It’s been a cool, wet June. The vegetation drought has ended. There are two types of droughts: vegetation droughts are at the surface, groundwater droughts are longer lasting and take more rain and snowmelt to reverse, which can take years. Vegetation droughts are worse in terms of fire danger. Groundwater droughts are worse for agriculture and other, mostly human concerns. The end of the vegetation drought is a huge relief for those of us worried about whether our local forests will burn up sooner than later. And it’s a treat for us botanists to get to see our native flora enjoy a more favourable year after the recent terrible drought/heat years that suppressed their growth and reproduction.
Here’s a sharing of photos taken on excursions with the talented young German botanist Ilias Kontos. Most of what Ilias saw was new to him, and some of what we saw during these excursions were pleasant surprises for me. Surprising indeed after twenty years of living in the landscape in these photos. This region of British Columbia is an under-appreciated treasury of biodiversity. I’m glad I got to share some of it with Ilias, and later Connor, for a couple of weeks.
Thank you Ilias, Connor, and Kabuki for the great excursions. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have teken the time to go exploring.