Species of the Month: Douglas Fir

Christmas is next week, and to celebrate we are profiling one of the most popular Christmas trees as the December Species of the Month. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of species made available for holiday décor, such as the noble, grand, and Fraser firs and Norway spruce. When I was a kid, the old standby, and still my favorite, was the Douglas fir. I see them on a daily basis, and when they reach 40-200 feet tall they lose their Christmas tree shape but the wonderful smell is still there. Besides, a 200 footer is way too big for the front room window.

Scientific name: Pseudotsuga menziesii

Kingdom: Plantae (plants)

Class: Pinopsida (conifers)

Order: Pinales (pines)

Range: British Columbia south to northern California west of the Cascades and Sierras and along the Rockies south to Yellowstone, then scattered distribution south to Mexico. The coastal variety is subspecies menziesii and the Rocky Mountain subspecies is glauca.

Habitat: Well-aerated soils from sea level to 7500 feet for menziesii and 10,700 feet for glauca. Southern populations reach higher elevations than northern populations. Pseudotsuga menziesii forms communities with western red cedar, western hemlock, redwood, Sitka spruce, and other conifers.

Lifespan: Commonly, 500 years. Some individuals exceed 1000 years.

Diet: Sunlight, water, soil minerals

Predators: Small mammals such as squirrels and tree voles (seeds), humans (timber)

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: In addition to serving as a popular Christmas tree, Douglas fir is a valuable commercial forestry product. Due to rapid growth time (relatively speaking) from sapling to harvest, logging companies frequently reforest clearcuts with exclusive Douglas fir stands. Trees can be harvested in as little as 80 years. 

Douglas fir in its natural habitat

Needles grow all around the branch

Needles grow along the length of the branch

Rough bark

Unopened seed cone

The finished product

Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs

We all know there are a lot of animals out there. You see them all the time. When I’m roaming the woods, I don’t always see critters. But with a little bit of training, you can tell who was there before your arrival. Here in Washington, it rains a lot. That means mud, which fortunately reveals what critters came and left tracks. Animals even help themselves to our trails, making it easier to follow their travels. On one expedition to the Ohop Valley, I found an animal superhighway. The highlight was a coyote track inside an elk track on top of a mole hill.

Deer track in sand near Mashel River

Scats are another obvious animal sign. When nature calls, animals answer right on the trail as they walk. Scat can tell us who walked before us and what they ate. Owl pellets are the indigestible remains that come up the other way and are just as revealing.

Coyote scat showing the remains of a bird

Otter scat

Great horned owl pellet

Other signs are more subtle. Trees might contain fur that got snagged as animal walked by and brushed against it. Or the bark could be scraped off by a deer, elk, or bear. Lower branches might display gnaw marks from a busy beaver. Easily overlooked is a squirrel midden, the pile of husks left over from a sciurid feast.

An elk rubbed its antlers on this tree

A bear scraped the bark off this tree

A beaver almost chopped down this tree

Squirrel midden, husks from a demolished fir cone

Carcasses are the next best thing to seeing a live animal, even though I rarely encounter them. The good work done by the decomposers happens quickly, except in cases of roadkill where it is too dangerous to be rapidly effective. Also, animals typically run off to seclusion to die and are not likely to be found close to a trail. In my years of wandering the wilds, I’ve come across a rabbit, an opossum, bits of a deer (likely killed by a coyote), a mole, a pile of feathers belonging to an owl or hawk (possibly done in by a bobcat) and a seal. So when someone suggests the lack of a body as evidence against the existence of Bigfoot, ask when the last time they found a dead anything in the woods. 

Deer fur left over from a kill by a coyote

Harbor seal carcass at Kalaloch Beach, Olympic National Park

Feathers from a hawk or owl, I suspect killed by a bobcat

What signs have you seen lately?