On Thanksgiving, my 13-year old daughter and I walked around the recent forestry operation in the Island Center Forest (ICF). Some of the aging alder have been removed to increase the diversity of the forest, accelerate the development of an older growth conifer forest and improve habitat for wildlife. Sixty-year old mature alders, facing the end of their natural life cycle, are also helping to cover the costs involved in transitioning to the next forest generation. Their removal provides the income and allows the space for new seedlings to be planted.
As we walked down through the opening, the older larger cedar trees which had previously been hidden from view now stood out majestically through the remaining alders. My daughter wondered at the big trees and asked about all the wood left behind on the forest floor. Why was it left so messy, she asked.
I told her nature is messy. Traditional forest operations clean this wood off the forest floor, but forest scientists now recognize its importance. Natural disturbances such as fires and windstorms result in large amounts of dead wood on the forest floor. The downed logs are critical for the forest ecosystem. They will decompose into the soil, build up organic matter and release nutrients essential to the next generation of trees. They will provide important habitat for fungi, insects and small mammals that will bring in owls and raptors. It may look messy to us but not to the wildlife that will be drawn here.
She said she guessed it was sort of like Rachael Loy’s CD, “Love the Mess.” Teenagers, they do have a way of stating things.
This last winter and spring I had worked my way through this same area with half a dozen teenagers, removing a widespread infestation of English holly from under these otherwise pristine woods of big cedars and firs. While they had a good time joking around, they also transformed the area. Gone were the invasive weeds that had been smothering out the native plants, allowing the delicate leaves of the deciduous huckleberry to once again dominate the understory. These Vashon High School students were part of the Island Youth Forestry Corps that works for Vashon Forest Stewards and is funded partially through the King County Natural Resource Stewardship Network.
As part of our ongoing forest restoration efforts in Island Center Forest, some of these students will begin planting native trees and plants in this area next week. Islanders will remember that these forests were formerly planted and managed by the state Department of Natural Resources as Douglas-fir plantations and were mostly clear-cut to produce revenue for public school construction. The woods do not have the high degree of specie and age diversity found in naturally occurring older forests, and thus the students will be planting a wide variety of native species, including western red cedars, western white pine, grand fir, cascara, dogwood and big leaf maple, as well as understory plants such as vine maple, ocean spray and red-flowering current.
Sometime later this year the students will also help develop a loop trail allowing walkers to wander down through these big woods. Islander Sandra Noel will help create signs that inform visitors about ecological processes and explain why forestry activities were carried out.
— David Warren heads Vashon Forest Stewards, a nonprofit forestry business that works to restore and maintain healthy native forests and provide forestry services and island-grown wood products.
