There has been so much written about Western Red Cedar (
Thuja plicata) that I don't think I could come up with an original thought about the tree that I haven't already read somewhere. But what I marvel at every time I deal with one, is the extreme degree to which this tree can withstand rotting. Of course it's decay resistance and ability to repel water is what makes western red cedar famous, but when you see the dramatic results of what that means it is really incredible. Take the logs in this photo. I was helping out of one our clubs today, doing some fencing work and one of the projects was to hand split fence posts from long abandoned cedar on the the property. The logs these came from were in area logged over 40 years ago and were slabs of cedar not considered useful in that era. They were heavily covered by moss,plants and soil in the forest. We were able to salvage them and split nice long 8' posts which for the purpose of the fencing project given the size we used will be 30+ year fence posts. Not bad use of a renewable resource.
This morning in the Bella Coola Valley was another fairly heavy frost, so not very good on all the cherry tree blossoms that are out right now.
Grizzly
Posts
Fantastic example of both the magic of the coastal forest, and using resources wisely. Cedars are such amazing trees, well known as you say for their rot resistance. They are truly a life-giving tree, and it is said that if you put your back to a cedar in the forest and let its power wash over you, you will feel better. We can return the favour by protecting these amazing long-time residents of the temperate rain forest. Thanks for the post, and the cedar reclamation.
ReplyDelete