern New Mexico and spill through the gaps into the Rio Grande Valley (and points westward). I'll stop here before I put everyone to sleep...
By the way, Mike...my first look at the Sandia Mountains was also in July 1970. I was with family, heading west. It wasn't my turn to drive, so I was shooting super 8 movies of the city and Sandia Mountains as we drove through in early afternoon.
By the way, Mike...my first look at the Sandia Mountains was also in July 1970. I was with family, heading west. It wasn't my turn to drive, so I was shooting super 8 movies of the city and Sandia Mountains as we drove through in early afternoon.
I can't speak for everyone, but I've never read a post from you that I
didn't thoroughly enjoy. You are also our resident meteorological expert.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrgoodwx
... precipitation at approximately the same elevation
is the same on either side of the mountain....
That's my point; The elevation band ( vertical cross section ) of
6,500-7,500 ft on the East side is very wide ( horizontal cross section ).
There are acres and acres of land at that elevation, so people see a wide
expanse of green - due to elevation. The 6,500-7,500 band on the East
side is but a thin line - except for the area in Juan Tabo Canyon.
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I guess my feeling is that I find the destruction caused by the beetle to be a nuisance, just like the growing area of baldness on my head. After 21 years of hiking/skiing Sandia I still never get tired of it, a constant source of inspiration, exercise, discovery, and beauty. If Albuquerque didn't have the Sandias/Manzanos nearby I would find little point in living here.
