|
| Situated on the south side of the Strait of Georgia, Kitty Coleman Provincial Park is a popular destination for swimming, boating, fishing, hiking and oceanfront camping. The park protects the mature forest of Western hemlock, Western red cedar and Douglas-fir in the upland portion, the estuary of Kitty Coleman Creek, and 900 meters of shoreline. The eastern portion of the park is home to a single majestic old-growth Douglas-fir, estimated to be more than 500 years old. Jan and I made an effort to locate this Grande ol’ Dame this past August on our fabulous back-country camping trip. We travelled 1700 km of logging roads on Northern Vancouver Island. We had a great adventure and saw some wonderful sights allowing us to reminisce on BC’s grand heydays of the forestry industry. |
|
 |
Kitty Coleman Provincial Park (10 hectares) is located on Vancouver Island, in the Courtney/Comox area, south of Oyster River; northeast of Courtenay. Nearby communities include Courtenay, Comox Valley, Merville and Campbell River. The original park was donated to the settlers of Merville around 1900 and operated by the community until the 1940s, when financial difficulties led to the province assuming management responsibility. Kitty Coleman was established as a Class “C” Provincial Park in 1944, and a community park board was set up to oversee its operation. Located directly on the water with a beautiful of Powell River, park facilities include a picnic shelter, picnic tables, pit toilets, two boat launches, several nature trails and camping for individuals and groups.
The Douglas-fir
There are two geographical varieties of Douglas-fir native to North America: Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (slower growing) and the Coastal Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii faster growing, long-lived and reaching over 300' tall. Our coastal Douglas-fir forests are among the most productive in Canada due to our climate. The wood's tough, strong fibre, strength and durability give it incomparable versatility. It is highly regarded and widely specified both for the most demanding structural applications and for joinery and architectural millwork.
The largest trees and most impressive forests are found in northwest North America, within 200 km of the Pacific Ocean. Coastal Douglas-fir trees rank as the second tallest tree species in the world behind coastal redwood. Most old growth range in height from 200 to 250 feet, and have a diameter of 5 to 8 feet. The largest volume tree is the Red Creek Fir, about 18 km by road from Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
"Collected by M.L. Parker and Les Jozsa (Brown 1996), based on ring-count aging, a Douglas-fir of 1350 years from a specimen on Vancouver Island (BC) has been identified. This tree was one member of a stand that established after a fire ca. 635 A.D. It blew down in a storm in the winter of 1985-86, providing an opportunity to date it (Stoltmann 1987). It is plausible that older trees are still alive in the stand. There is also a record of a 1307 years for a stump in a clear-cut on Waterloo Mountain, Vancouver Island, sampled by Les Jozsa (Stoltmann 1993)."
This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
| Would you like to know more? |
 |
Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) was named after both the Scottish botanist David Douglas of the Horticultural Society of London and Archibald Menzies, surgeon and botanist for Captain George Vancouver; however, it is not considered a true fir. In fact, it is a member of the pine family! And while Douglas may have won acclaim in the late 1700's for this tree's introduction into European society, its importance in North American continues today.
In 1867, because of its distinctive cones, it was given its own genus Pseudotsuga, which means false hemlock. The hyphen in the common name lets us know that Douglas-fir is not a "true" fir - that it's not a member of the Abies genus. |
The massive, fine-grained Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) grows in abundance along Canada's west coast. The tree has a long, straight trunk with very little taper, and in heavy stands is free of branches for two-thirds or more of its height, yielding a high percentage of clear and near-clear wood in long lengths and large sizes. Douglas-fir is the only redwood-type material still available in substantial volumes of clear wood and is characterized by having the highest ratings of any western softwood for extreme fibre stress in bending; tension parallel-to-grain; horizontal sheer; exceptional strength, hardness and durability.
Even second-growth Douglas-fir, the product of many years of reforestation, has achieved the mature characteristics and dimensions which cannot be matched by faster-growing plantation softwoods from other timber-producing regions of the world. Because of its physical working properties, as well as the moderate durability of its heartwood, and its excellent dimensional stability, all combine to provide the reasons why many builders worldwide prefer Douglas-fir for framing timbers. It is truly the ideal, general-purpose softwood species for timber framing in residential, light commercial, multi-story and industrial construction, and for structural formwork applications.
For strength, versatility and beauty, few woods match the magnificent Douglas-fir!
|
|
|
