400 + Foot Douglas Fir Trees More Than Mythical

Some articles you read on historical big trees in Cascadia's region talk about the biggest of the big (the +400 footers) in mythical terms, as if they were no more than loggers tall tales. 

But big tree people know differently - the huge Douglas fir trees existed. What a shame that they don't any more. As far as we currently know...

Help To Protect Endangered Coastal Douglas-Fir On Vancouver Island

Big beautiful Coastal Douglas Fir Trees need protection. Photo credit: AFA

The following is from Ancient Forest Alliance. It is not too late to submit your concern and support for Vancouver Island's big trees. Thank you.

Please take a moment to WRITE to the BC government, telling them you support their proposal to expand protections in the endangered Coastal Douglas-Fir ecosystem on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands!

The BC government is seeking the public’s input on their proposal to increase the amount of Coastal Douglas-Fir ecosystem protected on public (Crown) lands on Vancouver Island’s southeast coast and in the southern Gulf Islands. The province is proposing to protect 21 parcels of public land totalling 1,125 hectares (see maps and more info here).

The Coastal Douglas-Fir (CDF) ecosystem is home to the highest number of species at risk in BC, including Garry oak trees, sharp-tailed snakes, alligator lizards, and more. With less than four percent of the region’s ecosystems currently protected by the province, the proposed protection measures are greatly needed and are a significant step forward, but by themselves, they're not sufficient to halt the loss of biodiversity from the region.

Please write to the BC government by MONDAY, January 15th, 2018, to express your support for this proposal and to call for greater protection of the Coastal Douglas-Fir ecosystem. 

Email your written comments to CDFOrderAmendment2017@gov.bc.ca and Cc Forest Minister Doug Donaldson at FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca and Environment Minister George Heyman at env.minister@gov.bc.ca.

Tell them:

1. You support the BC government’s proposal to increase the amount of Coastal Douglas-Fir (CDF) ecosystem protected on Crown lands through their proposed land use order.
2. You also support the creation of a provincial land acquisition fund, which would allow the BC government to purchase and protect private lands of high conservation or recreational values to establish new protect areas in the CDF ecosystem and across BC. Because private lands constitute the vast majority of the region, this fund is needed to ensure the sufficient protection of the CDF ecosystem.
3. You recommend they read the report Finding the Money to Buy and Protect Natural Lands by the University of Victoria's Environmental Law Centre, which details over a dozen mechanisms used in jurisdictions across North America to raise funds for protecting land (found online here: http://www.elc.uvic.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/FindingMoneyForParks-2015-02-08-web.pdf).
4. You would like the province to consider a third phase of similar land use order protections on additional Crown lands in the Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem.

* Include your full name and address so that they know you're a real person.

Big Lonely Doug A Big Climb

Tree climbers on the first ascent of Big Lonely Doug near Port Renfrew.

How do you climb the 66 meters (216 ft) of the recently discovered second largest (known) Douglas fir tree in Canada?

Very carefully.

Tiny people give scale to the enormity of this amazing tree.

Why do you climb a tree like Big Lonely Doug?

To raise awareness of Vancouver Island's vanishing old growth trees and forests.

Climbers descended with samples of soil and moss from the tree's canopy. It is possible
that the samples may contain insects completely new to science.

British Columbia’s threatened old-growth forests are being logged to extinction by industrial logging aided by lax government regulation. But many people, including those in the former logging town of Port Renfrew, realize that trees like the Red Creek Fir and Big Lonely Doug are more valuable standing than cut down.

On Vancouver Island about 75% of the original productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the richest biodiversity and biggest trees are found.

Once gone, the big trees and primal forests will never be seen again. What a wasted opportunity.

Read more about the first ascent of Big Doug here.

Join the fight to preserve these unique trees by writing a letter here.

Studying Orange Jelly Fungus

I photographed this bizarre looking life form recently and wanted to identify what it is, and what planet it comes from. Some light studying leads me to believe it is Orange Jelly Fungus (Dacrymyces palmatus).

This edible but tasteless orangey-yellow glistening growth was living on a fallen Douglas-fir, doing its job to slowly break it down. Decomposers perform an important function as nature's recyclers.

Decomposers, or saprotrophs, recycle dead plants and animals into chemical nutrients like carbon and nitrogen that are released back into the soil, air and water.

I can see someone perhaps giving this amazing growth a little poke with a finger or stick, but it boggles the mind to think of eating it. 

Unless you have bought your mushrooms in the grocery store you should proceed with extreme caution.

Whether they look like day-glo boogers or not.

Lessons In The DeMamiel Creek Forest

The DeMamiel Creek forest is mostly second growth with old growth trees in places.
It is in the Coastal Douglas fir ecozone, and is comprised mostly of private land.

The primal forest is the best school one is likely to find. Too bad so many people are skipping class, including those who are supposed to be responsible for protecting this precious resource.


The students that do take the time to learn the lessons of the forest discover everything they need to know about successful living on this planet. Trees provide places we can experience the richness of life. Here we can learn the lessons of gentle living and cooperation.


Notable teachers across the ages have acted as our guides, sharing with us their insights gained from developing a relationship with the trees.

A fungal community growing on a moss community growing in a tree community. Things proceed peacefully - there are no wars... until we show up with our scorched earth assaults and clear everything in sight.

Pete Seeger loved being on the stage, but found respite in the forest. He said, "Every time I'm in the woods, I feel like I'm in church."


But churches pale in comparison to sunlight filtering through a grove of centuries old Western red cedar or Douglas fir on a misty day. The great cathedrals of the world were built to emulate such groves of towering trees, which are the original places of worship.

This is the original place of learning and worship - everyone is welcomed here.

The forest wilderness is where John Muir went to discover the clearest way into the Universe. His prescription for all of us urban types was to occasionally spend a week in the woods to "wash the spirit clean".

DeMamiel Creek supports several species of salmon. The trees and fish have a mutually beneficial relationship.

Henry David Thoreau lived in the woods to learn what they had to teach. He found the trees and the things that lived with them to be a source of beauty, harmony, and perfection in cooperation.


Thoreau learned that in the woods everything does its part with thrift and equality, and he pondered the folly of not doing the same in the human world.

DeMamiel forest is accessible from the adjacent Sunriver neighbourhood.

Indian activist Vandana Shiva started her eco-education in the 1970s women-led Chipko movement. These are the original tree huggers - Chipko means "to hug or embrace". The women were so dedicated to their communities' Himalayan forests that they wrapped themselves around the trees to protect them from loggers saws.


After repeated walks among the beautiful oaks and rhododendrons, Shiva learned that "the forest teaches us enoughness: as a principle of equity, how to enjoy the gifts of nature without exploitation and accumulation."


By 1980 the Chipko movement scored a major victory for forests and the people when the Indian government imposed a 15 year ban on logging in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Similar logging bans spread to other states as communities took back forest resources for the benefit of the people living there.

Everything does its part, and each part
is as important as any other.

No species other than humans takes more than its fair share. In the forest there is no consumerism, no greed, and no accumulation for personal aggrandizement. There is the freedom to be and participate as a necessary and integral part of something larger to which we are all connected.


It is vital that we adopt the wisdom of the woods, and soon. Instead of clear cutting the last ancient forests to the ground, we should be studying and emulating them.


When we begin to learn their lessons we will begin to live in harmony with our environment, and with each other.

Royal Roads Old Growth Forest - Metchosin Road Entrance

A wide path runs through Royal Roads forest parallel to Metchosin Road

If you are in the Victoria area and feel like immersing yourself in an old growth forest, but don't want a long drive, the 565 acre forest on the Royal Roads University grounds in Colwood is a good option. This urban forest contains 250 year old trees some of which are the largest in the area.

Development one side of road, ancient forest on the other

Hatley Forest, as it is also referred to, contains trees listed in the Big Tree Registry of British Columbia.
The province's 10th largest Douglas-fir can be accessed via the 15 kilometers of trails that wind through this rare patch of intact dry coastal Douglas-fir habitat.

There are many trails through the trees

The "Magna Carta" tree, as some call it, measures 8.55 m (28 ft) in circumference and 73.5 m (241 ft) in height.

Wrapping around Royal Road's Magna Carta Tree, the largest on the property
and one of the largest in BC

Also to be found here is the province's 5th largest Grand fir, which measures 4.6 m (15.1 ft) in circumference and 64.6 m (212 ft) in height.

Stump of a 60 meter plus Douglas-fir cut in the park.
Bark is fire resistant and 20 - 30 cm thick

"Nearly every type of old-growth Douglas-fir forest on British Columbia's dry coastal plain is now rare or endangered." 

- British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks

"One study estimated that only one-half of one percent (about 1100 hectare) of the low coastal plain is covered by relatively undisturbed old forests. This is far below what scientists consider to be he minimum area required for the continued survival of these forest types." 

- British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks publication 

- "Coastal Douglas-fir Ecosystems"

Trunk of an ancient, fire-scarred Douglas-fir

The federal government bought this property in 1940 from the Dunsmuir estate. It is now Canada's largest historical site.

It is also one of the largest old growth forests remaining in the dry coastal Douglas-fir ecozone. All just a few minutes from downtown Victoria.

View Royal Roads Old Growth Forest - Metchosin Road Entrance in a larger map

Timber Baron Wanted To Cut Cathedral Grove

Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park is an old growth wonder near Port Alberni, BC

It is a west coast old growth wonder that attracts a million visitors a year, and is known to bring experienced foresters to tears with the sheer grandeur of the setting. And yet, if British Columbia's first Chief Forester had his way, Cathedral Grove would have been cut for lumber and profit long ago.

History of Cathedral Grove

Just like George Hearst ruthlessly mined mountains for gold in the U.S., Canada's H.R. MacMillan was an opportunist that mined early Vancouver Island's primeval forests for giant Douglas firs, Western red cedar, and Hemlock.

Cathedral Grove in 1941

Despite a popular local conservationist sentiment in the early 1900s, MacMillan refused to set aside the big trees of Cathedral Grove through 15 years of constant pressure from the public.

The big tree entrepreneur acquired the logging rights to the generously forested area east of Port Alberni where the Cameron River empties into Cameron Lake. Possession was obtained through a Timber Berth, an early form of temporary forestry tenure. The seller of big trees held fast against public opinion, saying that the cutting of the grove was necessary for his company's stability.

Finally in 1944 at a meeting in Port Alberni, after a public browbeating by the gathered crowd, MacMillan relented and turned the ownership of the trees back to the province for the establishment of the park.

While many accounts attest to the 'fact' that the 136 hectares was generously donated by the timber baron, at least one account has him storming out of the public meeting in a huff while shouting, "All right, you can have the god-damn grove!"

By 1947 a park was in place, preserving these irreplaceable trees for future generations, if that is, they can endure the predations of the present.

800 year old Douglas-fir in Cathedral Grove

The Park Today

The old growth forest surrounding Cameron Lake has been a tourist attraction since the 1920s for a good reason - it is some of the most magnificent forest to be found anywhere on Earth. Here, in the Coastal Douglas-fir ecozone, ancient trees up to 9 meters in circumference and 76 meters tall grace the park. The oldest of the trees in this area are pushing 1000 years, and the forest is dripping with antiquity.

Today Cathedral Grove lies within 301 hectare Macmillan Provincial Park. The park is bisected by Hiway 4, and what remains of the old growth is deeply affected by the ongoing logging in the area.

Fallen trees are left in place in the MacMillan Park old growth forest

People Power

When we think of the majesty of Cathedral Grove we should give credit where credit is due. I give no thanks to rapacious timber barons for tossing us a few crumbs of our own forest while continuing to decimate dwindling old growth ecosystems behind the scenes. Profit pumping suits step aside.

The real heroes in this story are the forward-thinking conservationists that could see where BC's forests were headed over 100 years ago. Regular people recognizing the madness of destroying 1500 year old trees for what it is, and taking action to push for change and preservation.

There is more to be saved

Resistance is not futile! Thanks to people power, Cathedral Grove and many, many places like it over the years, have been spared from clear cutting.

Successful fights have been, and continue to be fought over unsustainable practices that benefit a few greedy folks at the expense of plant, animal, and human communities.

But even at MacMillan Park more could be done, ensuring that the fight for the remaining .1% of the old growth Douglas-fir ecozone will continue.

There are hundreds of hectares in the area, including Cathedral Canyon, that still contain ancient and mature forests, but are slated for clearcutting.

Thanks to the power of the people in the past, areas of old growth, including Cathedral Grove, can continue to inspire, and perhaps even move to tears, tree lovers from around the world. However, more work needs to be done by todays forward-thinking defenders of ancient ecosystems.

Getting There

You don't really need directions to Vancouver Island's Cathedral Grove. All you need to do is get on Hwy. #4 west of Qualicum Beach and drive until you are surrounded by giant trees and swarming tourists. You can't miss either.

MacMillan Provincial Park is on Hiway 4 next to Cameron Lake

From Port Alberni take Highway 4 East.

From Victoria or Nanaimo take Highway 19, then exit west on Highway 4 towards Port Alberni.

From Nanaimo it is about a half hour drive.

Stopping Island Timberlands, Saving Cortes Island

 Will logging of ancient forest be halted before it can begin?

November 28, 2012 (Cortes Island, BC) — Residents of Cortes Island have formed a blockade to stop the BC based timber company, Island Timberlands (I.T.), from beginning logging operations in one of BC’s last stands of old growth coastal Douglas-fir forest.  For over four years, community members have attempted to work with the company to develop an ecosystem-based approach to forestry.  As road-building equipment moves in, the community is now left with no choice but to stand in it’s path to defend these ecologically significant forests.

Yesterday, Island Timberlands trucks were stopped at a logging road gate by two protesters lying on the ground. Company personnel filmed the protesters, likely in preparation for an application for a civil injunction. The protesters did not respond to their questions and community members remained on the site until the end of the day.

Adjacent landowners were among the community members present. One couple explained that they have a water license on Basil Creek which runs through Island Timberlands’ property.  I.T. plans to log in the riparian area and within 30 feet of the wetland that feeds the salmon-bearing creek. They wrote to Morgan Kennah, Island Timberland’s Manager for Community Affairs, stating their concerns about water supply and contamination. “I thought I would get a letter from Morgan assuring me that my water supply would be safe,” the landowner stated, “but that never happened. I got no response.”  Another community member showed up with Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree to lighten the protesters’ spirits.

Leah Seltzer explained the situation in this way, “People are here because they want to make it known that the industrial forestry model doesn’t work for local communities and it doesn’t work for province. Island Timberlands will destroy ecologically sensitive ecosystems and leave nothing beneficial in its wake. We will be left with devastated ecosystems, a contaminated water supply and no long-term jobs. All the benefit is going to people who live far away and who aren’t aware of the cost of their profits to our community and our province.”

The threatened lands contain some of the last 1% of old-growth Coastal Douglas-fir forests, and, according to Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), are some of the most extensive stands remaining in the endangered "Dry Maritime" forests along BC's southern coast.  The forests also contain a number of documented threatened species and sensitive ecosystems.

At this time, I.T. has contracted several local workers but these jobs will only provide short-term employment.  More than 60% of I.T.’s raw logs are shipped out of the province to be processed overseas.  Standing exclusively to profit are I.T.’s corporate shareholders, which include Brookfield Asset Management and the BC Investment Management Corporation, the pension fund for provincial employees.

While I.T. claims to use sustainable forestry practices, long-time forest activist and Cortes Island land-owner, Tzeporah Berman, warns us not to be fooled: “The majority of their logging is traditional clearcut logging with devastating ecological implications that result in either a change of land use or a dramatically weakened and simplified ecosystem. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) that Island Timberlands touts does not ensure strong environmental standards and has little support from First Nations or environmental organizations.”

Cortes resident and Greenpeace co-founder Rex Weyler agrees.  “There’s no excuse for industrial-scale logging in these times,” he says. “Forward-looking and economically-viable alternatives exist that are based on community health and ecosystem health. Island Timberlands’ plans are a step backwards. Cortes Island is moving forward.”  Residents have sought Island Timberland’s participation in this kind of forestry model but have been met with disregard.

Community members hope that the situation will not escalate, and that I.T. will recognize that Cortes holds a rare opportunity to work with a willing community to create a forestry model that benefits everyone.  Until then, islanders will be standing in the way of the equipment, and keeping a close eye on any further signs of I.T. activity on the island.

Several participants are available for comment.

Photo credits: WildStands, Facebook

For Immediate Release

For more information, please contact:

(Please be advised, there is limited cell phone service on the island but we will respond to your calls as soon as possible.)

Media Liasons: 

Leah Seltzer, Educator, Cortes resident 

Zoe Miles, Cortes-raised activist 

Gulf View Picnic Ground

If you happen to be in North Saanich visiting the big trees of John Dean Park, you might consider adding a stop at the nearby Gulf View Picnic Ground. This accessible 2.5 acre park has been hosting the public since 1936 after a successful public campaign to preserve land and viewscapes for public use and recreation.

This space is also known as National Gravity Net Station #9041-1979, which is marked by a small benchmark disk on site (N 48° 37.042 W 123° 24.980). Gravity Net Stations "contain information pertaining to gravity standardization networks in Canada and abroad, gravity mapping in Canada, instrumental parameters, digital terrain and crustal motion." Wow - watch for gravity anomalies!

Little bench, big tree

The view is the best thing here as there are not any monster trees left in this location. However, by most people's standards, the Douglas-fir trees that are here are nothing to shake a stick at.

Spectacular Gulf view

As the name implies, this small picnic ground has great views to Bazan Bay, the southern Gulf Islands, the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker. Here you are looking at a unique ecozone that produced some of the biggest trees on the planet.

Along the east coast of Vancouver Island is prime coastal Douglas-fir territory. John Dean Park, a short drive up Mt. Newton from the picnic ground, is a good example of a mature Douglas-fir forest.

The climate in this small, narrow ecozone is the driest on the island, and creates perfect conditions for Douglas-fir, Grand fir, Arbutus, and Garry oak to thrive.

Nice trees and a nice view

Gulf View Picnic Ground is a great place for a stop before or after a John Dean Park hike through the giant trees. Take a load off, have bite to eat, or just sit or lay around and enjoy this beautiful public space.

Getting There

The picnic ground is east off of East Saanich Road in North Saanich. It is near the intersection of E. Saanich Road and Dean Park Road (the access to John Dean Prov. Park). Park is open during daylight hours.

John Dean Park: Saanich's Largest Old Growth Forest

The parking lot is in the heart of John Dean Park, and trees hundreds of years old tower overhead

John Dean Provincial Park, north of Victoria, is a special place. The area has been known as a sanctuary for the original peoples since time immemorial. Visiting this out of the way, quiet ancient forest will reveal why. Here you can stroll through the lands of the Pauquachin 1st Nation, and be surrounded by wrinkled, grey-barked trees in a forest that drips with ghostly antiquity.

Big trees everywhere!

In more recent times, a European settler also found sanctuary in the groves on Mount Newton. The park is named after the man whose land gift started the park, it was the first donation of its kind in British Columbia. John Dean was against the rapid development of the Victoria area during his day, and actively opposed what he saw as the destruction of the area's natural beauty. He saw his donation as a way to preserve a bit of what was left.

A Western hemlock growing on a previously logged Western red-cedar stump is a common association
- downed logs and stumps provide nutrients for the forest's next generation of trees

Recognizing a good idea when they saw it, four other neighbours (and the province), chipped in with land donations of their own, increasing the size of the park from Dean's original 32 hectares in 1921, to 173 hectares by 1960. It is the largest tract of mature Douglas-fir forest left on the Saanich Peninsula.

Culturally modified trees remind visitors that 1st Nations continue to use the forest as they have
for thousands of years

Along with Douglas-fir that are so huge that they are free of branches for the first 30 meters up their fat trunks, there are also large Western red-cedar, Grand fir, Hemlock, and Garry oak in exposed rocky outcrops. The largest trees are 70 meters (210 ft) tall and 3 meters (9 ft) wide, and in some places are densely packed throughout the shady forest.

Some of the big trees are very accessible, others have restricted access to protect them and their fragile surroundings

There are a variety of trails throughout the park's 400 plus acres. The largest trees can be found via the Valley Mist Trail, or Illahie Loop. A steeper trail descends to the right of the park map sign leading to a T-junction. Turn left for the Illahie Loop, and right to hike to a beautiful lily pond and beyond. Some of the park's biggest trees are scattered about the forest in this area.

This lily pond, a short hike from the parking lot, is a great place to sit and contemplate the dragonflies hunting over the water

John Dean Park provides a sanctuary from the hustle of modern life, as well as from the heat on a scorching August day. The park with its many well-marked trails, mature forest, and abundant wildlife, make it a worthy destination for a day of exploration and revitalization. Here you can visit some of the largest Douglas-fir trees on southern Vancouver Island.

Directions To John Dean Park

John Dean Provincial Park is located near Sidney on southern Vancouver Island. The park can be accessed off Hwy #17. Turn west onto McTavish Road, south onto East Saanich Road, then west onto Dean Park Road. Follow Dean Park Road until you reach the park.

Note: The access road into the park is closed between November and March.

A park Western red-cedar - tree of life

We Need To Harvest Trees

When a tree is milled every part of it is used except the smell

There is a saying that when a tree is milled that every part of it is used except the smell. That is good to know, because our trees are a necessary resource, and we should be making the most of every single one. But what good is the efficiency in the mills if our forests are being completely wasted at the same time?

Tree cutting is something that every tree-loving human must come to grips with. We need to harvest trees. Some scientists believe that civilization would have been impossible without the thousands of things produced with trees' wood, leaves, bark and roots. Trees are also a major source of energy around the world. Many homes on Vancouver Island are heated with wood stoves.

We need to harvest trees.

However, we do NOT need to harvest old growth trees, except in some circumstances where the unique properties of old wood are required, such as in instrument making. Careful selective old growth logging, that takes individual trees from forests in a sustainable way, would ensure this resource is around for future luthiers.

The wholesale clear cutting of original forests, wherever they are, is a very unwise practice. This is what is occurring in British Columbia, as has been the case for the past 150 years. It is not sustainable. When forests are cut on a 60 -80 year cycle, they never again reach the rich old age of old growth, which is at least 250 years old.

It is probable that industrial-scale logging of old growth, even that deemed sustainable, actually is not. Even the so-called 'sustainable forest management' practices can not sustain natural ecosystems. When you take the high value timber, you take the rest of the forest with it, and the ecosystem is damaged beyond repair.

BC's last remaining old growth should be made off-limits to logging immediately. Only 1% of the Coastal Douglas-fir forest on Vancouver Island remains in its original unlogged state. Even that small bit of forest is being hacked away at in a rush for the last of the big ones.

We need to harvest trees, but we do not need to harvest our last little bits of old growth. Unfortunately, our elected officials do not agree, and are in the process of selling off the last of the big trees until they are gone, and the ecological integrity of the primeval forest has been lost forever.

Then what?

Goldstream Park: Accessible Old Growth

Accessible old growth forest just 30 minutes from downtown Victoria, 
Goldstream Park (day use area)

There is nowhere else in the Victoria region that I know of that a person can as easily access as many big trees as in Goldstream Park. It is unfortunate that this amazing, small bit of remnant old growth is split by the busy Trans Canada Highway, but don't let the road noise stop you from enjoying this living museum.

In comments on past posts here, VIBT reader and big tree guy, Samuel Bednarski, has noted the champions among the 800 year old trees in Goldstream Park.

"Goldstream still holds the crown for Victoria area big trees at 80+ meters. There are cedars that reach 72 meters, and the tallest Douglas-fir is 82 meters. There are many 70+ meter tall trees, especially off the highway."

"A few hundred metres south of where the Trans-Canada Highway meets Finlayson Arm Road, there is a grove of trees on the east side of the road that I have not measured, and are about 80 metres tall." 

Those are some pretty impressive numbers. Are these the tallest trees in the CRD? Samuel thinks so, and he should know - he has a laser device for easy and accurate measurement of trees, and has used it here.

Looking up the trunk of a Goldstream Park old growth Douglas-fir

The day use part of Goldstream contains many huge trees that one can drive or walk right by, and there are several trails for hiking. The primeval forest still dominates here, and is populated by gigantic, ancient Western red-cedar, Douglas-fir, Bigleaf maple, Grand fir, and Black cottonwood.

Broken Western red-cedar surrounded by Bigleaf maple along Goldstream River

This is part of the 1% of the old growth Coastal Douglas-fir forest that remains after 150 years of depletion. 99% of the trees outside of parks have not been so lucky. Goldstream Park and places like it exist to remind us of what we have lost. Hopefully they also provide the inspiration and motivation to  stop the continued destruction of the tiny bit of old growth that remains.

Day use area parking lot - big tree drive through

There remains a lot to be discovered in this island of old growth. Check it out - spend a day in a temperate rain forest with trees that were already large when Europeans were living in walled cities, and errant knights in shining armour roamed the countryside.

For more information see here.

Metchosin Holdouts - Old Growth Survivors

Ancient Douglas-fir in Metchosin close to Taylor and Rocky Point Rds,
seen from Kangaroo Rd looking south west

Bilston Creek Farm was established in 1853, and was the first colonial settlement of Metchosin. Up until then the Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem had existed relatively unchanged since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Groves of giant fir were interspersed with Garry oak meadows. Arbutus grew on rocky outcrops and along the ocean.

After the arrival of Europeans, much of the original forest in the area was altered. But patches of old forest remain, and while much of it is on private property, parks in the area also provide a refuge.

Metchosin is not pro-development like neighbouring municipalities, so other than the agricultural areas, most of the land is covered in forest. For the patient tree hunter, individual giant first growth trees can still be found.

One such tree is the seemingly out-of-place, over-sized Douglas-fir that can be seen on private land just off Rocky Point Road near the intersection with Taylor Road. This lonely senior citizen of the forest continues to hold on after living for hundreds of years, and experiencing the death of most of its kin. Now it stands alone among the young whipper-snappers of trees half its size.

This big, old Douglas-fir has size and character - truly an impressive specimen

This wrinkled grandparent tree has swayed through countless gales blowing off the close-by ocean, and no doubt these strong winds have imposed many an indignity on the tree's lofty branches. Now, with deeply wrinkled bark and a dying leader up top, this graying holdout perches us on its rooty knees and regales us with stories of the mighty ancient forest that it was part of until recently.

We would be wise to listen to these elders, and learn the lessons they have to share with us. Otherwise, will the children of the future know that there were once magnificent trees such as this?

Log Booms Past And Present

Log boom off Clover Point in Victoria, July 04, 2012

Log booms were once a common sight on Canada's west coast. During Vancouver Island's logging heyday in the 1950s, giant log booms transported the big trees from the Douglas-fir forests of the east coast to mills up the Fraser River. The rafts, like long puzzles assembled in protected booming grounds, held millions of board feet of prime timber.

The Strait of Georgia was a salt water highway for the industry, and tugs towed rafts hundreds of meters long in an often perilous journey. Quickly changing weather, fog, strong tides, and rocks were constant threats, and many a log were lost on the trip.

Up until recently, the only log booms in transit I have witnessed were along the Sunshine Coast on Georgia Strait. Therefore, I was surprised to see a large boom off Clover Point during a recent visit to Victoria. Judging by the crowd that was gathered to see the tugboat maneuver the boom along the shore, it is indeed a rare sight these days.

Prior to the late 1980s, log booms entering Sooke Harbour destined for the old mill on Goodridge Island could be seen frequently.

Log booms at Sooke Forest Products mill, Goodridge Island, in the 1970's
Photo: Sooke News Mirror

The decades after WWII were boom years for logging on southern Vancouver Island as the industry creamed out on the best trees that will ever grow here. The Sooke Forest Products mill cut Douglas-fir into railway ties destined for the UK, and milled Douglas-fir and Hemlock into lumber for industrial and home construction. In the 1970s the mill began to process only Western red-cedar, the wonder wood of the west coast.

The Sooke Forest Products mill closed its doors for good at the end of the 1980s, which signaled the end of the logging era in the small coastal town.

As the most lucrative old growth becomes increasingly rare, logging is in decline. You are more likely to see a bulk whole log carrier shipping second and third growth trees overseas, than tugs towing booms along the salt water highway. 

Urban Big Trees: Sooke Giant Douglas-firs

Big Douglas-fir veterans behind new development on Phillips Road, Sooke, BC

At one time the traditional lands of the T'Sou-ke Nation grew some of the largest trees in the world. That all changed when Vancouver Island was first opened to settlement by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1849. Walter Grant became the first settler when he bought 200 acres of land on the current site of the town of Sooke.

Grant must have been pleased with the trees on his new property. It would have been a sight unparalleled anywhere in the world - 300-400 foot Douglas-fir ancients approaching 1000 years old were probably fairly common in the area.

New houses  - old trees

One of the first buildings that Grant built was a sawmill. It was a move that signaled the beginning of the end for the primal forest on T'Sou-ke lands, and over most of Vancouver Island.

Amazingly, some of the ancient giants still stand in the ex-logging town of Sooke. After 163 years of near-total transformation, the remaining big tree survivors face a different threat today - booming residential development, and a lack of a tree protection bylaw.

Other municipalities in the region have given a nod to the historical importance of trees by instituting bylaws to protect heritage trees, and other trees of significance. The largest two trees shown in the photos above would most certainly be covered by such legislation.

Old Man's Beard Weather Station

Old Man's Beard lichen indicating a WNW 40 knot gale, 8 on the Beaufort Scale

I don't need the weather person to tell me which way the wind is blowing. I have long, straggly bunches of lichen hanging from an old Douglas-fir in the front yard for that.

Usnea, a common type of lichen, also called Old Man's Beard, grows on tree branches. It is made up of a fungus and an algae in a perfectly cooperative, sustainable relationship that humans would be wise to emulate.

The main body that the partners form is called the lichen's thallus, which is the part we can see. Old Man's Beard has a long, threaded thallus that gives the coastal rain forest a classic, drippy look whether it is raining or not.

Old Man's Beard hangs on a calm day

Usnea is edible (with caution), and has been used medicinally for a thousand years for its anti-bacterial properties, but that is not why I like it. I like it for its use as a 100% natural, accurate, weather station.

When I look out at the storm-twisted Douglas-fir in the yard, and the great strands of greenish-grey lichen hanging from its sweeping branches, I can get all the weather information I need.



Here is what the Old Man's Beard weather station tells me:

• If thallus is hanging down - calm weather prevails

• If thallus is blowing horizontally - gale force winds

• If thalus is wet - raining

• If thalus is dry - no rain

• If thalus has light on it - sunny

• If thalus dies - poor air quality