Douglas Fir - a Changing View
Since the start of the Fingle Woods restoration project our views have changed. The landscape has opened up and our surveys show biodiversity may be on the increase among the mixed woodland habitats and, after five years of careful thinning, the introduced evergreens are becoming more spaced out. But what about our view on the conifers themselves? The Douglas fir is a case in point. As the most numerous species of timber tree growing on the slopes of this part of the Teign valley, it dominates the Fingle terrain. It is an evergreen, a conifer, a newcomer. As a conservationist, I shouldn’t favour it, it’s not a native species, but I am growing to like it.
At around five decades in age, I frequently stand beneath trees of a similar age. They are just reaching their prime and ready for felling. Unlike me, they could go on growing for many more years. After all, the Douglas fir is the second tallest conifer species in the world. I look up at what is a new and important part of our once extensive, but now depleted woodland cover. With an accepting eye, I see great potential for wildlife if this tree becomes a part of the mix, mingled in with our country’s dwindling Ancient Woods. I see opportunities for bats that find shelter in clusters of ivy and birds nesting in tree holes in any standing dead stems or snags. Larger birds, including buzzards and ravens, nest in the high branches while some of the smaller, seed eaters, forage among the ‘fir’ cones to pick out seeds at a safe distance from predatory eyes many metres below. Tom, our Fingle bird surveyor told me, “Coal tit and goldcrest find invertebrates in the canopy and siskin and crossbill both feed on the seeds. Mistle Thrush like them as song perches and sometimes nesting sites, while robin and wren both live in the understorey.”
My own monitoring and studies have shown that the dormouse, a Fingle Woods favourite, uses the Douglas fir for foraging and bark from some of the other introduced conifers for nest building. There is plenty of evidence that these tiny tree climbers can easily scale the tallest tree and spend a lot of time up there.So, it’s not all bad. It provides habitat, food and nesting for many other species and the thinning or harvesting is going to bring this introduced species into a better balance with the existing pockets of wild woodland. But will it go completely? Probably not. The Continuous Cover Forestry approach requires the existing canopy to remain in place. In the right place, the Douglas fir will stay. In some respects, it’s a very important part of the whole Fingle project but one of its greatest contributions just might be in the sequestration of atmospheric carbon. It’s credentials as a fast-growing species means it can store plenty of carbon, extracting it from the air much faster than native deciduous trees. It is an important time for the Douglas fir in this country. If it is managed well, it should be a component of a mixed woodland, standing over, or side-by-side with the native broadleaves. We won't be planting any at Fingle but it could play a part in the bigger picture, mitigating climate change. If managed and processed correctly, this big tree has a big part to play in the future of woodland restoration. Douglas fir is growing on me … and I’m growing to appreciate it.by Matt Parkins, RavenQuest On one of my rare trips outside Devon and across the border into Somerset, I visited the tallest tree in England. On the Dunster Estate in Somerset, this 2016 photo shows my daughter Laura (9 ¾ years old) standing beneath the giant Douglas fir tree at 61.3m in height
My own monitoring and studies have shown that the dormouse, a Fingle Woods favourite, uses the Douglas fir for foraging and bark from some of the other introduced conifers for nest building. There is plenty of evidence that these tiny tree climbers can easily scale the tallest tree and spend a lot of time up there.So, it’s not all bad. It provides habitat, food and nesting for many other species and the thinning or harvesting is going to bring this introduced species into a better balance with the existing pockets of wild woodland. But will it go completely? Probably not. The Continuous Cover Forestry approach requires the existing canopy to remain in place. In the right place, the Douglas fir will stay. In some respects, it’s a very important part of the whole Fingle project but one of its greatest contributions just might be in the sequestration of atmospheric carbon. It’s credentials as a fast-growing species means it can store plenty of carbon, extracting it from the air much faster than native deciduous trees. It is an important time for the Douglas fir in this country. If it is managed well, it should be a component of a mixed woodland, standing over, or side-by-side with the native broadleaves. We won't be planting any at Fingle but it could play a part in the bigger picture, mitigating climate change. If managed and processed correctly, this big tree has a big part to play in the future of woodland restoration. Douglas fir is growing on me … and I’m growing to appreciate it.by Matt Parkins, RavenQuest On one of my rare trips outside Devon and across the border into Somerset, I visited the tallest tree in England. On the Dunster Estate in Somerset, this 2016 photo shows my daughter Laura (9 ¾ years old) standing beneath the giant Douglas fir tree at 61.3m in height
