A Thousand Years of Cedar
The Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) of Meares Island are some of the largest individuals of this species on the planet, with the largest trees dated to between 1000-1500 years old. In the mid 1980s, the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Council successfully prevented MacMillan Bloedel from logging the island, to the benefit of humanity, as well as countless other species. Evident on the trunks of some of the standing trees is the First Nation practice of cutting planks for human use, but leaving the tree standing for centuries to come. This forest is magnificent, and whenever I am among trees such as this, the impossibility of reckoning their experience of life is pervasive. Typically, the weather is not sunny, but on this day, the family and I soaked in a very different temperate rainforest experience. To get this perspective, I lay down on my back underneath the boughs and looked up.
This species of tree was put to many uses by First Nation people, and back in Tofino I sampled a modern creation: A cocktail made with spirits soaked with cedar wood. It was sublime.
A Thousand Years of Cedar
The Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) of Meares Island are some of the largest individuals of this species on the planet, with the largest trees dated to between 1000-1500 years old. In the mid 1980s, the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Council successfully prevented MacMillan Bloedel from logging the island, to the benefit of humanity, as well as countless other species. Evident on the trunks of some of the standing trees is the First Nation practice of cutting planks for human use, but leaving the tree standing for centuries to come. This forest is magnificent, and whenever I am among trees such as this, the impossibility of reckoning their experience of life is pervasive. Typically, the weather is not sunny, but on this day, the family and I soaked in a very different temperate rainforest experience. To get this perspective, I lay down on my back underneath the boughs and looked up.
This species of tree was put to many uses by First Nation people, and back in Tofino I sampled a modern creation: A cocktail made with spirits soaked with cedar wood. It was sublime.