Cedars - the sequel

My friend, fiber artist Melinda West, sent me some additional pictures of yellow cedar, so I thought I would continue the thread I started yesterday with the Tale of two cedars. She also forwarded me a link to fiber arts magazine that showcases fiber art constructed from a mixture of yellow and red cedar.

This is the fallen yellow cedar from which she stripped bark on our incredibly steep hike up to Summerland.

fallen yellow cedar - Mount Rainier

Melinda exposes yellow cedar inner bark

I mentioned in my previous posting that yellow cedar occurs in mountains of the Pacific coast. It ranges from Alaska to Northern California. Some sad news is that stands of Alaska Yellow Cedar are dying from root freezing due to global warming. Even though yellow cedar thrives in mountain temperatures, they are being killed by severe cold snaps early and late in the season. This is happening because of the absence of an insulating blanket of snow due to late snow fall and early snow melt resulting from climate change.

Yellow Cedar decline in Alaska

To close this sequel to cedars, I want to share a wonderful Nootka legend about the creation of yellow cedar or Nootka Cypress:

One day the trickster Raven encountered three young women drying salmon on the beach. He asked, "Aren't you afraid to be out here alone?'  "No", the women replied.  "Aren't you afraid of bears?", he asked. "No!!"  "Wolves?" "No!!"  Only when he asked about owls did they admit that they were frightened. For a joke, The Raven hid in the forest and made  owl sounds. The women were so terrified that they ran up the mountainside. When they ran out of breath the three women turned into Nootka Cypress trees. According to the Nootka, this is why Nootka Cypress grows on the sides of mountains and explains why the bark is silky like a woman's hair and the young trunk is smooth like a woman's body.

A tale of two cedars

Did you know that western red cedar is sometimes called  "nature's umbrella"? I've heard that in some native languages, the word for red cedar means the same as "dry underneath".  Besides keeping us dry on a wet, autumn walk, western red cedar, thuja plicata, remains the cornerstone of our northwest native culture. I was recently on  a wet mountain hike with northwest fiber artist and friend, Melinda West. She introduced me to a relative of our red cedar: Cupressus nootkatenses often called yellow cedar. She shared some similarities and some differences between the two "cedars".

western red cedar

Truth be known, neither species is a true cedar, but members of the cypress family. Yellow cedar is often called Nootka cypress. Our red cedar is generally found in our moist lowland forests. Yellow cedar, also a native of west coastal regions, occurs in wet sites in mountains often close to the tree line.

The two trees have similar sprays of flat foliage handing from drooping branches. They both are tall buttressing trees with relatively shallow roots. The bark of a red cedar can be described as fibrous or ridged - the yellow cedar can be easily called shaggy.

shaggy bark of yellow cedar

Historically both trees are life trees of the indigenous people of the northwest coast. The resilient and long lasting wood of the red cedar has traditionally been fashioned into poles, canoes, lodges and baskets. The wood of the yellow cedar is also prized by native peoples for its durability. While the red cedar is used for larger uses, yellow cedar historically was  used for clothing, smaller utensils and carvings. A Tlingit legend identifies the first Killer Whale being carved from Nootka cypress.

Melinda and I came across a fallen yellow cedar across our trail. The windfall was fresh enough for her to strip bark off of the tree.

Melinda West getting to the inner bark of a yellow cedar

 She then continued to strip the piece and get to the pliable inner bark. The yellow inner bark, she explained, is why this bark was so valued for early clothing. This inner bark is often easier to access than the inner bark of the red cedar. The inner bark was worked until it was felt-like. It offered a water tight material in which to fashion soft, comfortable, long lasting clothing and blankets. Even today we can see culturally modified trees, where bark has been stripped for age old uses. Melinda still uses materials from both trees to fashion contemporary works of art. Her gallery can be seen on her web page, www.melindawest.com.

October is for pumpkins and a new water year

 October is time for pumpkins and time to enjoy the beautiful fall colors. So far this has been the sunniest, cheeriest fall in recent memory. October is also the beginning of a new year - the water year.

Sunny weather is generally good news for folks. Since Kitsap depends on rainfall to replenish our aquifers, a freaky dry stretch gives water suppliers reason to be nervous. The last decent measurable rain was July 22 at .47 inches. Since then we  have had only a smattering of sprinkles. Check out the rain data on our web page to see for yourself.

What does this mean in terms of the 2012 water year that just ended? We are, amazingly, in good shape. This is due to an average rain year up until July -over 40 inches of rain before the dry spell. We also had a couple of great water years in 2011 and 2010 where we received 50 and 52 inches respectively. Aquifer levels are holding their own!

What will the new water year bring? Cliff Mass, UW meteorologist,says the high pressure ridge holding back the rain is leaving us on Friday resulting in some wet weather.  He also says that this is an El Nino year which usually translates to a dryer, warmer winter. He hedges his bets by also saying that it may be a "wimpy" El Nino that could bring snow and rain in late winter. The people watching precipitation rates in our office aren't predicting a thing, but, since our precipitation rates correlate with our aquifer levels, you can bet KPUD will be watching the upcoming water year carefully. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, go out in the sun this week and look for some pumpkins.