The Coast Douglas fir is one of the tallest trees in the world. The Mineral tree, near Mineral, in Lewis County, was measured at 120 meters (393 feet) in 1924. There is a 1901 report of logging a douglas fir 411 feet tall. However, the tallest living Douglas fir today is only 326 feet, easily eclipsed by the largest Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) at 379 feet tall. The tallest tree ever measured was an Australian mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans), 435 feet tall. That tree was also promptly logged.

Douglas fir is still economically important here in Wastern Washington. In 2010, 46,052 thousand board feet of Douglas fir were harvested in King County alone. Douglas fir wood has a very high strength-to-weight ratio, so is used extensively for structural timbers and plywood. Douglas fir also accounts for more than half the Christmas trees produced in Washington State.

Douglas fir is an early seral species. After a disturbance such as fire or logging, the forest can regrow into an almost pure Douglas fir stand, though most timberlands are now planted with seedlings to give them a jump on the red alders (Alnus rubra) which can otherwise shade them out. Since a Douglas fir can live over 750 years, they remain an important species in older forests as well.

Douglas firs begin to produce strobili (cones) at about 12-15 years of age. It takes about 17 months from the start of bud development to cone maturation. The seeds are wind dispersed, and usually fall within 150 meters of the parent tree, though they can travel for over a kilometer. Seed production varies by year, with a heavy crop every seven years or so. Trees 200-300 years old produce the most seeds.

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The story is called “Real”, and the book is Infinite Science Fiction One, from Infinite Acacia Press, and is full of stories you should read.

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Global warming is an alligator conspiracy.
The largest of them take jobs at wrestling venues throughout the South
And insist on heated pools and being paid in vast quantities of hamburger,
Leading directly to an increase in cow farts and emissions from coal-fired power plants.

They don’t understand the connection between arsenic released by mountaintop removal,
And deformed eggs.
Hatchlings born with fur, oversized brains, and glow-in-the-dark scales, usually get eaten,
But not always.

They eagerly await the promised expansion of their swampland territories brought on by rising sea levels.

The mosquitoes concur.

The cockroaches, who have been diligently evolving a greater resistance to the cold, calculate that their investments are well enough diversified to withstand a fifteen degree climate shift in either direction.
They are also developing aquatic options.

Only the mangroves, caught between deep water and new, nearshore expressways, are concerned.

But, who ever listens to a tree?

Hi Everybody!
Happy Day-After-Solstice!
This being the bounce day in our wobble around the sun, it seems an auspicious time to start a new project. Also, it’s close enough to the new year for an attempt at improved habits, otherwise known as “Write More.”
In my usual scattered fashion, it should be a mix of observations, writing news, stories, and my monthly native plant column.
Wish me luck.
Janka