How Douglas Fir Trees Shaped The Northwest
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- Опубліковано 27 лис 2024
- If you live in the Northwest, you've seen a million Doug firs. For centuries, they've been crucial to the Northwest way of life. And if you celebrate Christmas, you might bring one into your home every year. But Doug firs are far more than just pretty scenery: they're remarkable - once the world's tallest trees and capable of communication.
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as a Californian and a Coastal Redwood lover for years-I've always appreciated just how awesome the Douglas Fir is. You see a lot of them down here in California, often sharing space where the Coastal Redwoods grow. But they also show up in so many places the Coastal Redwood can't-higher altitudes, drier altitudes, colder altitudes. I would have LOVED to have seen the 400 footers mentioned in this video-I have heard that there were these gigantic trees back in the 1800s when people didn't think to preserve them. I also wonder about all the redwoods that were cut down; over 95% of the old-growth has been cut down. In either case-such majesty is so inspiring and so important to the survival of our species as they produce so much oxygen for us to breathe.
The Redwoods are still King.
Look at the work of Oregon arborist Mario Vaden. The Titans in California even obliterate the Giant Sequoia General Sherman tree in diameter, volume and age.
Trees are so cool. These beautiful massive strong objects that protrude from the earth, and just the sight of them creates this awe and calm.
It also amazes me how trees can withstand very high winds, bending and flexing so much you'd think surely they'd break, but the vast majority don't. Also just how they seem to be perfectly crafted for us to utilize in so many ways. It's hard to find anything else that's as good a resource for a human trying to survive on earth. Then u have the communication and interconnection of the root n fungi system, it's incredible. Have never seen Douglas fir or redwoods, but it's honestly at the top of the bucket list.
wow, these guys have their own underground LAN setup.
As a model railroad enthusiast of the northwest logging industry I’m looking for authentic information and representations of Douglas Fir trees, stands, and forests. This video is an excellent visual resource provider and guide for me. Many thanks for creating such a great a resource guide.
Check out the hidden life of trees. It’s a wonderful book
I just read of a 427 foot Redwood called the Eel River Giant felled in 1893. Still not as tall as the Nooksack Giant but both are so freaking tall it's hard to imagine seeing up close.
In wales douglas firs are already 220 feet and only planted 100 years ago . I travel from England to see them . There are redwoods and giant redwood too but not as tall only 180 feet same age . Big sitka spruce too which is used mainly in the plantations
I have planted 20 Douglas firs over the last five years. Many are doing great.
There is a pioneer museum in Ferndale Washington that has photos of stumps that were turned into houses from these trees. They reached up to 24 feet across. They also have photos of slab log homes, where the walls were made of thick slabs from these massive trees. Some of the walls were made with one or two slices from the length of a tree. It is fascinating!
Ferndale, WA, to Ferndale CA have to say, PSME, and Coastal Redwood, SESE, share huge attributes, can be co-mingled with certain features enabling both to become real giants! Being more on the southern ranges of PSME, it's taproot system is different from the SESE being more laterally aligned, creating amazing co-dominant Stands, utilizing various Species and Forest Stand Variables; whereby, they both seem to thrive. PSME is amazing at drawing water from my Observations, seeing weakened or stressed Individuals still very able to sequester fall rains much more like a straw though, somehow. Interior damage was very moist, meaning cambium really wet-.like
Fascinating video. I understand the need for lumber, especially now, considering since the1950's global population has doubled. Although, there are still some impressive Old Growth Doug Firs'; very few stand tall as stated in the video, today. At least in Oregon, anyway. I'd love to have seen the Northwest before logging became prominent.
There was zero need to cut the largest. There was ample lumber available all over the northwest and BC for the entire world using smaller trees and easy reforestation just as we do today, to build far more wood products sustainably...people in the past were just morons who thought stuff like this was infinite :D worse yet, lumber towns were sitting on a natural wonder which would have attracted tourism worldwide, making each giant tree worth a near infinite amount in future revenue potential.
@@neonspark707 true, true.
@@neonspark707 I am a Doctorate of Forestry Engineering in Europa, and for here thats false, but i have to admit i actually do not know how it is in the US. Here there were times when Germany was nearly completely Forest free, compare that to the approximately 30% it has today and the 100% of the last you can see how large wood demand was. You need it to build, heat, make glass, charcoal, paper and all of that before coal was widespread. Demand for wood is WAY lower than in the 18th century.
Is it true a tree will go to complete waste if not harvested before a certain time? I was told if not harvested and used, (timber, furniture, etc) the tree will go to waste, blocking the rest of forest from growing and can become very dangerous from animals hollowing them out? Is any of this true? Will an unharvested dead tree become a nuisance and basically useless? Thanks in advance!
@@dazzanw5067BS. Dead trees provide habitat and nutrients for hundreds of species.
I learnt about Douglas fir from Twin Peaks TV show for the first time. I've been in love with these trees ever since.
About a year ago a douglas fir was measured to be the tallest tree in our country in Europe at 67,02 meters at around 140 years old. Beating the previous record spruce tree by over 5 meters. Firs are such beautiful trees, especially their bark.
No, they are NOT full of giants anymore. Yes, big ones, but not giants as there once were. Humanity destroyed that.
I would love to grow some doug firs in Central Texas, but I think it gets to hot. 30 inches of rain a year, mild winters, elevation around 1500 ft. I am so facinated with them. They are so beautiful and useful. Might try just to see though. Want a 2-3 acre forest on the back of 20 acres I just bought.
I've been growing a few they are amazing trees
It gets 90 plus degrees fahrenheit in their native range so temperature would be no problem
there is a population of douglas fir growing in west Texas (Guadalupe and Chisos Mountains), I bet sourcing seed or seedling from that proximal population would give your trees the best chances for survival.
You may be able to do it. I live in Southwestern Oregon where they are everywhere, 30 inches of annual rain give or take, hot dry summers (depending on the year) and mild, typically wet winters. Most our rainfall happens during winter and spring, typically. I've never propagated them, but if you started with a few young saplings spaced-out so they're not competing too much for water you might have some success. Odds are, the 1st few years until they're established you'd have to look after them.
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. lindleyana is a variation of Douglas fir that’s endemic to Mexico, so you could look for this variety. or, like the previous comment said, if you can, find a seed source of variation glauca (Rocky Mountain Doug-fir) that is native to west Texas, this should also do just fine in central Texas.
My mother stole my Grandfathers home and property from me when he passed away in 2000.
It was in south western Washington and had about 7 acres of pasture, a really nice home, barn, tractors.etc and about 70 acres of second generation trees, mostly Douglas Firs.
It was such an awesome place out in the country. Several years ago I started learning mom and many of my relatives are very narcasistic.
These kind of people are so hurtful and destructive.
Oh yeah, and I think she had all those beautiful tree clear-cut.
I throw up sometimes when I think about it.
If you’re with the shits, send her to a Medicaid nursing home when she’s old.
Love, love, love this video! Informative and fun!
I’m quite surprised I’ve never heard this, I knew many plants have symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi, especially plants in the family fagaceae and pinaceae, but I don’t think I ever heard(or at least it never stuck with me) about fungal networks. Very interesting. I live in SE Wyoming, and Douglas-firs are one of the most common trees in my favorite nearby hiking areas, but they typically only get to about 80 feet max here, where there’s very little precipitation during the somewhat short growing season.
Also called the doerner fir. I’ve been meaning to go hike to it.
I've got one her that stretchs up 327ft and counting. It's a beast
Can't share pictures here but believe me she is tall
David Douglas was a Scotsman, not an Englishman. We are a small nation with big heros.
I grew up in Tacoma Washington, and experienced the marvelous trees first hand. Very informative video, but I find calling these beautiful giants in the diminutive of "Doug" somewhat insulting.
Amazing! I can’t believe that such huge trees exist, it looks like in a fairytale.
I wish I can visit this forest once day 😊
Very cool video! You could have given us the location on where the Nooksack Giant once stood. It doesn't even stand there anymore, which means no harm can come.
That was awesome. Now, I just need to see what zones they grow in.
Not all Douglas Fir are capable of these sizes. Most, like the ones used as Christmas trees, only reach 100-175 feet. The coastal variety is the one you want.
They could have given us the location on where the Nooksack Giant once stood. It doesn't even stand there anymore, which means no harm can come.
48.915°N 122.113°W Those are the cordinates for where to tree stood. someone should check what ingredients the earth on that spot contain
@@scottwarren4998 Tree was cut in 1896, and was actually further east at 48.928344°N 122.048887°W, Alpenglow farms, and Baker suites. Forest down river 15 miles around it was cruised in 1891 to contain 400 foot firs 9-14 ft diameter, no doubt it was surrounded by similar timber.
I'll be sniffing the hell out of those trees!
same
I have been right where the 465 footer was felled. It was on loops ranch on the north side of the north fork nooksack river
That's fantastic. There were other reports of 350-400 foot trees along Nooksack river in the 1890s, and I'm trying to secure any more supporting photos and documents of the size of trees felled in that valley in the 1890s. I found the report of the Nooksack tree in Feb 2009, in newspaper and Google book archives and worked with the Seattle Times in 2011 on the story. I have around 300 accounts of Douglas fir exceeding 300 and 400 feet on my blog. Pacific Forests / Rephaim23. After analysis, I think strong circumstantial evidence now proves there were at one time 400+ foot high Douglas fir and Redwood trees, growing along the coasts, and at one time White Pines growing in New York that exceeded 250 feet high. The loss of the Gigantic pine forests of the east is a travesty perhaps as severe as the loss of our 400 foot lowland giant fir.
The Eel River giant, A redwood reported to have been felled in 1893, at 427 feet long, I found in December 2019, in online archives. And I have found 2 or 3 other accounts of 420+foot redwoods, but none yet exceeding the 465 feet claimed for the Whatcom's Nooksack giant, Douglas fir. As late as 1952 there were still Douglas fir over 350 feet tall being cut down in Stillaguamish river valley, at the base of Pilchuck mountain - groves of fir trees 11 to 14 feet thick and 350 feet high once grew along the old Everett & Monte Cristo railway, near Robe and Verlot. Infact, huge monster logs from such 350 foot Dinosaur firs destroyed the train bridges of Robe valley in the 1897 flood, which irrevocably decimated the Monte Cristo line forever.
@@sargon6948 that's really cool, I didn't know there were more of the big ones, I bet they shattered when they hit the ground falling that far. There are still old growth here and there left on the hillside around those parts, I visit then now and then, some are close to 12 feet across but all missing their top. Also an interesting point is that the 465 footer was only 480 years old, when smaller Doug firs go easily into the 800-1100 year old range
@@sammysosa9917 That's cool! wow, I wasn't aware there were any 12 feet diameter in that area! The lucky few that escaped. Yeah it seems most of the big firs have lost their tops, when the forest was opened up. I am told by one friend, that Whatcom Co still has some Doug fir which may be over 300 feet tall, based on LiDAR data, so maybe a few super tall ones left. Alfred Loop apparently proved up on his land claim in late 1895 or early 1896, and felled the tree soon after. Yeah I bet when many of the super tall ones hit the ground their tops exploded. I take that into consideration if they measured them on the ground, and estimated some of the top, if it were to have broken on impact. Some accounts, like the ones around Burnaby and New Westminster, BC by Richard Moody of the Royal engineers, record 320 feet, to the point the tops broke off, and as thick as their waist where they stopped measuring, which could have been who knows how many dozens of feet beyond that. Apparently John Saar, and Sidney Soule in 1891 cruised a stand of 350 to 400 feet tall fir trees near Everson, Wash for the World's Fair. These were growing along Nooksack river and estimated to be over 200 ft to first branch and only 9 or so feet diameter. Many of the very tall ones tended to be slender, and not super ancient. Some of the most ancient like 800 to 1100 year ones might have lost their height but continued growing for many centuries beyond. The Skagit flat firs tended to be the porkiest I have ever found in archives. 16 to 20 feet diameter fir trees that must have been 1,000 to 1500+ grew in Conway, Lake McMurray, and Sedro Wooley, some of these reportedly being 300-350 ft tall. I can't imagine what a 20 foot diameter Doug fir, with a intact full crown must have been to see - basically equal to a large redwood or Sequoia.
@@sargon6948 yeah 20 foot, I can't even imagine, up at Baker lake there is a stump that they felled in 1959 when they made the dam, when the water recedes you can walk out to it and it is 16 feet thick, it's actually the one on my profile pic so you'll be able to see a picture of it. The picture doesn't do it justice, about 8 feet of the center is rotted out but what rings are left indicates it was in the 900 -1100 range for sure
Truffle Trees!
Wonder what the native names for doug fir are?
Coast Salish from British columbia called it lá:yelhp, I have no idea how to pronounce it but I find that on google. There are probably hundreds of other native names.
A bad narrator is when you can tell their sexuality.
lol..
@thegutsygrape4789
A Bad Narrator would be Gay & Transgender.
😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
0:11 Its talking about douglas fir but shows redwood instead. Silly mistake!
Very impressive trees 🌲🌳 I'd love to visit woods where they live and picture them and speak to them 😊
But I've got a burning question that's been on my mind since 2003. What type of trees were in the 2003 horror movie 'Wrong Turn', the trees with perpendicular upper crown branches the three remaining characters jumped onto for rescue??? Does anyone have any idea? 😌😇
They could have given us the location on where the Nooksack Giant once stood. It doesn't even stand there anymore, which means no harm can come.
48.915°N 122.113°W Those are the cordinates for where to tree stood. someone should check what ingredients the earth on that spot contain
Halo ...
Douglas fir cultivation in Indonesia can it grow well?
Probably not, unfortunately...
Depends on the climate zone. If the climate near you is mild and fairly humid, a Giant Sequoia would probably be a better pick. Equally as beautiful and unique, tall but not the tallest tree on Earth, but possessing the largest trunks of any tree.
When I drive past the dilapidated formal log towns of WA, I think of the tourism explosion that they would have enjoyed if they had kept the tallest trees. Easily competing with redwoods national park, and possibly becoming a unesco world heritage site pulling in millions in yearly revenue....instead, everybody lives on an old house or an RV hoping to get a job at mc-d making minimum wage... well, they deserve their decline.
I would just humbly add that the world was much much scarier back then. Establishing Canada and the coastal US was really man against nature.
Sad they cut that beautiful tree down.
ofcourse it is sad. but sometimes i feel like cutting record-trees down for glory, and to measure it despite already knowing its height.
not cuting it down, is like avoding sex. thats how my weird psyche works
10s of millions of years; give me a break.
I'm from whatcom county
Douglas Fir largest tree
No. Largest trees are Coast Redwoods in California. They now surpass even the Giant Sequoia General Sherman tree in diameter, volume and age.
See the work of Oregon arborist Mario Vaden
Fruit
Hyperion》》》》
#GoogleEarth
Why should a tree be named after a colonizer instead of the name that indigenous locals called it for thousands of years
Wonderful