Flora and Fauna

A photo of me touching a very large Doug Fir camping near Mt St Helens.


Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is not a true fir at all, nor a pine or spruce. It is a distinct species named after Archibald Menzies, a Scottish physician and naturalist who first discovered the tree on Vancouver Island in 1791, and David Douglas, the Scottish botanist who later identified the tree in the Pacific Northwest in 1826. The species is known by a number of common names including Oregon Pine, British Columbian Pine, Red Fir and even Douglastree; however, the U.S. Forest Service settled on Douglas Fir some years ago. Douglas Fir is North America's most plentiful softwood species, accounting for one fifth of the continent's total softwood reserves.

-http://www2.wwpa.org/WESTERNSPECIES/DouglasFir/tabid/405/Default.aspx

Some of the animals in the area include:

Cougar

Black bear

Squirrel

Possum

Skunk

Elk (we heard them mating in the middle of the night and that was scary)

Deer

Chipmunk

Fox

Coyote

Badgers

Stick Indians

and much more!