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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >Lichen is the miner's canary--if you have lichen that means your 
> environment is very unpolluted. I would never get rid of my lichen, I 
> consult it for signs like I do my watch for time.--Sage

Sage, you don't live in the temperate rain forest.  Here lichens are a sign 
that they have found something decaying to feed on.  Lichens are, of course, 
epiphytes on the trees and are a symbiosis of algae and fungus.  The fungus 
has 
to have a substrate from which to grow and that's the tree bark.  The tree 
hasn't bargained for this in creating a barrier against bacteria and invasive 
fungus. If the lichen grows too rampant, the bark barrier can be compromised.

There are a few lichen on every tree here of every kind.  But when you can't 
see the trunk, they've gone too far.

James