Tuesday, October 27, 2009

My World Tuesday ~ A walk on the Dunes

Another one of those Oreo cookie moments between a steady stream of storms. The winds blew and blew and blew the clouds away. The sea took a little longer to settle.
The east coast of the Graham Island is mostly beautiful sand beaches for about 100 kms terminating at Rose Spit at the northeast end of the island. The Hecate Strait (seperating Haida Gwaii from mainland British Columbia) is shallow and sandy and our prevailing wind is a "southeaster".
These strong winds blow the sand that washes up on the beaches inland to form dunes. The sands if not anchored by grasses or blocked by debri on the beachs will move over a landscape claiming everything in its way.
When the natural dune vegetation is disturbed by grazing,or something as simple as
human traffic
The dunes move inland,
suffocating trees and plants
and encroaching on forests, changing vegetation (this is a border region where dune grasses are moving into the forest). As the trees are suffocated they die and become vulnerable to the winds.
Beautiful to visit and explore but so fragile.

To learn more about other great places from around the world go to
MY WORLD TUESDAY.


16 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Looks like a wodnerful place for a walk. The scenery and beach is beautiful.

Kcalpesh said...

I can image the joy of being in such a beautiful calm and peaceful day, enjoying a walk and doing things you'd love to do...

- Pixellicious Photos

My name is Riet said...

Great beach, great pictures. Love them all.

Anonymous said...

It is a beautiful spot, but wow, so fragile and sad that enjoying it might actually destroy the very thing.

LadyFi said...

Such fragile beauty. Thanks for sharing.

Susan Ellis said...

Stunning! Would love to go for a walk there

The Explorer said...

i learned something from you because of this post. thanks

Sylvia K said...

It is indeed such fragile beauty! And it is sad to think of the possibility of it being destroyed over the years. Your photos are fabulous! Thanks for sharing!

Enjoy your day!

Sylvia

Louise said...

Ahhhh, the beach! What a pretty one. Like your driftwood picture.

Powell River Books said...

When we fly along the Oregon coast we see lots of dunes and of course, out in the California deserts. You mentioned your pilot's licenses and flying. We miss flying here in Canada. Our plane is trapped in the States and we don't really want to convert our licenses because of that. We used to love flying all over Canada, but we are now terra firma bound for different reasons. - Margy

Jenn Jilks said...

Great shots. I've been on a grief training course. Sooo busy! (I'm not used to that!)

You are right about the cell phones - put them away!
Thank you for visiting My Muskoka !

Gaelyn said...

This is a beautiful beach. Love the driftwood. Seems very natual for the beach and grasses to reclaim forest. Great captures.

Janie said...

Your oreo moments are beautiful.
Interesting to hear how human traffic or grazing can change the natural order. Our desert environment has the same trouble. It's delicate, and our insensitive human ways cause unexpected change, sometimes irreversible.

Marites said...

I like how you explained the effect of the wind and the dune to the inland ecosystem. This may be beautiful as we see its beauty but in actuality, the fragile state of the forest is something to worry about.

Tammie Lee said...

Thank you for this lovely insight to the nature of your area. Those blue skies are so lovely amongst our gray days.

Linda said...

I didn't realise that something as apparently innocuous as a path could disturb the environment to that extent.

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