Locals and visitors alike marvel at the iconic image of the Douglas-fir. Did you know this tree provides for much more than good pictures?
This tree is highly revered, not only for its beauty, but usefulness. It has played an important role in the history of Oregon, as well as the United States. Impress your next visitors by sharing new knowledge about this interesting species.
Naming
Scottish physician Archibald Menzies first documented the tree on Vancouver Island in 1791. A rival botanist, David Douglas named the tree over 30 years later.
David Douglas, a botanist who described the tree in 1825 was the first person able to grow this tree in England.
Not a fir
The Douglas-fir is not what it seems and the scientific name gives a clue (Pseudo = false, tsuga = fir). It is not a fir, but an evergreen conifer that is part of the pine family.
This tree is very long lived and tall. It can reach 330 feet tall and have a life expectancy of 1,000 years. It grows taller and faster in the coastal rainforests where there is good drainage.
State Tree
More than a century later in 1939 the Douglas-fir was designated Oregon’s State tree in recognition of the significant role it has played in the state’s economic development.
Economics
In addition to being beloved by Oregonians, the Douglas-fir is well-known across the country. Today, Douglas-fir is the country’s top source of lumber and accounts for nearly half of the Christmas trees grown in the United States.
Utility
Douglas-fir was also extensively used by Native Americans for building, basketry, and medicinal purposes. The wood was used for railroad ties, and telephone and telegraph poles as the nation expanded west.
Keep an eye out for this important species next time you explore the Oregon Coast!
What does it take to earn a regional and national title? The Black Cottonwood of Willamette Mission State Park could tell you.
Black Cottonwood’s are native to Oregon and can be found from Alaska through northern California, and eastward into Montana. Cottonwoods are typically very tall and large trees and are the largest popular species in the Americas.
Image courtesy Oregon State University Extension
Typically, they will grow up to 164 feet and have a trunk diameter over 6.6 feet. Our winner, the “Willamette Mission Cottonwood,” measures 155 feet (47.26 m) tall, 29 feet around (8.8 m), with a crown that stretches just over 93 feet.
Cottonwoods live relatively short-lived trees. Some will reach 400 years old.
As they age, the bark hardens becoming thick and fissured. By age 20, cottonwood bark has thickened enough to help protect the tree from fire. At this point, the bark is hard enough to cause sparks when cut by a chainsaw.
Seedlings and saplings can be killed or damaged by fire. Repeated fire can completely eliminate all Black Cottonwood from an area.
This tree is a natural colonizer and after a burn may be able to colonize large areas with good light, moist soil, and bare mineral soil from seed.
What makes this an important tree?
The light-colored hardwood has a fine, even texture with indistinct growth rings and a fine grain. The wood is light weight and ideal for making a number of products (such as pallets, boxes, crates, furniture, high-grade paper, fuel pellets, and plywood).
Cottonwoods are frequently used for windbreaks, shelterbelts, and road screening. The aggressive root system makes it an effective soil stabilizer and useful in riparian and aquatic restoration projects.
Research is continuing on species hybrids as potential sources of biomass. They grow faster than any other northern temperate region tree and are easily propagated.
They are fast to re-sprout, and quick to harvest. Some sites have so much existing seed, they don’t need to be seeded after harvest.
(This raises the question of ‘Could these hybrids become a future noxious and invasive weed?’)
Even the critters like it
Black cottonwood provides cover and food for deer, elk, beaver, and birds. Even rotten trunks are useful in areas with scarce shelter.
Black Cottonwood male flowers (image courtesy Oregon State University Extension)
But…
Many people are, unfortunately, negatively impacted by the copious amounts of tree pollen. Male trees release pollen in late May and June, about three weeks before the females release seed.
Trees create an abundance of seeds every year. Seed release resembles a serious snow storm.
Cotton-like hair is attached to each seed. This hair keeps seed afloat on air or water for long distances. The seed can sprout one day after touching the ground!
Seeds and cotton-like hair (image courtesy OSU Extension)
Native Americans discovered that the tree resin was good for treating sore throats, coughs, lung pain, and rheumatism, and that the inner bark good for creating soap.
And then…
Perhaps the most perplexing questions about this large tree is how one would go about measuring a giant one. I guess you just have to climb to the top, drop a very long tape measure, and hold on tight…
REFERENCES –Heritage Trees, Oregon (https://oregontic.com/oregon-heritage-trees/willamette-mission-cottonwood/) –Oregon State University, Landscape Plants, Populus trichocarpa (https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/populus-trichocarpa) –USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Plant Guide, Black cottonwood (Populus balsamifera L. ssp. trichocarpa (Torr. & Gray ex Hook.) Brayshaw (https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=POBAT) –King5 “Is cottonwood fluff causing your allergies? (https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/take-5/take-5-is-cottonwood-fluff-causing-your-allergies/281-557522159) –Monumental Trees, Exactly Measuring Tree Height (https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/content/measuringheight/)
Your life has been changed by a Sitka spruce. You may not know how, yet, but read on.
A tree with no name
Sitka spruce was originally collected in 1791 and again in 1896. It was not named until 1827.
And even then, it didn’t stick. The last change was in 1855, the scientific classification to its current name (picea).
You have probably seen it
Sitka spruce is the largest species of spruce and the fifth-largest conifer in the world. Trees that are larger include Giant sequoia, Coast Redwood, Kauri, and the Western Redcedar.
RG# 95-GP
Records of the Forest Service
General Subject Files
Negative Number:473081
Growth Characteristics
These giants can grow over 300 feet high and huge. Many large trees were harvested before careful measurements were made. Today, there are only a few large Sitka spruce located on the Pacific Coast.
Currently, the largest spruce in the world, the Queets Spruce, is located in the Olympic National Park. It measures 245 feet high and has a dbh (diameter at breast height – a standard tree measurement) of 14 feet. The Queets spruce, for instance, adds more than a cubic meter of wood to the trunk volume (estimated to be 12,200 cubic feet) each year!
Long lives
Queets Spruce is only around 350-450 years old which is comparatively young. Sitka spruce trees live a long time and can exceed 700 years old. The previously recorded largest Sitka Spruce tree is located at Klootchy Creek Park near Seaside, Oregon.
In 2007, the Klootchy spruce was blown down–it was over 750 years old. This tree had a circumference of 56 feet and was 207 feet tall and was considered Oregon’s first tree by Oregon Heritage Tree Committee.
Habitat
On their own, these giant trees provide great habitats for birds of prey and larger mammals. They grow however, very close together creating a huge, dense canopy. The Klootchy Creek tree had a crown spread that measured 93 feet.
The down side to a dense canopy is that the variety of secondary plant growth can be somewhat limited. Common plants found around Sitka spruce include Ferns, violets, huckleberry, rhododendron, elderberry, and more.
At the root
One might think that trees this large and old would have huge root systems. Not necessarily.
Soil conditions, particularly drainage, affects spruce root formation. In very wet areas, this tree will have a shallow root system with long lateral roots. These long roots reach out and graft onto other Sitka spruce tree roots.
While this connection gives the tree great strength and stability, it also makes it more susceptible to root rot. The thin bark makes this tree susceptible to fire and other damage.
Pests and diseases such as rusts, weevils, and beetles are fairly minimal. Animals such as elk, deer, bear, rabbits, squirrels, and porcupines can do significant damaged. Blow down is one of the most common problems.
But this also creates an opportunity
Sitka spruce is known as the “mother tree” and as a female proctor and guardian symbol. In dense areas, such as around Sitka, Alaska, the dense tree canopies could have provided protection from inclement weather.
There is another level of protection as well. Fallen trees create perfect environment for new seedlings and become “nursery logs” during the regeneration process. In some particular poor soil areas, this may be the only viable way to get seedlings to thrive.
Uses
This fast-growing tree is often used for reforestation. Spruce will thrive on poor soil and exposed sites that other trees won’t. It is more tolerant to wind and saline ocean air and may out grow native species.
Spruce is fairly clear with few knots. That makes it a perfect wood for creating musical instruments (like piano, harp, lute, etc.). The sounding board on that instrument may have been created from Sitka spruce.
Sitka spruce wood is often used to make stringed instruments (Royalty free Unplash)
Spruce was also used to create ladders, boat masts, and planks (as for ‘walking the plank’).
It was also used for other products where ‘high strength to weight ratio’ is needed. This can include aircraft wing spars, turbine blades for wind energy systems, and more.
The Wright brothers’ used Sitka spruce in their experimental airplane. Sitka spruce which was considered a strategically important aluminum substitute for aircraft built before World War II.
And in a pinch, you have even enjoyed a spruce beer or used medicine sourced from the spruce (Chinese, for insomnia).
Look for
A mixed stand of tall and wide conifers closely grouped together. Sitka spruce will have scaley bark, four-sided, one-inch needles (they are sharp), and cylindrical cones around three inches long high in the tree. Branches on older trees could be 30 plus feet off the ground.
REFERENCES: –USDA Forest Service (https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_1/picea/sitchensis.htm) and Forest and Grassland Health program (www.fs.usda.gov/main/r6/forest-grasslandhealth) –Wikipedia, Sitka spruce (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picea_sitchensis) –Alaska Woods (https://alaskawoods.com/10-interesting-facts-about-sitka-spruce-trees/) –Woodland Trust Organization (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk) — Stilbene Glucoside, a Putative Sleep Promoting Constituent From Polygonum Multiflorum Affects Sleep Homeostasis by Affecting the Activities of Lactate Dehydrogenase and Salivary Alpha Amylase, Wei et al. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29093287/) –The Oregon Encyclopedia (https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/sitka_spruce/#.XvtjCl-SmUk) –Seaside Stories (https://www.seasideor.com/seaside-stories/klootchy-creek-parks-sitka-spruce/)
