sunshine through fog and pine

This image was taken from the forest access road, looking up a very steep incline. The areas of pine forest are not very large, but are quite beautiful, especially in contrast to the dry grasslands, chapparal and barren rock faces visible during the summer months when looking in the opposite direction.

Patrick, I like your shot & I guess that the angle take at adds to the uniqueness of the shot. Over here in NZ, almost every stand of pine is harvested & unpruned trees are somewhat hard to find. But up in the more steep areas, there are always 'wilding pines' from seeds that have blown from trees & those trees can damage mountainous slopes, so they are cut down & usually removed before any damage can be done. Cheers from Christchurch, Peter.

Thanks for the comment. I loved NZ. When I was there in '06 I saw a lot of clear-cut areas but did not know that about the cutting of wild trees. Seems a shame. The particular stand of trees in this photo covers only a few hectares. Someone told me the area was mostly clear-cut to provide wood for buildings in Los Angeles in the early 1900's. These trees are maybe 30 cm diameter at most, but there is an even smaller grove nearby with trunks 1 to 2 m in diameter.

Hi Patrick, The problem with the wilding pines is that they actually do damage to the mountainsides, and they have to spend a quite a bit of money to remove those trees.

Where I live in Christchurch, we get a yellow dust that comes from the pine tree plantations just north of here - less than 2km as the birds fly. Leves a yellow dust to window sills, and when it rains the stuff floats on the water...

About 99% of pine trees here plantation stuff, waiting to be cut somewhere at about the 25 to 30 year period. Then replanted quickly. Very few trees get to a metre in diametre here - that is quite a few more years growing.

Cheers, Pb