We have had the elk come through twice today. The hunters are in the valley and they are not stupid you can almost hear them saying "Hey Fred we should probably go hang by those wood boxes I think something wierd is going on here in the field"
Love this time of year minus all the spiders that want to call our house home.
I really wish I could take all of next week off as it does not look like the weather is going to change much.
Fall is my favorite time of year.
Been looking at the pine trees though and they look like they are going to shed more needles than normal what is up with that? I pulled pictures out from last year and there are way more brown needles this year.
Raking needles is not a favorite chore of mine. When we lived in town some 20 years ago I liked raking the leaves then dropping the dog in the middle of the pile.
Our trees are in the same condition. i have been looking at trees around the neighborhood and same thing. Must have something to do with the moisture this year.
HappyCamper wrote: I really wish I could take all of next week off as it does not look like the weather is going to change much.
Fall is my favorite time of year.
Been looking at the pine trees though and they look like they are going to shed more needles than normal what is up with that? I pulled pictures out from last year and there are way more brown needles this year.
Raking needles is not a favorite chore of mine. When we lived in town some 20 years ago I liked raking the leaves then dropping the dog in the middle of the pile.
We have had a lot more needles browning also.....at first we were concerned because we lost a pine this summer to beetle kill, it turned brown and literally died from the outside in, and from the bottom up in about 3 weeks time....but the other trees are getting brown needles mostly on the inside, so I guess it is normal, just more than usual. Maybe the wet spring/summer has something to do with it?
Ditto on the pine needles.
Fall colors are pretty nice along 72 between Estes park and Nederland.
Nice warm day and lots of traffic and bicycles, be careful out there!
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Not a tree expert, but do have a passion for ecology. Published papers on biomass turnover site climatic conditions as the most important factors affecting the longevity of needles and the needle-shed dynamics. Climatic conditions include rainfall, sunlight, temperature, latitude, etc. Some climatic factors can be ignored since they do not vary such as latitude. Hence it comes down to variables such as rainfall and heat in particular and the longevity of evergreen needles in general. Needle longevity is species specific, with many having a turnover cycle of around 3 years. Perhaps the easiest way to think about the whole matter is to think of this in terms of metabolic cost. Growing new needles is metabolically expensive, meaning it takes considerable energy, energy that must also be parsed among spore production and woody growth. Enhanced climatic conditions (i.e. increased rainfall coupled with adequate sunlight) enhance energy production, whereas infestations (pine beetle, mistletoe, pine needle scale, etc) or environmental strains (too hot, too wet) drain a tree of energy. In conclusion, the interplay between stress and energy production controls excessive needle turnover. It would seem that high rainfall enhances energy production and thus the retention of needles. Hot summers stress many evergreens, thus promote extra needle drop. In conclusion, assuming that there are no new widespread infestations and we have not changed latitude , the observed high needle turnover likely signals a climatic stress either from too much rainfall or more likely excessive summer time temperatures.
, the observed high needle turnover likely signals a climatic stress either from too much rainfall or more likely excessive summer time temperatures. 
