Tag: Nature

Nature

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Reservoir and Drought

Here is Uvas Reservoir now, during our drought. The water is usually much higher.

Uvas Reservoir

Still, that is better than it was five months ago before we had even modest rain amounts. Here is the same spot in October below.

Uvas Reservoir

Below is another part of Uvas reservoir now, during our drought.

Uvas Reservoir

You have to go a ways down to get to the water. Still, that is better than it was in October as seen below.

Uvas Reservoir

It is amazing how many gallons of water that difference represents at just one of many reservoirs we have. I look forward to comparing these photos to future wet and dry years. Interestingly, when it is wet, or wetter, dry, or drier, there always seems to be people out here finding some form of recreation. I didn’t capture it in photos but there are at least 20 people around me as I took these photos on both dates fishing, walking, relaxing, and taking photos.

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Last of its Kind

Ginkgo

I love these beautiful trees. They turn yellow in the fall and then eventually blanket the earth around them in the brightest yellow. They are the Ginkgo Tree. What is also fascinating about them is that they are the last living species of a tree type that predates the flowering trees with leaves that we see so often. What? Are those not leaves in the picture? Yes, they are leaves. However, they are not like any other leaves on any other living tree on all of the earth today.

To oversimplify: the first trees on Earth were types of ferns which reproduce from spores, then later came the kinds with needles like pine trees which reproduce from seeds and pollen, and then later came flowering trees that have flat leaves and reproduce with flowers and pollen to make their seeds. The ginkgo used to be one of many similar tree species that are closely related to conifers, those trees with needles. They did not use flowers, just like other needle trees. However, their needles were modified in a way that the needles were essentially unrolled into a flat wavy fan. Yeah, so basically the ginkgo leaves are unrolled tree needles. And, there used to be lots and lots of these types of trees on Earth for millions of years. And then, when the flowering plants came about and started to take over so successfully, only the ginkgo tree of the unrolled needle type trees survived into modern times. To add on to the interesting-ness, the ginkgo is sometimes referred to as a “fossil tree” because it has essentially remained the same for 60 million years; not evolving much during that time. When you look and appreciate the ginkgo, you can contemplate so much. This is a special type of beautiful tree.

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Uvas Reservoir

Uvas Reservoir nearly empty

This photo was taken from “inside” the Uvas Reservoir just before last week’s rain. many things are interesting about this and about the time spent standing “in” there, thinking. One neat thing about this was this tree stump. The dam was built in 1957 and this tree has presumably been submerged ever since. Or, at least, most of the time ever since. Maybe it was exposed in other droughts? Certainly it was submerged every time I had happened to ever visit the reservoir here in the Santa Clara County Park. Either way, this tree was once a tree along Uvas Creek before there was a reservoir about it. This tree has been sitting under water for most of 64 years, brushing up against fish and snails and water molecules for decades.