Fresno writer discovers what Yosemite can teach Californians about healthy forests
Special to the Fresno Bee
C.J. WILSON OCTOBER 14, 2023
It was raining when I arrived in Yosemite Valley, and the forest looked more alive than I’d ever seen it. The trees were covered in dark-green moss, and the smell of wet pine made me forget my damp clothes. A small price to pay for an enriching experience. When I returned to Fresno, I find flooded neighborhoods and closed streets.
Yosemite’s rain was way more intense than Fresno’s, but the park was beautified while my home was disrupted. As Tropical Storm Hilary came through, I thought about why.
The answer was the forest. Not the trees or the soil, or the leaves and soft earth, but all of it, working in tandem to stabilize the environment. Even the smallest parts have a big role to play.
Take mosses, for example. Mosses need the same two things as any other plant: sunlight and water. But, lacking root systems, they can’t take that water from the earth. So, instead, many specialize in holding water when it comes their way. Touch a patch of dry moss, you’ll notice a texture not unlike a dry sponge. Mosses are highly absorptive. Some can hold 20-30 times their weight. With so much moss present in a healthy environment (ground moss, alone, covers as much of the Earth’s surface as the United States), that’s a lot of material to slow flooding. Plus, the environment provided by ground moss is often prime real estate for seedlings, encouraging the growth of new trees.
or players get even smaller. Grocery store mushrooms are only the flowering part of the plant: most of the rest is made up of hair-thin strands running through the soil, called mycelium. These strands number in the hundreds, and act as reinforcing cord that keeps soil bound together to keep from washing away in a flood. These strands also weave through other plants’ roots to create a network of “mycorrhizal fungi,” which distribute nutrients from healthy plants to damaged ones and keep the forest whole.
Moss and mycelium. Both almost beyond notice. Both are crucial. Without mosses, some trees can’t sprout seedlings, and the forest is inundated even in small rains. Without mycelium, soils are washed away with ease and the trees that buffer floodwaters are blown over or fail to recover from damage.
Both beings are also vulnerable. Moss is sensitive to air pollution and serves as a canary in the coal mine for air quality. Mycorrhizal fungi is no less vulnerable, and Europe has linked malnourished forests to pollution-damaged fungi.
Healthy forests have become a political talking point. No surprise: we live near three national parks and they play a huge role in air quality, stable climate, and flood control. It’s easy to think of healthy forest initiatives in terms of trees planted. But, if we want to improve the health of our forests — and doing so will accomplish so much more than simply reducing flood risk — then we need to see them not as inert places full of statuesque trees, but as networks of living organisms in constant interaction. This means we need holistic approaches that take all aspects of forest health into account, rather than “magic bullet” solutions.
In the same way the forest is tied together by the small and unnoticed, our approaches to forest health need to pay attention to the little things. Managing soil health and reducing things like microplastics and air pollution can be as important as planting those big, eye-catching trees. Likewise, we need to remember how our seemingly small actions can do big damage. Remember the moss and the fungus: crucial and fascinating, but overlooked and fragile.
C.J. Wilson is a freelance writer and outdoor/environmental educator in Fresno
https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article280510229.html
