> >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.