Photo by Dale Day
40,000 trees all joined together by a single root system. One massive tree! Thought to be 8,000 years old.
Think about it.
The Pando aspen is dying due to drought and, as is so often the case, the intrusion of humans. Mankind – the most destructive agent on the face of this earth.
The forest has been failing to self-reproduce for the last 30 to 40 years, researchers say, due primarily to grazing from deer and cattle, which have been allowed to overrun the area.
“While Pando has likely existed for thousands of years – we have no method of firmly fixing its age – it is now collapsing on our watch,” Professor Paul Rogers, an ecologist at Utah State University, told the Independent.
More @ 'Largest living thing,' an 80,000-year-old Utah forest, is dying, scientists warn
40,000 trees all joined together by a single root system. One massive tree! Thought to be 8,000 years old.
Think about it.
The Pando aspen is dying due to drought and, as is so often the case, the intrusion of humans. Mankind – the most destructive agent on the face of this earth.
The forest has been failing to self-reproduce for the last 30 to 40 years, researchers say, due primarily to grazing from deer and cattle, which have been allowed to overrun the area.
“While Pando has likely existed for thousands of years – we have no method of firmly fixing its age – it is now collapsing on our watch,” Professor Paul Rogers, an ecologist at Utah State University, told the Independent.
More @ 'Largest living thing,' an 80,000-year-old Utah forest, is dying, scientists warn