Top Line: In these dark times for nature, if not also the republic, it is all the more important not only to oppose but also to propose.
I have either been part of or witnessed a multitude of gatherings of a few people uniting and proposing something that—at the time—was entirely out of reach, out of the ballpark, and/or downright crazy. If anyone had done a rational risk-benefit analysis at any of those beginnings, none would have begun. Fortunately, no such analysis was done, and the few proceeded, gaining supporters along the way, and eventually succeeded.
Such has been the creation story of almost every national park, wilderness, wild and scenic river, national monument, national scenic area, national conservation area, national recreation area, or other national what-have-you area. With that in mind, in this post I offer you, in today’s parlance, a start-up in which you may want to invest: Douglas-Fir National Monument.
A Tradition of Parks and Monuments for Magnificent Trees
At a few times in our nation’s history, a species of tree has seemed so magnificent that either the president has proclaimed a national monument or Congress has established a unit of the National Park System to honor and protect that tree in a significant portion of its range. The coast redwood in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon, the giant sequoia in the Sierra Nevada, the Joshua tree in the Mojave Desert, the tree-like saguaro and organ pipe cacti in the Sonoran Desert, the bald and pond cypresses in Florida — all have namesake national monuments or national parks.
Each of these tree species is magnificent in its own way, and so is the Douglas-fir.
In California, both national and state parks pay homage to the redwoods. Nothing comparable exists for the Douglas-fir, even though it is a more important species in its range and significance, and old-growth forests of Douglas-fir are as magnificent as those of coast redwoods—often with greater ecological diversity. The creation of a Douglas-Fir National Monument would protect, honor, and conserve one of America’s greatest natural treasures—the coast Douglas-fir forest ecosystem in Oregon’s western Cascades—for the benefit of this and future generations.
An Extremely Brief Natural History
Pseudotsuga menziesii is scientifically named in honor of Archibald Menzies, a Scottish naturalist, botanist, and surgeon (1754–1842) who accompanied Royal Navy captain George Vancouver on his circumnavigation of the globe (west to east). One stop was in what we now call the Pacific Northwest, where Menzies “discovered” (more accurate to say “described by western science”) the Douglas-fir in 1791.
The species is commonly named for another Scottish botanist, David Douglas, who in 1827 sent some Douglas-fir seeds back to his motherland, where many Douglas-fir plantations litter the landscape.
Figure 4. The Middle Santiam River. The upper portion of the river and the surrounding old-growth forest is above the eponymous wilderness area established in 1984 and therefore not protected for the benefit of this and future generations. Source: Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument (Milo Meacham).
The genus name, Pseudotsuga, translates to “false hemlock.” The Douglas-fir has been variously called the Douglas-spruce, red-fir, Oregon-pine, and Columbia-pine. Neither spruce nor pine, it’s also not a “true fir” (a member of the Abies genus), despite its common name. (Don’t tell any English majors you know, but the hyphen in Douglas-fir was put there by botanists to remind themselves that it isn’t actually a true fir.)
Douglas-fir has three recognized variants:
• coast (P. menziesii var. menziesii)
• Rocky Mountain (P. menziesii var. glauca)
• Mexican (P. menziesii var. lindleyana)
Glauca is Latin for bluish gray, blue, or blue-green, signifying that the Rocky Mountain variant is somewhat bluish. The coast variant tends to be a darker green. The Mexican variant is most closely related to the Rocky Mountain variant.
There is also a “bigcone Douglas-fir,” but it’s a different species (P. macrocarpa) found in the mountains of southern California. It is also known locally as bigcone-spruce, though, of course, it’s not a true spruce species.
Map 1. Green shows the range of the coast variety of Douglas-fir; blue shows the Rocky Mountain variety. Map courtesy of Wikipedia.
Coast Douglas-firs can rival redwood trees in size and age. David Douglas noted trees in the lower valleys of western Washington that averaged 17 feet thick. They can reach heights of several hundred feet, but the tallest were logged first, and no one knows for sure how tall they were. The trunk of the Nooksack Giant, cut in 1897, was said to be 465 feet long. Douglas-firs can reach ages of a thousand years or more.
The Need to Restore Douglas-Fir Forests
Most natural Douglas-fir forests have been clear-cut and replaced with monoculture plantations of Douglas-fir trees—all evenly spaced and of the same height. Such plantations are more akin to a cornfield than a forest. Today, pristine stands of mature and old-growth Douglas-fir cover but a small fraction of their former extent.
The proposed national monument contains vast stands of “successful” Douglas-fir plantations. The trees in these stands are generally all of the same age and the same spacing. They are closer to biological deserts than real forests. Judicious scientifically sound ecological restoration thinning of such stands can accelerate the onset of late-successional (older forest) characteristics, putting these stands on a fast track to becoming old-growth forests again. Thinning a stand can allow the remaining Douglas-fir trees to get bigger faster. (Bigness is a characteristic of an ecologically complex old forest.) Where bigleaf maple, alder species, and other native conifer species have established themselves in the plantation, thinning can favor the growth of these stalwart survivors, increasing the diversity of the stands. In addition, small openings can be created to benefit deer and elk.
In an era of climate change, the conservation and restoration of the magnificent Douglas-fir forest will make a major contribution to carbon sequestration and disproportionately help ameliorate global warming. Because of their massive amounts of biomass, unlogged Douglas-fir forests store huge amounts of carbon. If these forests were logged, this carbon would be released into the atmosphere and contribute to climate change. Even though young forests are fast growing, they do not approach the carbon storage of old-growth forests for at least two hundred years.
The establishment of a Douglas-Fir National Monument would not lead to the immediate end of all logging on public lands in the area and in fact could yield several decades of commercially valuable logs. For at least another twenty to thirty years, the careful ecologically sound restoration thinning of many of the monoculture plantation stands would continue. Such would allow the stands to evolve again into mature and then old-growth forests, while providing timber to local mills.
More than Just Douglas-Firs
In addition to encompassing old-growth Douglas-fir forests, the proposed national monument includes old-growth stands of other tree species. While Douglas-fir is the most prevalent coniferous tree species in the proposed national monument, at least sixteen other coniferous species and nine deciduous tree species can be found there.
In addition to conserving and restoring vast stands of coast Douglas-fir and other coniferous forests, the proposed national monument would also encompass and protect numerous objects of historic (archeological, paleontological, and/or cultural) and scientific (ecological, geological, and/or hydrological) interest, including wildflower-strewn meadows, small lakes and waterfalls that dot the landscape, and striking volcanic features.
Magnificent views will be preserved, and recreation compatible with the conservation of the values for which the national monument is established will be protected and encouraged. Pleasure driving, hiking, biking, horseback riding, nature study, birding, hunting, fishing, swimming, backpacking, camping, and related activities are some of the ways the national monument could be enjoyed and appreciated.
A Proposal for Your Consideration: Douglas-Fir National Monument
How it can be established: By Act of Congress or presidential proclamation as authorized by the Antiquities Act.
Size: 700,000+ acres (1,094 square miles, or a square 33 miles on a side), all federal public land.
Administering agency: US Forest Service.
Location: In Oregon’s Cascade Range, including the upper watersheds of the North Santiam River, Breitenbush River, Middle Santiam River, Crabtree Creek, South Santiam River, Calapooia River, and McKenzie River on and near the Willamette National Forest in Marion, Linn, and Lane Counties.
The landscape: Vast stands of mature and old-growth forests, young natural forests, lakes, wet meadows, dry meadows, free-flowing streams, high alpine meadows and peaks, talus slopes, and more.
Objects of historic or scientific interest and/or outstandingly remarkable values (a.k.a. monumental values): biological diversity (including native fish and wildlife); air and water quality; climate change mitigation and adaptation; wildlands and free-flowing streams; gorgeous views; quiet recreation; objects of historical and scientific interest; geological and botanicalfeatures; archeological, paleontological, and cultural resources; dark skies; and natural forest succession—across the landscape and over time, from open meadows to young forests to old growth and back again through natural disturbance from fire, windstorms, and even volcanos.
Threats to monumental values: (1) Logging of native forest; (2) energy development; (3) mineral development; (4) unmanaged recreation.
What it will be managed for: For the conservation and restoration of nature for the benefit of this and future generations.
Allowed uses: Pleasure driving, hiking, biking, birding, nature study, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, camping, and other compatible uses.
Prohibited uses: (1) Logging for purely commercial purposes (any logging is limited to scientifically sound ecological restoration thinning of monoculture plantations to put them on a path to becoming older complex forests, where any commercial logs are a by-product); (2) mineral exploitation, subject to valid existing rights; (3) off-road vehicle use (limited to designated routes)
How it will be managed: Mostly passive management where nature—in all its glory and fury—is not just tolerated but encouraged; some active management, to include scientifically sound ecological restoration thinning of monoculture tree plantations to put them back on a path to becoming older complex forest, where any commercial logs are a by-product, during a several-decade restoration period.
Economic and social benefits: More money is to be made and more happiness is to be created by leaving old forests standing than by clear-cutting them and running them through the mill.
What You Can Do to Help
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” —Henry David Thoreau, Walden: A Life in the Woods (1854).
The all-volunteer Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument needs and deserves your support. Only if enough people come together and convince the Oregon congressional delegation and/or the president, will a Douglas-Fir National Monument come to be.
- At the very minimum, you should get on the group’s email list.
- While you are there, you might also want to make a donation to the cause.
- Finally, you should consider volunteering for the effort. For example, Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument is looking for people to serve on its board of directors. If you are interested, please contact the organization to learn more (info@douglasfirnationalmonument.org).
(Note: For the record, I am a member of the board of directors of Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument.)
Bottom Line: If currently degraded forests are included in a national monument dedicated to long-term conservation, our grandchildren will be able to see the vast landscape of old-growth Douglas-fir forests that our grandparents saw.
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