Day 305 - Lichen

150 year old tree and lichen galore

Lichen

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The buzz of chainsaws echoes through the forest and freshly felled trees are presently everywhere; it must be the felling season. Peering at the seasonal rings can be quite enlightening and as with Antarctic ice there are many clues to the changing climate hidden in each layer. Counting the rings of one felled tree I reckon it was around 150 years old. That means that it started life in the mid nineteenth century almost before cars existed. Ring thicknesses vary depending on whether it was a good or poor year for growth. Looking at one pile of felled trees it would seem that around 50 years ago there was a change to the local environment as the previous 20 years had produced darker rings. I am no expert but I could hazard a wild guess that it was smoke from wood and coal fires in Bad Wildbad and Sommerberg that had caused the darkening effect. Since the 1950s gas central heating has become common place and that may well be reflected in the rings. I could be completely wrong of course. Pale turquoise lichen can be found throughout the forest much of it covering the trees. Lichen is a good indicator of air quality as according to Wikipedia it is particularly sensitive to manufactured pollutants.