Douglas Fir Cones

Back in late April I posted about Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and the young seed cones that were just in the flowering stage then.  It was a good summer for trees producing cones in the Bella Coola Valley.  What made it good was the dry, near drought conditions that stressed the coniferous trees.  They usually produce a good cone crop when they have had stressful conditions, something about spurring a plant to want to propagate itself when it is under stress and make sure you produce some offspring.

This is the time of the year when these cones are drying out and breaking apart with seeds getting dispersed by the wind.  Squirrels also do a pretty good job at piling up the caches of cones for later consumption.  Grizzly