A Few Favourite Tree Friends

This ancient cedar is on one of my favourite bike rides along the Sooke River. These
trees are hard to age, but this one could be pushing 1000.

We initially moved to the rainforest from the city to be surrounded by wilderness, to experience a landscape and everything living in it more than we ever had before. We gave ourselves time to explore and followed every little whim.

Because of this mandate we have made friends with a lot of trees.

Here are a few of the gentle giants that we have had the privilege of visiting.

This large Douglas-fir is in Devonian Park, Metchosin. There are a few older trees here, and
access to the beach and ocean below.

This is the largest tree I have stood next to in my nine years of tramping through the forest
searching for the big ones. Western red cedar like this one could live for thousands of years.
Yes, thousands.

This old growth Sitka spruce is on a trail leading to China Beach. All along the coast the
last holdouts of the primeval 10,000 year old forest hang on… for now.

West Coast Trail Redux

Ancient Western Red-cedar close to Bamfield

It will be 22 years this month since my first visit to the wilderness of Vancouver Island, and my introduction to the wet, wild, and rugged 75 km (46 mile) West Coast Trail (WCT). I had traveled from the Canadian prairies, a semi-desert with a lot of grasses and not much for trees. I wanted to see big trees. I was not disappointed.



The remote and scenic park passes through a narrow corridor of coastal old growth spruce, hemlock, and cedar. Some of the biggest, tallest, and oldest trees in the world live in this green, wet land. I had purchased a WCT guidebook with the curiosity of a land-locked teen. Over the years I dog-eared the pages while making plans to hike this remote coastline cloaked in fog and big, shaggy, moss-covered trees.

The West Coast Trail retraces parts of an old telegraph line cut through the coastal rain forest wilderness in 1890. The frequently wet, muddy trail passes beneath a forest canopy that disappears as it rises up through the fog.




On one side is the near-impenetrable forest, on the other, the rugged shoreline of the Pacific Ocean. This is the dangerous, rocky coast that has claimed as many as 66 ships over the years.



This section of coastline became known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific", and in 1891 the Carmanah Point Lighthouse was built to guide the increasing number of ships plying the wet coast.



Between 1907 and 1910 the original telegraph trail was upgraded for the rescue of shipwrecked mariners.



Over the years improved technology lead to reduced marine casualties and less need for the trail. In 1954 the Canadian Government abandoned the remote and rugged Dominion Lifesaving Trail.



In the 1960s when logging companies began to threaten the remote west coast, citizens interested in preserving the old trail and old growth forest campaigned for preservation.



In 1970 Pacific Rim National Park was established - the WCT was included and revived.



I first hiked the trail starting from Bamfield and hiking to Port Renfrew. Along the way is a mix of rain forest hiking and traversing varied beach topography.



Passing by thousand year old cedars and some of the tallest Stika spruce in the world made every step enjoyable. At the end of some afternoons we took series of rickety ladders down steep headlands on the way to camp for the night on sandy beaches below.








Once on the beach there were cliffs, sandstone ledges, sea caves, arches, tidal pools, and waterfalls to explore. Tsusiat Falls is the largest set of falls on the trail, and is one of the best campsites to stop at for a while. It is also a good place to fill a bottle or two with often rare fresh water.

Campsite at Tsusiat Falls

The West Coast Trail section of Pacific Rim National Park is a fragile, narrow 25,640 hectare strip of waterfront southeast of Barkley Sound between the villages of Bamfield and Port Renfrew. Hiking it when I did, before more recent regulations and upgrades, was still about adventure and survival. But upgrades have not diminished the beauty.

Wide, dry trail closer to Bamfield

The WCT is stunningly beautiful. It is a world class hike that draws hikers from all corners of the globe. In spite of this, clear cut logging of old growth forest was ongoing right up to the park boundary when I hiked it in 1989, 1990 and 1992. The destruction continues unabated to this very day.

A mini-corduroy road through dense bush and wet ground

Although we could often hear logging activity from the trail, we were blown away by the monumental trees saved within the confines of the West Coast Trail. It highlights the payoffs resulting from conservation and long-term thinking.

Hiking between the forest and the sea

West Coast Trail Facts

- 6000 people a year hike the WCT. 1-2% need emergency evacuation due to injury, illness, or hypothermia.

- Vancouver Island has one of the highest concentrations of black bears and cougars in the world.

- Although the trail can be hiked in as little as 24-48 hours, I recommend taking as long as you possibly can. Some hikers carry small day packs and try to get through in about a day. When my group was hiking it we were trying to set the 'longest time to hike' record, aiming for 10 to 14 glorious days or more. Most people take about one week, but even that is a pretty grueling pace, depending on conditions (yours and the trail's).

Long ladders, big trees

- we hiked in the days before mandatory registration and fees. Now you have to pre-register for a spot for hiking between May 1 and September 30, or arrive in person and possibly have to wait for up to 3 days. 2 weeks on either end denotes the shoulder season when conditions may not be ideal, but you get to skip the registration process.

- the more challenging section of the trail is at the Port Renfrew end, with large elevation changes aided by many ladders. As the trail approaches Bamfield it gets more level, wider, and with more massive trees.

Beach camping under the trees at Michigan Creek

- In December 2006 a winter storm with record wind speeds blasted the west coast and knocked down 3000 trees on the WCT. Other trail infrastructure was damaged, but was quickly rebuilt.

- a great way to travel to or from the Bamfield trail head is on the west coast freighter, the MV Frances Barkley, that plies the Alberni Inlet from Port Alberni.

- for more WCT information see here.

Getting There

• Pacheena Bay Trailhead, Bamfield - gravel logging roads from Port Alberni or Duncan, approximately 3 hours; or by West Coast Trail Express Bus (wcte@pacificcoast.net). MV Frances Barkley from Port Alberni. The WCT Hiker Registration Office located 4 km south of Bamfield. 
• Gordon River Trailhead, Port Renfrew - drive approximately 2 hours from Victoria via Highway 14; or by West Coast Trail Connector Bus from Victoria. Follow highway signs in Port Renfrew to the WCT Hiker Registration Office. 

View West Coast Trail in a larger map

Pioneering Soil-Enhancer: Red Alder

Red alder grows in pure stands, as shown, or in mixed forest settings

Red alder (Alnus rubra) is the most common deciduous tree in the Pacific coast forest. It is not a long-lived tree (usually about 60 yrs, rarely over 100), and despite rapid growth while young, these trees never reach (40 m/131 ft) the sizable proportions of the conifer stands surrounding them. However, the Red alder possesses a capacity that no other tree on the coast has.

Red alder is the only tree west of the Rockies capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Red alder develops an extensive, fibrous root system, with root nodules that fix nitrogen from the air. The nodules are a symbiotic association between the tree and actinomycete, a large group of bacteria that are responsible for the characteristic "earthy" smell of freshly turned, healthy soil.

Male flowers are long, drooping, reddish catkins, and female flowers
are short, woody, brown cones.

In this 'everyone wins' relationship, nodules are formed where bacteria infect a growing root. Then the alder supplies carbon compounds to the bacteria, and the bacteria convert nitrogen from air into a form the tree can use.

When leaves or roots from the host plant decompose, available nitrogen increases resulting in richer soil and better growing conditions. There is evidence that this relationship is so beneficial to the alder that its roots produce a substance that encourages the bacteria to set up shop. Alder is also associated with mycorrhizal fungi which helps enhance nitrogen fixation.

Alder along Carmanah River, Carmanah Park

After the soil bacteria community is established, Red alder seeds germinate well on freshly disturbed, nitrogen deprived land such as slide areas, road cuts, river flood plains, or clear cut areas that have had the slash burned. It is an aggressive pioneer species, and grows quickly as a seedling in wet soils.

Height growth of the Red alder seedling can be as much as 1 m (3.3 ft) or more in the first year. Giving the Black cottonwood a run for its money, maximum annual height growth of more than 3 m (9.8 ft) a year can be achieved by 2- to 5-year-old alder seedlings. Indeed, after the Black cottonwood, the Red alder is the second fastest growing tree in the coastal forest.

Associated conifers have much slower juvenile growth, but they sustain height growth years longer than alder. On an average site, both Douglas-fir and red alder can attain the same height at 45 years. Beyond that, Douglas-fir far surpasses Red alder in height. Once overgrown by the conifers during forest succession, the sun-loving red alder will die back, leaving a legacy of rich soil.

Red alder on their way for another season of nitrogen-fixing, soil-enriching growth

Besides its usefulness to soil quality, and its visual appeal, Red alder is also a commercially harvested species along the coast. It is used in the production of solid wood products, such as furniture, cabinets, case goods, and pallets; composite products, including plywood; and fiber-based products, such as tissue and writing paper. It is also used for firewood, and is the wood of choice for smoking salmon.

Although for a while Red-alder, like Black cottonwood, was seen as a nuisance tree and cut out of mixed stands, we are now realizing the soil-healing properties this tree has. Because it can increase soil nitrogen and organic matter, it is being increasingly used to rehabilitate disturbed sites, or prepare areas for conifers such as Douglas-fir.

The Red alder is an important part of the Pacific coast forest ecosystem. Look for them along streams and rivers, as well as lake shores. Disturbed sites will also have stands of alder pioneering the new forest. Watch for a medium-sized, deciduous broad-leaved tree with a narrow rounded crown, straight, slightly tapered stem, and smooth, light gray bark.

Don't Forget To See The Forest

Often the big trees in the Pacific coastal forest become the celebrities. It is not difficult to see why as champion trees can be as wide as a house and as tall as a 30 floor office tower. Equally as impressive, however, is the forest ecosystem in which these behemoths live. While big tree hunting do not forget to look around and see the forest. You will be amazed all over again.





This carefully knit ecosystem has been thriving for the last 10 000 years, since the retreat of the last ice age. In that time a community of living things has evolved to cooperate in a sustainable, and stunningly beautiful manner.






The most obvious members of this ecosystem are some of the largest trees in the world. But beneath the damp earth that the massive trunks rise out of, a less obvious organism quietly goes about its work.








Varieties of fungal threads run below the ground for kilometers. These vast networks of threads are now understood to be the largest living things on Earth. In 2000, researchers in an Oregon forest were astonished to find a fungal mass that was estimated to cover over 2,200 acres (890 hectares) and to be at least 2,400 years old.




All we ever see of this amazing organism is what we know as mushrooms, or fruiting bodies, which are a small part of the whole. When author and environmental activist Derrick Jensen was introduced to the importance of fungus to trees and forests he said, "I thought a forest was made up entirely of trees, but now I know that the foundation lies below ground, in the fungi."

Fungus, flowering plants, slugs, moss, lichen, salal berries, birds, and large predators all form an intricate web of life in the forest. Enjoy the big trees. And their home.

VIBT Big Tree Olympian Awards

"Giants like this will not be seen again
for five or ten centuries, perhaps never."
Randy Stoltman, Big Trees (1987)

photo: http://www.cathedralgrove.eu/text/01-Cathedral-Grove-3.htm

Never mind Olympic hockey, I'm rooting for the ancient forest Big Tree Olympians - the heroes of big tree preservation. The Pacific coast forest has some of the biggest trees around, and thankfully, it has individuals that have worked for years, usually without pay or recognition, to protect this vanishing
10 000 year old forest ecosystem.


I thought it fitting during the 2010 Winter Olympics that VIBT hands out a few medals of its own in recognition of those who have gone Citius, Altius, Fortius in their passion and dedication to the big trees and the things that live among them.


Often these defenders of the voiceless and powerless do their work at great personal sacrifice, up against well-funded corporate lawyers, an endless drive toward growth and profit, and intransigent government officials.





Tourism BC's recently revamped website states that "much of Vancouver Island is protected parkland", and that it contains "many pockets" of old growth forest.



What it does not tell you is that the grandeur of these disappearing islands of isolated ancient trees is surrounded by industrial clear cuts and 2nd or 3rd growth tree plantations. 75% of Vancouver Islands original forest has been logged.

Cheewhat Cedar, Pacific Rim National Park

Since saving the big trees is a cooperative effort, rather than a competitive one, the Big Tree Hunter Olympian Awards are non-hierarchical dendro-medals. There are no losers here - everyone wins.

Randy Stoltman Grove, Carmanah/Walbran Provincial Park
Photo: http://www.cathedralgrove.eu/text/05-Pictures-Politics-3.htm

In no particular order, VIBT salutes the following enthusiasts who have worked tirelessly in the defense of big trees and ancient forests. Their dedication will allow future generations to see that at one time giants inhabited the Pacific coastal forest:


The Cedar Medal: Maywell Wickheim, Sooke: discovered the Cheewhat Cedar, Canada's largest tree. Has guided many hikes while educating others about the beauty and importance of big trees and wild places.


The Douglas fir Medal: Paul George, Gibsons: co-founder of Western Canada Wilderness Committee, an organization that has been educating the public and lobbying to ban the logging and exporting of ancient B.C. forests since 1980. They have an admirable list of successful campaigns including Clayoquot Sound, the largest area of ancient temperate rain forest left on Vancouver Island.


The Sitka spruce Medal: Randy Stoltman, deceased: big tree enthusiast and campaigner for WCWC. Discovered the tallest Sitka spruce trees in the world in the Carmanah watershed, and fought for protection of the area. Carmanah/Walbran Provincila Park, including the Randy Stoltman Grove, is a stunning cathedral of mist and green.

VIBT 'boughs' before the generous efforts of these Olympians.


The very pockets of old growth Tourism BC is touting on it's website would be gone if not for people like the award recipients.

Hanging Garden Tree, Meares Island, Clayoquot Sound
Photo: http://www.gotofino.com/tofinohikingtrailsbigtreemeares.html

Western Canada Wilderness Committee reports that 13% of Vancouver Islands's total land base is protected, but this includes only 6 % of its productive forests.



The remaining 94% of forests, including what is left of the old growth, is for industry, I guess. Unless we do something about it. Even Olympians need support.

Ask questions and avoid purchasing old growth wood products. Write your political representatives demanding an end to old growth destruction. Donate to forest preservation groups. Wipe with only 100% post-consumer toilet paper. Use alternatives, like rags, to disposable paper products. And see the big trees to see what we are in danger of losing.


Do you know someone who is working to save big trees and ancient forests? Please leave a comment here, or contact me via my profile to nominate for next year's 2nd Annual VIBT Big Tree Olympian Awards.

Forest Creatures: Snakes and Slugs (Warning: graphic photos)

I was touring one of my favourite big tree haunts recently when I spotted thissssss beautifully patterned forest resident. It reminded me that I was visiting the homes of many creatures that reside in the rain forest, and make up the web of life here. The occasional pile of purple poo from passing black bears was also a reminder that I must be aware of the larger forest residents. Cougars are regular visitors, too. Out here I am prey.

Today the garter snake was the one to make its presence known. Found under the Sooke River Super Cedar of Gargantuan Proportions (I really must streamline this naming thing), this snake was surprisingly fast. When I slowed down, so did the snake. It stretched out before me and sunned a bit in a shaft of light piercing the forest canopy. We stared at each other for a while, his beady black eye to my blue one.




Here is how I envision a garter snake deciding on potential prey:

• Is it alive?
• Will it fit in my mouth and down my throat?
• Can I catch it?

If the prey satisfies these criteria, it is on the menu. I found out on a hike last year, that the garter menu includes the second biggest slug in the world, the Banana Slug (more than 20cm). I didn't think anything ate slugs. Compared to dung beatle fare, slug could be considered a delicacy. After all, slugs are basically snails without shells - large escargot.


The snake did not move while I photographed it attempting to consume this large lunch. How could it? I was simultaneously mesmerized and mortified. I continued on my hike. Both snake and slug were gone when I returned. Note: you can click on any of the photos to get a blown up view of this amazing natural phenomena. Just thought you would like to know...

The garter snake will also eat small birds, leeches, amphibians, small rodents, and other snakes. This snake is very aquatic and in coastal areas fish makes up a large part of their diet. The snake I saw recently was next to the Sooke River, so the tiny salmon I was watching that day were no doubt in trouble when the snake hit the river.

Garters are fast on land and in water. As I watched the snake it slithered off quickly. I had to move fast to follow, hunched over and moving through the understory. About 10 meters away the snake bee-lined (snake-lined?) for a hole at the base of a fallen tree, right under the root ball. Had I discovered a snake den, or "communal hibernacula"?
Garter snakes spend the winter in communal dens, sharing space and warmth through the cold temperatures. This looked like one. I had a sudden urge to stick my hand in. Why? I resisted. One should not harass wildlife. Especially snakes. Do not touch garter snakes unless you want to see their defense mechanism - they will poop on you (it is very smelly). If they feel threatened they could also bite. Best to enjoy them from a distance, like all wildlife.

Here is a group that is trying to improve life for another coastal snake, the sharp-tailed snake, on Salt Spring Island. They remind us that snakes are an important part of our ecosystem and should be treated with respect. The Salt Spring group educates the public on habitat conservation and builds hibernacula for sharp-tailed snakes. You can build a hibernacula in your own yard or garden. How fascinating would that be?

I will be watching the Sooke River Cedar Hibernacula location in the spring when the snakes will be out on warm days to stretch their bodies (adults are 46cm to 1.3m) and warm in the sun. After being bundled in a coil with a hundred friends all winter, they will be ready for mating. Mating involves bundling up in a ball again, this time with many males surrounding a single female. Garter snakes are live-bearing and give birth in July or August. Baby snakes are born fully developed, and litters range from as few as 5 to as many as 80.

Every creature in the forest ecosystem is important, and that includes snakes and slugs. Slugs are the recyclers of the forest and clean up dead and decaying matter and return nutrients to the soil. Snakes keep insect and rodent populations in check. Many forest animals feed on snakes, including raccoons, blue herons, eagles, and owls. If you can respect slugs and snakes, and recognize their important place in the cycle of the forest, surely you can respect everything in the forest. Such respect is sssssorely needed today.

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.