And The Wind Said

"And the wind said,

May you be as strong as the Douglas fir,

yet as flexible as the cedar.

May you stand as tall as the Redwood,

live gracefully as the willow,

and may you always bear fruit

all your days on this Earth."

Advice From A Tree

I would add:

• be flexible
• don't take more than your fair share
• cooperate with your neighbours
• enjoy the sunny days AND the rainy ones
• do what you can, with what you've got, where you're at

More Big Tree Art

Drawing of California Redwood

"Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does." - George Bernard Shaw

Galloping Goose Big Trees - Coopers Cove to Roche Cove

The Coopers Cove/Saseenos area of Sooke is a thickly forested rural area with outstanding old growth trees spread throughout the hillsides and shoreline. Most are on private land, but can be seen from vantage points along Highway 14, side roads, and The Galloping Goose trail.



The trail offers many opportunities to view impressive trees as you travel with forest on one side and the ocean down below on the other. A scenic stretch from Coopers Cove to Roche Cove Park has enough old growth trees among younger forest to keep you searching for the next giant.






Evidence of ongoing forest cycles are shown by one particular tree along this stretch of trail. The bleached and twisted snag pictured here was hundreds of years old when it met its demise. How long it has been standing since then is hard to say. Snags sometimes remain standing for hundreds of years. They are key structures in a mature and healthy forest.















As time passes the sun, gravity, wind and decay take their toll. Over the years this Douglas fir has lost its upper trunk and all limbs except a huge main branch, itself as thick as a large trunk.










Other branches have tumbled to the shoreline below and lay in a grey wood-grained nest worthy of a large packrat.








This de-barked limb rests on the beach below showing a wrinkly pattern where the branch bends.



Many large old trees, links to the unmolested pre-European forest, can be seen from the Galloping Goose Trail. There is a place to park at the trail head at Coopers Cove just at the side of highway 14. At the other end, at Roche Cove Park, there is also parking available.

A short way up the G.G. trail from Roche Cove you will find Matheson Lake Park. Here you can hike through ancient forest that has been preserved. I will be visiting Matheson in the near future. Look for a post and photos on some of the choice trees in this patch of old forest.

Every Day Is Arbor Day

“A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit."

- Greek proverb

I noticed a mention of Arbor Day recently and was reminded to pay homage to this vitally important, but underappreciated day of planting and celebrating all things dendro. Here at VIBT we are celebrating the trees 24/7, not only because they are amazing in their own right, but also because of their contribution to our lives.

Lester Brown, founder of WorldWatch Institute, said, "protecting the earth’s nearly 4 billion hectares of remaining forests and replanting those already lost are both essential for restoring the earth’s health, an important foundation for the new economy. Reducing rainfall runoff and the associated flooding and soil erosion, recycling rainfall inland, and restoring aquifer recharge depend on simultaneously reducing pressure on forests and on reforestation."

He proposes we use our forest resources more wisely as civilization as we know it may depend on it. It has been fairly well established that trees are necessary for civilization to take place. No trees, no civilization. Many a collapse has been precipitated by cutting the last trees in a particular region.

"Productive orchards of olive trees meant that a foundation of the great empires of Greece and Rome had arisen and developed into complex economic and political forces. It is interesting to note that the historical decline of these empires corresponded to the destruction of their olive tree orchards that reduced the available supplies of olives, olive oil, olive wood, and olive soap." From: Explore Crete

Trees don't just keep human civilization humming along, they also provide habitat for thousands of other life forms. Trees are the lungs of the planet, and they are also just darn beautiful. I know I am not alone, not only because people are accessing VIBT daily in their quest to learn about trees, but also because of the existence of Arbor Day globally.

Canada's Forested Regions

Arbor Day is not celebrated at the same time of the year even within the same country. Take Canada for example - its national Arbor Day is called "Maple Leaf Day" and takes place on the last Wednesday in September, during National Forest Week. Tree-covered British Columbia does not have an Arbor Day celebration of its own, and Ontario celebrates not on one day, but over a whole week which is observed from the last Friday of April to Mother's Day.

So don't wait for any particular day before you plant, honour, and thank the trees. Do it today, and imagine what your life might be like without trees. More than likely it would be short and a lot less diverse.

Consider The Life Of Trees

Consider the life of trees.
Aside from the axe, what trees acquire from man is inconsiderable.
What man may acquire from trees is immeasurable.
From their mute forms there flows a poise, in silence,
a lovely sound and motion in response to wind.
What peace comes to those aware of the voice and bearing of trees!
Trees do not scream for attention.
A tree, a rock, has no pretense, only a real growth out of itself, in close communion with the universal spirit.
A tree retains a deep serenity.
It establishes in the earth not only its root system but also
those roots of its beauty and its unknown consciousness.
Sometimes one may sense a glisten of that consciousness, and with such perspective, feel that man is not necessarily the highest form of life.

- Cedric Wright

Click on image to enlarge.