Coastal British Columbia is a land of forests. If we have not paved it, built on it or mowed it down then there will be trees on it! The management of our forests is a controversial issue and I do not want to get embroiled in that sort of an argument. A point that I would like to make, however, is that our second growth forests are being treated like second class citizens! Those of us who grew up on this coast may be the worst offenders. We do not often see old growth forest since that which remains is generally in unreachable areas of the island. We consider it strange, mysterious and "special". In our haste to pay homage to these elderly giants, we are inclined to ignore and take for granted some of our mature stands of second growth forest which are almost as impressive. The point was brought home to me when Susan and I were talking to German tourists on the West Coast Trail. They raved about the stretch of trail from Port Renfrew to Thrashers Cove. We had thought it was a dull inland route and had looked forward to hitting the coast. They were impressed by the forest. Almost in the same breath Sue and I responded, "Oh, but that's just second growth...nothing special."

Of course we were the ones who had missed the whole point. Our forests have their special beauty regardless of their age. The wonderful mosses, huge blow downs and giant trees of the old growth forests are breath taking but there is not much vegetation that survives in the deep shade of those forest floors. A younger forest may have stately trees but also leave room and light for a rich growth of salal, ferns and trilliums. Even when our forests are at that gawky adolescent stage where there are dozens of spindly looking trees crowding out everything else they provide a lush back drop. You will notice if you visit any of the pages on this site that the backdrop to almost every photo is forest of one sort of another.

This is a photo taken in Cathedral Grove Park. They clear away blow downs to allow people to access this trail and look at the trees and informational signs. Typically the life you would find on the floor of an old growth forest would be dependent on the decaying remains of old trees. Here is another picture taken in a less "cultivated" area of that same stand of trees. Some of the Douglas Fir in this reserve area are 800 years old. They deserve a page of their own and I hope to do one eventually.

I searched through albums of photos for a good picture of some of our second growth forest but I have proved the bias I mentioned earlier. I have taken it so much for granted I have not made a specific effort to photograph it. This picture was taken to impress all with the rigors we had gone through on this hike but you do at least get an glimpse of a pretty standard bit of second growth in the background.