Sun Down again

The view down the street this afternoon.


















We've been having some strong wind storms. This afternoon, about sundown, the wind was taking the dust northeast. The wind blows huge amounts of soil, very fine dust mostly, into the air, and then carries it away in huge choking clouds.

The lands producing most of this dust are the vast acres burned by wildfire. The oceans of sage and clump grass having been burning away over these lands in what has become a annual ritual. The burned lands may never recover. There are now invasive species of grass weed that are propagating so quickly that the same lands can burn year after year. Mostly cheatgrass. There are a lot of different strategies, and tactics, much discussion, and some execution, on how to best address this problem.

I don't think there is a local solution. It appears to me that a different climate, one that provided more rain and snowfall, might be required. That may not come anytime soon.....

I wonder if 500 years from now this area will be the north reaches of the Mojave Desert?