Bob Tregilus :tux:📷:copyleft: on Nostr: I love off-trail hiking in canyon country, but it's slow going, cautiously tiptoeing ...

I love off-trail hiking in canyon country, but it's slow going, cautiously tiptoeing & rock hopping your way across the cryptogamic crusts (biocrust), often being forced to doubleback & find another route. Biocrust is a living organism that fixes carbon & nitrogen in the soil. It's a microhabitat of fungi, lichens, cyanobacteria, bryophytes, & algae. Once the crust is crushed by careless human activity or cattle it can take a hundred years to reestablish itself. Don't crush the crust!

#Desert