Tag Archives: Sapwood

Forests, Parks

Learning about Old Growth on the Rainforest Trail

The Rainforest Trail, near Tofino, is much more than a simple path through the woods. Massive western red cedars and western hemlocks tower over visitors as they follow the twisting boardwalks through an enchanted landscape full of the ferns, lichen and fungi typical of an old growth ecosystem. The oldest inhabitant of this stand is a red cedar that was reputedly a sapling when Marco Polo set off for the Orient in 1271. This means it is about 950 years old today. A series of information plaques transform the +2 kilometre hike into an educational experience.

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Forests

David Shipway’s public letter to Mosaic

Attn: Colin Koszman/ Land Use Forester, Molly Hudson/ Director of Sustainability

I started my working life in the late 60’s, surveying cutblocks and new roads with MacMillan Bloedel on many of the lands now being managed by Mosaic – up in the headwaters of the Oyster, the Quinsam, the Campbell, the Eve and the Salmon. I witnessed the last of the valley bottom old growth being logged, magnificent cedar groves that would now be considered a national treasure, and saw the montaine plateaus of Mountain Hemlock, ancient Yellow Cedar and Western Yew before anyone had touched them.

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Forests

When does a tree reach maturity?

The photo at the top of this page shows a pile of second growth logs at Mount Elphinstone, on the Sunshine Coast. The yellow ring on the outside is sapwood, which carries water and minerals to the crown of the tree. It both contains more water and is softer than the darker heartwood at a trees core. As trees mature, the sapwood layer grows smaller. 

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Forests

Election 2020: Towards a more sustainable forestry

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A recent study found that about 3% of our forests are composed of the giant trees that most people think of as old growth, yet they are still being logged on Vancouver Island. At the same time, young second and third growth trees, with a high percentage of sapwood, are also being marketed. Yet forestry workers are losing jobs. What light can the candidates in this election shed upon the path towards a more sustainable forestry? 

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Forests

Tracking BC Timber Sales Progress

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The first thing that attracted me was the fine detail. While Global Forest Watch’s online map is full of pertinent detail, it doesn’t look like a satellite map. This is better. Zooming in on Refuge Cove, for example, you can see individual buildings, boats tied up at the wharves, and trees coming right down to the water’s edge. Zooming out to see a larger area, Refuge Cove is set within a block of green. The surrounding area is coloured pinkish- brown, so it can be quickly identified. There are a number of orange blocks east of Refuge Cove. These are the areas that will be logged next. The Wilderness Committee’s new ArcGIS StoryMap is tracking BC Timber Sales extraction of logs from our forests. 

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