These Old(e) Trees

A cathedral-like hush descends upon one walking through this forest. Particularly in these cedars, the fragrance is faintly reminiscent of incense. The towering trees act as the arching pillars of a European church and the silence. Oh the silence. The cedar duff thick on the ground muffling any sound allows the stillness to enter one’s soul. The scent wafting up faint, woodsy, incense.

Here are some of the trees who depend on me for their future. I depend on them for the clean oxygen they provide – so do you.

These trees are old growth cedar, not first growth, old growth. The woods were last logged in the 1960s and they were logged for Douglas Fir. The trees that remain are over 90% red cedar with some random Hemlock.

And then there are the trees of character throughout the property. If one walks often enough one gets to know the trees.

Have you heard of Ents? Well if you haven’t you have some research to do. The Ents had names like Greenbeard, Oldbirch, or Greymoss, but Ents were in another world than ours, not the new world for sure.

The story goes that once there were Entwives in Middle Earth but they were lost. They left all at once and never returned. My story is that they are here, found. Here on my little island in the Pacific Northwest. And they have daughters.

These old(e) trees are in my care and depend on me for their preservation and continuity. My partner and I are in the process of putting an Conservation Easement on our little (22 acres) woods. We have a local Land Trust who is working with us to get this to happen. This will protect and preserve the trees in perpetuity such that as you enter this little town fifty, or two hundred and fifty, years from now you will drive or walk along about a quarter of a mile of lofty trees. And in all that time these old(e) trees will be here sequestering carbon and keeping our air clean!

I will write more at another time about the Land Trust and These Old(e) Trees.

Thanks for reading.