Mystery Tree

There are many fantastical things in an old forest. As evidence of this, a Vancouver Island Big Trees blog reader sent two photographs showing trees in the Victoria area. 

Their branching pattern looks more like calligraphy than anything. They dance and swing in a celebration of the temperate rainforest, one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. But who are the dancers? 

"What kind of trees are these?" the reader asked. 

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I have a species in mind, but am wondering what readers think. What kind of tree in the coastal forest has such a bold branching pattern? Can you solve this mystery?

You can record your educated guess in the comment section below. Or just enjoy these beautiful photos of the magical calligraphy of old, undisturbed forests. What a joy to see their dance, and hear their story.

Note: If I remember correctly, these trees were photographed in Francis King Regional Park.

Killing Ancient Trees Until They Are All Gone

You have to work hard to bring down an ancient red cedar that has been standing
in the primal forest for a thousand years, or more.

I found the photo above on a friend's Facebook account. It reportedly depicted a logging incident sometime recently on Vancouver Island. 

Like so much on social media, one can not be sure of what one is seeing. Is it one tree, or two? Even if it two, these represent large, old trees, the likes of which are disappearing in our coastal temperate forests.

Upon doing a bit of research, I found information that lent some credibility to this photo and the time in which is was taken. I hoped that it was a photo from decades ago when we were less enlightened. Maybe it is.

But the fact of the matter is that B.C.'s old growth trees, most of which are massive and ancient, continue to be cut down. When these trees go, so goes the health of the forest ecosystem.

When do we stop? Is the plan to cut all old growth down, for the profit of Wall Street hedge funds? What will the logging industry do then? 

Whatever they plan on doing when the old growth is driven to extinction, should be done now. BEFORE all the big, old trees are gone.

At this point, all remaining old growth forests on Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland are worth much more left standing than they are by cutting them down. People want to see these magical forests. There is no such thing as a magical clearcut.

If we allow corporate logging interests to kill the ancient trees until they are all gone, B.C., and the world, will be at a great loss. Our ancestors will wonder what was wrong with us, and why we allowed such beautiful living things to be liquidated.