Psuedotsuga: Pepperwood Feb. 10, 2012
"Not a Hemlock, Douglas Fir; Nor Pine, nor Spruce, nor Yew--
And so defined by what it's not;
and David Douglas, too." ( from "sudo suga" by Ray Parsons)
They've got us removing Douglas Fir in the Preserve; this seems to be the best idea going in conservation programs in my region. As I get it(maybe I don"t), preventing the succession of Oak to Fir is needed to forestall devastating fires. Or perhaps we're just more sympathetic to the Oaks these days... Whatever it is, it does strike workers as an odd thing to do when so much foreign invasive stuff blooms unhindered. Plus, it's an amazingly fruitful plant; so you've set yourself a job 'o work when you propose to freeze the forest program on Oak..
Of course, the Douglas Fir is presently the opposite of endangered; carpeting a wide swath from Mexico to Canada. But as many individuals as their are, and how wonderfully polymorphic you find them, it's a pretty stand-alone species. It's been years since I looked it up(damned if I'll run to google like a good monkey), but I understood that only a doubtful cousin(Bigcone Spruce, withering in the smoggy San Gabriels), and a Japanese Psuedotsuga are much related to this master species . Locally, the biggest specimens hold their own mixed with second and third growth Redwood , and some of these are magnificent. I do tend to favor the windswept ones on coastal ridges; and these have the advantage of being no use at the sawmill. As many DF as we've been gifted, they make fine studs: especially the big fellows. We live in Santa Rosa in a 20's bungalow made with old-dimension redwood two-by-fours: another once inexhaustible resource.
Consolation is, that in this and everyother thing at my stage of life, I'm now working for my children... in this case, a daughter moving towards a conservation career. Youth is provided with the gift of decision, where I might dither. That bit out of the way, I can still be a formidable nemesis of the smaller saplings.
