Mountain ash lights up fall mountains, nourishes bears for winter

NATURE — Mountain ash is lighting up the mountains for the delight of hikers and hunters this week as the shrub’s leaves transform to the color of fire.

After huckleberries have faded from the diet of bears in fall, the orange berries of mountain ash help the bruins continue to fatten for winter hibernation.

The evidence is in the Sept. 25 black bear scat in the fourth photo, above.