MicroArk Project Invitation

An interesting comment was left here a few days ago. I am posting it to reach a wider audience because it sounds like an amazing opportunity to imagine and implement projects to make a difference. 

MicroArks! I love the sound of that.

Hi there! 

I'm lucky enough to have access to quite a number of native tree seedlings on an East Sooke property. The ones easiest to transplant are between 1-4 yrs old.

There are Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, Hemlock, Spruce, Alder,and Broad Leaf Maple in various quantities.

Also, Salal, Oregon Grape, Huckleberries, Ocean Spray, Salmon and Thimble Berries,and more.

At a Victoria location there are Garry Oaks, Arbutus, and Snowberries. 

There's also some duff infused with Mycorrhizal fungus and epiphytic moss, lichen and liverworts to innoculate the replanting sites. 

I'd really like to find carefully considered locations for replanting and long term care.

I transplanted about 50-60 with a small group of mostly kids a year ago but a repeat didn't happen due to Covid 19.

I'm hoping to connect with any people interested in some small scale, responsible, replanting collaborations in the next few months. Or even to simply discuss the concepts and processes involved.

I feel we need to establish some "MicroArks" consisting of groups of trees and their associated flora and fauna that are carefully considered and cared for.

They will provide examples to be replicated thus beginning the regrowth of truly natural forests for perpetuity.

Thanks for your interest!

Paul Winstanley

Spectrafocus

20/1/21

paul@spectrafocus.ca 250-899-9285 

BC Wood Makes Beautiful Music

This Yamaha guitar has an old growth sitka spruce solid wood soundboard.
B.C. wood is in 80% of the world’s solid wood guitar soundboards. 

British Columbia's old growth forests are the number one go-to wood lot of choice for local and international guitar makers alike.

"Abbotsford-based David Lapeyrouse of Timbre Tonewood, who supplies wood to guitar makers, estimates there are 10,000 guitar builders in North America, 1,000 in Canada and a disproportionate 500 or more in B.C. At one point, back in 1999, Lapeyrouse had a quarter of the global market in solid wood soundboards, the vital resonating top face of a guitar. 

Why is B.C. such a hot spot for luthiers and instrument-grade wood? Three reasons -

1. Jean Larrivée of Larrivée guitars,
2. artisan Michael Dunn, and
3. B.C.’s old growth forests.

 The growing number of aging boomers doesn’t hurt either. 

Classical guitar with birdseye maple side and back, and cedar soundboard.

B.C. wood is in 80 per cent of the world’s solid wood soundboards, Lapeyrouse said. The remaining guitars are plywood topped — and most of those are surfaced with B.C. wood. 

B.C. is world-renowned for its old growth Engelmann and Sitka spruce and red cedar “tone wood.” Luthiers (artisans who make stringed instruments) covet the straight, fine grain found in old forests where trees compete for light and grow slowly. The wood must be carefully lined up along two dimensions for cutting. 

“The tonal quality is based on whether it’s cut right so it captures the wood’s natural strength,” Lapeyrouse said. Cut it wrong and you get a thud instead of a musical ting when you tap the wood. 

Of nine million guitars built globally each year, 2.5 million have solid wood tops, with two million come from B.C. at about $15 million wholesale, Lapeyrouse said. Most of the wood is shipped to Taiwan, Korea and China."

This department store special is made of plywood. While it has its
merits, superb tonal quality is not one of them.

It is important to harvest valuable old growth sustainably so we can continue to have access to high grade instrument-quality wood.

Decisions we make now will affect musicians and instrument makers for centuries to come.

Read more about BC guitars and guitar makers here. 

Magical Mossy Maples

It's the season of the Moss in the Pacific rain forest

Rolling stones gather no moss, but trees sure do. Now is the best time to see the display of aerial gardens in the Pacific rain forest. These epiphytic plants  hang from the trunks and branches of trees in a display that may only be rivalled by the Fangorn Forest itself.

Especially cloaked in the temperate rain forest are the Big leaf maples.

The climate is mild enough that there are plants growing year round here. Some species thrive in the mild winter temperatures. Included in this category would be a wide variety of mosses and some ferns.

Moss-dripped trees are reminiscent of Tolkien's Fangorn Forest.

During summer droughts moss goes into stasis until relieved by fall rains. Then through the slide
toward the shortest day of the year the moss gains a robust, puffy green that is best enjoyed this time of year.

Big leaf maple also has an association with the epiphytic licorice fern.

The association between moss and the maple trees is mutually beneficial for both. Nature is expert at ensuring such win-win interactions between species.

The moss gets a scaffolding on which to grow and thrive. These "air plants" are able to absorb water and nutrients from the atmosphere, rain, and bits of forest debris. What does the tree derive from this symbiotic relationship?

The Big leaf maple has the ability to grow "canopy roots" from the tops of their branches up into the rafts of moss, thus gaining water and nutrients from them.

Just like in Tolkien's Middle Earth forest, there is magic at work in this world's Pacific rain forest.

Money Maple Mishap

Left - Norway maple, Right - North American sugar maple

There mustn't be any botanists left still in the service of the people in this wonderful, forested country of ours. If there was, we surely would have avoided our country's recent money maple mishap.

When the Bank of Canada released the new $20.00 dollar bill, it could be seen by some that it shows a leaf of the Norway maple rather than the native North American Sugar maple leaf. What is going on in this country of ours?

First we lose the theme song for Hockey Night In Canada, and now foreign maples are invading not only our streets, but our currency as well.

Invasive Norway maple leaf is above the 20 on left

The maple leaf has been a symbol of the vast treed wilderness of what is now Canada since the 18th century. In all that time the sugar maple has been one of Canada's most important trees. I am no flag waver, but I do like trees. And maple syrup.

While the sugar maple only grows in the east, our west coast Bigleaf maples are closely related. Both varieties produce sap that can be made into syrup, but the eastern varieties produce a higher quality.

But what our western maple lacks in sap sugars it makes up for in leaf size. It has the largest leaves of any maple tree.

Leaf from Canadian flag

So important is the maple tree that its leaf also shows up on the Canadian flag. The leaf depicted is of a stylized variety. However, compared with the two leaves in the top photo, one can see it is more like the Sugar maple than the Norway variety.


The BOC says the leaf on the $20 is also of the 'stylized' variety, and that its appearance doesn't matter.



There are probably a few botanists (and a bunch of Canadians, including this one) that would beg to differ.

Bigleaf maple can be found on the west coast
and leaves can be as large as 30cm +

Mossy Maples

Moss covered Bigleaf Maples, Sooke River

Every season is a good one to be out in the forest. Right now, for example, with winter solstice just days away, the temperate rain forest is moss-puffy perfection.

With Bigleaf maple tree's branches leafless and visible, the green glowing moss is available for inspection. Of the thousands of different life forms in the forest, only a few have ever been seen and recorded.

Scientists inspecting in the canopy of the old growth forest of Carmanah Valley have found invertebrates, mosses, lichens, fungi, algae, protozoa, and soil bacteria previously undiscovered. 

Many of the species discovered only thrive in forests over a hundred years old.

Winter is a good time for a hike in the temperate rain forest of Vancouver Island

Under the moss on the branches of the maple lies a layer of soil that provides a rich environment for a variety of living things. It is estimated that there are 4 times more species of bacteria in one handful of soil than the number of species of higher plants in all of British Columbia.

Bigleaf maple branches send roots from the top of the branches into this soil and moss layer. The moss and soil give nutrients to these roots in return for the favour of the tree's scaffolding. Both benefit.

With winter rains and no deciduous leaves (except underfoot), now is a great time to take a hike in the forest and enjoy major moss at the peak season for growth and viewing.

Big Leaf Maple Comes By Name Honestly

Large Big leaf maple, San Juan Bridge Forestry Service Campground

The largest known Big leaf maple in the province of BC grows on the lower mainland in Vancouver's city-center Stanley Park. The big-leafed big tree is 10.70 m/35 ft in circumference, 29 m/95 ft in height, with a crown spread of 19.5 m/64 ft, and 533 AFA points. Stanley Park has champion maples galore with 5 more on the list of BC's 10 largest Big leaf maples.

That's not to say that Vancouver Island doesn't have some large maples of its own, like the epiphyte-draped tree shown above. This tree is in the same area as the more famous San Juan Spruce, the largest spruce tree in Canada. The Big leaf maple is a short distance away, dominating the center of the campground, and looking like something out of a Tolkien tale.

Big leaf maple leaves/seeds

The Big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), is the largest maple in Canada, and the largest deciduous tree in the coastal forest. This tree lives up to its name and produces giant leaves as large as a medium pizza.

A favourite fall activity on the coast is getting out into the forest to see who can collect the largest leaf. Not surprisingly, the winner is usually found in Vancouver.

The largest maple leaf currently on record measured 53 cm (20.86 in) wide and 52.2 cm (20.55 in) long and was discovered by Vikas Tanwar and family in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, on 14 December 2010. 

Big Leaf Maple Facts

• grows up to 40 m tall, with leaves possibly up to 60 cm wide
• in forest has narrow crown with single branch free trunk and small narrow crown
• in open trunk branches low down into many branch trunks growing into a large crown
• restricted to southwest corner of BC low to mid-elevations
• like gravely moist soil as beside rivers and lakes
• grows in mixed forests
• older trees are draped in mosses, ferns and lichens because the bark is rich in nutrients and moisture
• the tree will extend roots up from the branches into the gathering moist material resting on them
• older trees are notorious for dropping large limbs

More Coastal Colour

Brilliant fall display beside Todd Creek and the timber trestle, Galloping Goose Trail

The winter weather has swept in with gale force winds up to 34 knots knocking down trees and cutting power to thousands of hydro customers. Power lines are not the only things coming down though, as whatever colour was left on the deciduous trees gets blown off. Good thing I got a few photos before the gales blew through.

Leaf litter is rich in nutrients providing a natural soil enhancer for the forest

Soon the deciduous trees will show their beautiful skeletal structures as their bare branches are silhouetted against the winter sky. Their amazing patterns remind us of many similar ones we see in nature, such as those formed by flowing water, our vascular system, or our lungs.

Trees amaze, regardless of the season.

Coastal Fall Colours

Bigleaf maple provide a splash of yellow on Lower Thetis Lake trail

Unlike the great deciduous forests of eastern North America, the coastal temperate rainforest is not a place people come to see fall colours. We have our share of colourful broad-leaf trees, it is just that they are a minor part of the forest. But what they lack in fall attire, they make up for in their importance to the forest ecosystem.

Here the giant centuries old conifers rule the land while deciduous trees are relegated to the fringes and clearings of the forest.

Arbutus is a broad-leaf tree that keeps its leaves,
but continuously sheds its bark- deciduous and evergreen.

Dense stands of mature conifer forest contain few colourful fall trees, but where the continuous canopy is broken, broad leaf trees fill in. Rocky outcrops form clearings in the forest, providing space for Garry oak and Arbutus to move in.

Arbutus is Canada's only broad-leaved conifer - it does not shed its leaves in the fall, and they are green year round. However, this beautiful, sun-loving tree does shed its orange-brown bark to reveal the fresh green bark underneath.

Large Bigleaf maple, Sooke River Road

Barrow's Goldeneye

Local lakes and rivers often have large Black cottonwoods growing along the freshwater waterfront. These massive moisture-loving trees provide perches and nesting sites for eagles and other large birds of prey.

More than 60% of the world's Barrow's goldeneyes nest in Black cottonwood trees. Right now cottonwoods heart-shaped leaves are turning yellow and carpeting the forest floor.

Black cottonwood form the
upper canopy along the Goldstream River

Deciduous trees are a small yet important part of the coastal forest ecosystem. They are the pioneer trees that reclaim disturbed areas for the future conifer forest. Red alder, usually the first tree to colonize areas like clear cuts, can fix nitrogen into a form plants can use. Deciduous leaves are less acidic than conifer needles, and are a rich source of nutrients for building the soil.

Broad-leaved trees also provide important wildlife habitat. Woodpeckers excavate new cavity nests each year, and these are frequently made in deciduous trees. Deciduous don't live as long, and decay faster than the resinous, long-lived conifers, making them perfect for cavity nesting.

Downy and Hairy woodpeckers
need deciduous trees for nests

Over 20 species in British Columbia are secondary cavity nesters, animals that can not excavate their own nests. These creatures move in to the year old abandoned holes, and include saw-whet owls, black-capped chickadees, flying squirrels, and martin.




Although the deciduous contingent of the coastal forest may be hard to see throughout the summer, their fall colours make it difficult for them to go unnoticed, giving them their moment of much-deserved glory.

Big Leaf Maple Epiphytes

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant (such as a tree) non-parasitically. Big leaf maples provides a scaffolding for moss, fungus, ferns and other plants. Rather than take from the tree, all the accumulated debris and plants are a benefit. Over time small roots grow up from the maple's branches to infiltrate the material growing on them, receiving water and nutrients.

Old maples often hold more kilograms of epiphytes than kilos of maple leaves, creating a (heavy) multi-coloured garden in the air. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Big Leaf Maple

A magnificent hardwood species is mixed among the monumental softwoods of the Pacific forest. The Big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) is a coastal broad-leafed tree which grows predominately in the southern coastal western hemlock biogeoclimatic zone. They grow in a narrow strip along the ocean from Alaska to California. Big leaf maple live an average of 200 years with 300+ not unheard of, and reach heights of 34m with a crown of equal width. While conifers are king (or queen) in the Pacific forest, the overlooked Big leaf maple is an important member of the court.

"It is so ubiquitous that many people, Douglas-fir tree farmers in particular, consider Big leaf maple to be a common and bothersome weed," says Mike Dubrasich, tree farmer, "but Big leaf maple is easy to grow, and on most sites it will out-grow any other native tree for the first twenty years."

Big leaf maple's preferred habitat is close to rivers or streams on gravely, moist soil, but it will also grow in dry areas. These trees can withstand temporary flooding and do well in nutrient-rich floodplains. The tree pictured is on the floodplain of the Sooke River, and grows in a field unchallenged by competitors. A bicycle is shown to provide scale.

When Big leaf maple grows in a forest, shaded by other trees, it develops a tall bole with no branching until 1/2 - 2/3 of the way up. Then a small crown grows above the single large trunk. These trees are increasingly valued in the forest industry since the single bole can provide larger pieces of wood.

Growing out in the open the maple's crown reaches its maximum  spread, and the bole splits into a multiplicity of branches just a couple of meters up.


The Big leaf maple featured here is in Sun River Nature Trail Park, a narrow park that stretches along the west bank of the Sooke River. It is accessed by a trail head off Philips Road, itself a gateway to big trees and beautiful vistas of the Sooke River valley and surrounding forest-cloaked hillsides.

The rough trail passes through a riparian forest of large Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, Western red cedar, and Hemlock. This flood-prone forest also has broad-leaf trees such as Red alder and Big leaf maple, and harbours bear, cougar, owl, and slug. Spawned out salmon fertilize this forest every fall. Valley bottom forests of Vancouver Island are the richest environments on the coast and the largest trees grow there. These valley bottoms are now mostly logged out.



Typical of a non-shaded maple, this tree has an expansive crown. Branching starts low on the trunk and spreads in all directions forming a massive green umbrella that almost touches the ground all the way around the perimeter. Big leaf maples can grow such a dense canopy of frizbee-sized leaves (up to 61 cm including the stalk) that only 1 to 2% of the light falling on the tree reaches the ground below. On a hot sunny day it was several degrees cooler in the shade of this glorious moss-covered giant. After some hard biking I was appreciative of the air conditioning. The soporific sun was held at bay and I felt revived.



Under the canopy of this tree were small tufts of grass and not much else. The huge leaves, when shed in the fall, will smother anything that tries to grow below the circumference of the crown. Also falling to the ground is a variety of epiphytic growth consisting of plants that live on other plants, but derive their nutrients from rain and the air, not the host.



Luxurious rain-soaked mosses adorn the branches of Big leaf maple. Lichen, as well as licorice ferns are also growing on the trees. Often this growth is so abundant that it weighs more than the leaves of the tree. When epiphytic growth falls to the ground it fertilizes the tree in exchange for providing a place to grow. Big leaf maple is a soil building species, and like Red alder, it improves the soil where it grows.

Although I do love standing, living trees, Big leaf maple is increasingly seen as a commercial product. It has a fine grain and is desired for furniture and instrument making. The market for figured wood (wavy, quilted, curly, flamed...) is growing as wood workers and instrument makers come to value this unique wood.

The Glimer Wood Company in Portland, Oregon sells specialty woods including Big leaf maple for instrument building. Their website shows chunk after chunk of amazing one of a kind blanks ready to be made into guitars, violins, mandolins and ukeleles. Unfortunately, instrument woods most in demand are those from trees older than 150 - 200 years. The wood from such trees is clear of knots with an even fine grain, and provides the resonance instrument makers and players alike enjoy.

As a guitar player, and tree lover, I experience some guilt about owning the remains of old growth trees such as Sitka spruce and Big leaf maple. The classical guitar shown here has a spruce soundboard and uses figured maple for the back and sides. The back is a book matched piece. This means that the maple blank was cut in half and "opened up" to show matching patterns. Looks beautiful, sounds great. Probably came from very old trees.

Trees are such a giving, and useful species. It is hard to imagine life without them. Is it even possible for large modern, developed societies to exist without trees? Forests are massive contributors to ecosystems around the world, providing us with benefits that can not be fully calculated, or replaced. Trees are also large contributors to economies around the world. I love the trees, but I love my guitars, too. Here is one group that is trying to resolve issues around dwindling supplies of instrument woods. Perhaps a donation will help soothe my conscience.

Not all uses of the Big leaf maple require killing them. Like its more famous eastern cousin, the Sugar maple (Acer saccarum), the Big leaf maple can also be used for making syrup. The sugar concentration in Acer macrophyllum is less than in Acer saccarum, so more sap must be collected to produce the same amount of syrup. At the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan, one can learn all about Vancouver Island Big leaf maple syrup making during the Bigleaf Maple Syrup Festival in February.

Today I will honour the generous Big leaf maple by spending some time beneath the shady branches of the tree featured above meditating on the gifts it bestows, living or otherwise. When I get home, I will compose a song about this harmonious hardwood, then perform it on the guitar that owes its life to the ultimate sacrifice made by individual, old trees. Thank you, trees.