In the distance, the 100-year forest. In the foreground, what’s left when a strip of that forest is felled, yarded, hauled, and most of what’s left is heaped into 4-metre high piles. All of that happened less than 12 months ago. In the next season the forest’s renewal will become evident. In the meantime, there’s a scar. And my memories of stillness, deer, bear, and big Douglas Firs.

#Pnw #vancouverisland #bxw #photography #foto #forest #nature #summer #fall #autumn #trees #forestry #logging #douglasfir #worthmorestanding #secondgrowth

Gardening fail!
When the zucchini grows into a monster. What now? (The fork is here for my protection.)

#bxw #foto #photography #gardenphotography #Garden #gardens #gardenlife #lazygardener #wildgarden #vancouverisland #paradise #husbandry #divinefeminine #cultivation #summer #ilovemylifestyle #backyard #zucchini

A sunlit path through the 100-year forest.
The North Georgia Plain was once a “loggers paradise.“ Large swaths of even-aged Douglas Fir stood where a large wildfire had raged in the 1600s. By 1940, the larger portion of this “paradise” was felled, yarded, boomed, and towed to mills on the Fraser River. Cleared of stumps and slash that paradise made way for farms. Wherever the forest returned, it was being cut a second time once it reached 50+ years. Only in small corners, or in strips along creeks or at the edge of farm fields, and the rare park, is the 100-year forest becoming itself.
These trees lie in one of those farm strips. A small salmon-bearing creek runs through it. A local elementary school created this trail. In the later fall, when the summer drought is washed away by the rains, teachers bring their classes here. They might learn how the forest and the salmon nourish each other.

#vancouverisland #bxw #photography #foto #forest #nature #salmon #douglasfir

The urban forest takes many shapes, appearing in small pockets parks, street plantings, as well as large tracts of set asides. The most impressive can often be the most unassuming. Small places that provide shade and an experience of natural forms.

This is a pocket park in East Vancouver, a region of the city historically poor in trees and forest experiences, at least since the mass deforestation of colonial logging in the 19th century.

#vancouver #bxw #forest #urban #urbanforest #nature #summer #trees #parks

Rev. Hans with the Furry Angels, sailing the Salish Sea on a sunny summer’s day.

#dogs #dogsofmastodon #sailing #salishsea #bxw #foto

“Hey! Hey!” he said again. “Can I help you? Hey! Can I help you?”
He was shouting from up by the barn.
“No,” I said. “I’m trying to get a picture of your dandelions. They caught my eye as I was driving by.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Oh.” Then, “I thought you were looking for the swimming hole. A lot of people are looking for the swinging hole.”
I never saw him. Just heard him yelling. Not unfriendly. But it reminded me of the “mushroom wars,” when farmers would attack strangers in their fields. Because they were trespassing, damaging fences, leaving hazardous (to cattle and machinery) garbage. Because they were long-haired strangers picking “magic mushrooms” in their fields.
That was a long time ago. Still, having a farmer yelling at me, it got my back up.

#farming #dandelions #mushrooms #trespassing #rural #privateproperty #bxw #vancouverisland

Summer, on the edge of the 100-year forest.

#vancouverisland #bxw #forest #colour #nature #summer #tree

I’m looking south, sitting on the grassy shoulder of a gas line right of way. A rough industrial road runs parallel to a maturing, 100-year forest. The road services the gas line and three hydro lines that, here, cut across hay fields.
The standing forest is maturing, but it’s sitting on a nutrient-poor rocky ridge. A year ago a same-aged forest ran between the road and the fields. Those trees were in a much wetter, more nutritious location. Some were exceptionally large.
Living in a community surrounded by privately owned 100-year woods is an exercise in gratitude, grief, and acceptance. There are virtually no large old growth forests left on the North Georgia Plain, here on Vancouver Island. A few small patches still stand. Cathedral Grove is the most impressive. But while the trees there are awesome and wondrous, the protected forest is small. What private landowner will, today, set aside 100ha (or more) of 100-year forest?

#vancouverisland #bxw #forest #nature #found #summer #trees #foto #conservation

About 100 years ago the ancient forest in this part of Vancouver Island was a mixed stand of conifers and deciduous trees that had grown up after a massive fire in the late 1600s. Most trees were Douglas Firs, 200+ years old. It was an even-aged stand on the relatively flat North Georgia Plain. A “logger’s paradise. This part of that logger’s paradise was laid out by engineers for yarding. The forest was subdivided by straight railway grades approximately 2000’ apart. The forest was felled. The logs yarded to the railside, loaded onto flatcars, and hauled by steam locomotives to the “beach.” There the logs were dumped into the ocean and boomed up for towing to mills on the Fraser River.
This view is of the old main railway line, now a recreational trail. The forest that has grown up around it is about 100 years old. It’s a mix of deciduous and Douglas Fir trees.

#vancouverisland #bxw #forest #forestphotography #nature #naturephotography #tree #railway #logging #forestry