We’re on our second day in the Badlands now. The weather has been more forgiving today as a constant wind works to cool off the heat. Yet, the sun still shines strong, and I can feel myself being burned by its radiation. Today we did a few short hikes around the area, exploring the cliffs, ridges and small canyons of the Badlands NP. At a distance, the area seems sterile and bland, but in fact it had much life and excitement. One example was a rattlesnake, who was not pleased to have us there based on the intensity of its rattle. Poor animal who has to be social!
Another thing I’ve found was a small orange-colored flower all alone on the margin of the canyon we visited at the Badlands National Park - the Door Trail. Later on the day, Dr. Gulezian was able to identify the plant as Scarlet Globemallow, or Sphaeralcea coccinea, from the Mallow family - Malvaceae.
It was growing on a soil that was very dry and full of gravel. Apparently this is the perfect condition for it to thrive and grow abundantly, although it seems like it wasn’t the case. I didn’t see any insects around, but there were some other plants next to it.
I chose this plant because I hadn’t seen it before, and it looked quite solitary, if not rare. From the looks of it, I wouldn’t have guessed that it thrives on drought, but rather that it struggles to survive in such conditions.
It was quite appalling to realize that the Badlands were once a place with fertile grounds and now is parallel to a desert largely due to climate change. Of course there was some degree of natural erosion, but such things tend to be exacerbated by climate change. It reminded me of Dan Egan’s essay about Lake Erie, as the consequences of human exploitation of nature sometimes only appear after much time has passed, and it may not even seem related, However, as smart apes, if we study something such as the desertification and erosion of the Badlands, we’ll probably find connections to our way of living. Thus, we ought to keep in mind the cumulative effects of our actions as they may have unforeseeable consequences that may shift or devastate ecosystems.
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