| The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note of any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. |
Salmon Fish trap, taking them all (1914)
The Northwest corner of what is now the US, has been a verdant cornucopia of life sustaining natural resources for eons. This abundance of nature's blessings had sustained the indigenous people here for at least 10,000 years. The forests and waters were the very core and substance of the sophisticated culture of the Northwest Coastal Salish as reflected in their traditions, totems, and art work.
When white Europeans began settling in the Pacific Northwest in the 1850s they too marveled at the abundance of natural resources that, in their minds would be theirs just for the taking. They appeared to believe that these resources would go on giving forever. The most immediate focus of their desire was lumber with enormous forests of Western redcedars (Thuja plicata) and Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) among others covering every inch of the land. At the same time it was impossible for them to ignore the numerous streams and rivers that fed into Puget Sound, all teeming with huge salmon.
A 8" 2" Old growth Douglas Fir slab, US Forest Service, Glacier WA. (8/11/13)
Please continue below the clump of salmon eggs.