8
Community
October 21
2021
Our Friend the Douglas-fir
By Scott Laird
Living here in Vernonia we’ve
all heard about the once magnificent old-
growth stands of Douglas-fir trees that
historically supported the timber indus-
try in the region, and we see this iconic
species daily in our travels. It is the state
tree of Oregon and graces our motor
vehicle license plate. But how much do
you really know about the Douglas-fir,
a tree still dependably grown by timber
companies and small tree farmers, and
regularly harvested by loggers? Some
of you probably know a lot about this
special species, but I thought we all
might like to meet and learn more about
this neighbor in some detail, so let me
introduce you to our friend the Douglas-
fir.
Let’s start at the beginning. As
most of us know, the tree is named after
Scottish botanist, David Douglas, who
was born in 1799 and traveled three
times to the United States and twice
to the Pacific Northwest. Eschewing a
formal education, Douglas began his ca-
reer as a gardener at the age of 11, com-
pleting a seven-year apprenticeship, and
continuing to learn about plants both on
the job and in the library of the estate
where he was employed. He obtained an
appointment to the Glasgow Botanical
Gardens in 1820, where he earned dis-
tinction for his work before the Royal
Horticultural Society of London sent
him to the Pacific Northwest on a plant
hunting expedition that started in July
1824 and lasted through October 1827.
Owned and Operated by
Don & Kim Wallace
DON WALLACE, PLS
Professional Land Surveying
1224 E. Alder St.
Vernonia, OR 97064
Phone: 503-429-6115
FAX: 1-866-297-1402
Email: DWallace_KLS@msn.com
CORPORATE
MEMBER
He was particularly inter-
ested in the flora and fauna
documented during the Lew-
is and Clark expedition, and
it was during this trip that
he discovered, and upon his
return, officially introduced
the Douglas-fir to Europe.
He returned in October 1829
and visited the Columbia
River. He died tragically in
Hawaii in 1834 after fall-
ing into a pit trap and being
mauled by a bull that also
fell into the pit.
During his travels
and work in the American
West, he is credited with
finding, collecting, and doc-
umenting hundreds of new
species, in addition to the
Douglas-fir that is named
for him, including many no-
table conifers like the Sitka
Spruce, Western White Pine,
Ponderosa Pine, Lodgepole
Pine, Grand Fir, Noble Fir,
as well several shrubs in-
cluding the flowering cur-
rent, salal, and lupin. He
joined a distinguished list of
other botanists and scientists
who were combing the wil-
derness and discovering and
accumulating
collections
of all the new species this
new country was filled with
and is considered one of the
great explorers of the Ameri-
can west.
While David Doug-
las gets most of the credit
for “discovering” his name-
sake tree, its scientific name
Pseudotsuga
menziesii
comes from Archibald Men-
zies a Scottish physician
and rival of Douglas, who
first documented the tree on Vancouver
Island in 1791 while serving as natural-
ist during the HMS Discovery’s voyage
around the world under Captain George
Vancouver.
And of course, long before
white people arrived in the Pacific
Northwest and began “discovering”
things, the local Indigenous Peoples
found many uses for this magnificent
species.
The Douglas-fir is an evergreen,
meaning its foliage stays green for lon-
ger than one growing season. It is also
a conifer – a cone-bearing seed plant.
The name Douglas-fir is officially writ-
ten with a hyphen which indicates that it
is not in fact a true fir tree, but is actual-
ly part of the pine family; it can also be
written as one word, Douglasfir. With-
out getting too scientific, it is part of the
pine family Pinaceae, but it is not a true
pine, fir, spruce, or hemlock, in fact its
genus name Pseudotsuga means “false
hemlock”.
The Douglas-fir has
gone by many other
names in the past, includ-
ing the Douglas pine, Or-
egon pine, British Colum-
bian pine, Puget Sound
pine, Douglas spruce, and
red fir.
There are two varieties
of the Douglas-fir based
on the geographical lo-
cation where they reside.
The Coast Douglas-fir
is native to the Pacific
Northwest, is found along
the Pacific coast from
British Columbia to cen-
tral California, and is the
dominant tree found west
of the Cascade Mountain
range. It is fast growing,
can live from 500 to 1,300
years if allowed to, and
can grow to over 300 feet.
The needles are usually
a dark yellow-green, al-
though they can be bluish
green, and their cones are
small at just around three
inches in length. On ma-
ture specimens the bark is
extremely thick, up to 14
inches, with distinctive,
deep vertical fissures, and
the thickness makes it
very fire-resistant.
The Rocky Mountain
Douglas-fir grows in the
inland mountains of the
Pacific Northwest and the
Rocky Mountains from
central British Colum-
bia south to northern and
central Mexico. Rocky
Mountain Douglas-fir is
hardier, slower growing,
shorter-lived, and seldom
grows over 130 feet tall.
The Douglas-fir cones and
seeds are a favorite food of local wild-
life, and are used by songbirds, squir-
rels, and rabbits; Douglas squirrels,
native only to the Pacific Northwest,
gather the cones, peel away the scales
and extract the seed, and then drop the
scales, forming midden piles at the base
of the tree which are a clear indicator
resident Douglas squirrels are in the
area.
continued on page 9
MIKE PIHL
LOGGING CO., INC
MikePihlLogging@outlook.com
503-429-1470
1984 mist drive
po box 321
vernonia, or 97064
cell 503.789.1268
fax 503.429.0252