There is a magnificent grove of
Western Red Cedar trees located near the Idaho town of Elk River and about eight miles from the "
Giant Cedar" that I mentioned in my last post. As the sign below explains this grove is a "'climax community" where one tree species has come to dominate a local habitat. In this case it is the Western Red Cedars that have come out as the dominant species. There are several other small tree species that peacefully coexist with the cedars though. These are the Pacific yew and the Sitka alder.
To locate this Cedar grove go to the town of Elk River and visit the
Elk River Lodge where they will gladly give you a small map with instructions on how to find the Giant Cedar and the Morris Creek grove.
One of the exciting things about this particular Cedar grove is that there is no evidence of it ever having been logged. Logged Western Red Cedar stumps can last for a very long time but in this location the only stumps I found were from trees that had broken off in storms. I also found some evidence of fire but the great trees seemed to have survived just fine.
The largest trees in the grove appear to be about 8 feet across at breast height. We saw at least a dozen of these as well as many more that were 5-7 feet in diameter.
There is a magnificent grove of Western Red Cedar trees located near the Idaho town of Elk River and about eight miles from the "Giant Cedar" that I mentioned in my last post. As the sign below explains this grove is a "'climax community" where one tree species has come to dominate a local habitat. In this case it is the Western Red Cedars that have come out as the dominant species. There are several other small tree species that peacefully coexist with the cedars though. These are the Pacific yew and the Sitka alder.
To locate this Cedar grove go to the town of Elk River and visit the Elk River Lodge where they will gladly give you a small map with instructions on how to find the Giant Cedar and the Morris Creek grove.
One of the exciting things about this particular Cedar grove is that there is no evidence of it ever having been logged. Logged Western Red Cedar stumps can last for a very long time but in this location the only stumps I found were from trees that had broken off in storms. I also found some evidence of fire but the great trees seemed to have survived just fine.
The largest trees in the grove appear to be about 8 feet across at breast height. We saw at least a dozen of these as well as many more that were 5-7 feet in diameter.
Gorgeous spot. There's something very special about being in a grove of giant trees like that.
ReplyDeleteNice post!