>>2066108>How long ago was that? Do you know any secrets or lore or history?It was about 2006. I think the coolest bit of lore I know is about the distribution of salamanders. In the 1800’s they were basically clear cutting the virgin spruce timber on the mountain. If you’ve ever seen the virgin spruce forest (there’s not much of it left up there), the floor is covered in moss. It’s quite pretty and really looks like faeries or leprechauns should be living there.
Anyway, when you remove the tree cover the moss dries out into peat and the sparks from the trains carrying the timber out of the area would set fire to it. Peat smolders and burns incredibly hot. This started a massive wildfire one summer, which was blazing so brightly that a reporter who came to write a story on the fires could read the newspaper by the light of it sitting on his porch in the next valley over.
Now how does a fire affect the distribution of salamanders? Salamanders loved the mossy areas and rich moist soils that cover the mountains. They used to be distributed all over the place, but now are only found primarily near boulder fields in the mixed deciduous forests that replaced the spruce. The reason being that it it’s the offspring of the salamanders who preferred to be near the boulder fields that could hide from the heat of the fire under large rocks since everything else died out.
Pic is a Wherle’s Salamander
