Sunday, January 8, 2017

Shaw Island Juniperus maritima

 I found plenty of Juniper maritima along the southwest shoreline of Shaw Island. The first tree I spotted was a classic rocky headland site juniper. Shaw Island is in the rain shadow of the Olympics and so it was not a surprise to find junipers, but they seem to be doing fairly well along the harsh conditions along the coastal strip.



Much of the northeast side of Parks Bay is lined with juniper trees with Douglas fir, lodgepole and grand fir just inland.  


A short note on the bedrock on this shore. The northeast side of Parks Bay is Constitution Formation and the southwest shore is Orcas Chert. A major tectonic fault lies in-between in the bay. A bit Garrison Schist shows up in the sheared rocks just around the point.

On the south shore at Cedar Rock Preserve, a fat dense juniper grows at the top of the headland along with some very fine madrones.


Another juniper stands alone just above the bedrock between the two pocket beaches on the southwest shore of the Preserve.


Early notes associated with the initial land surveys noted that the forest on the southwest of Shaw Island was scrubby and of little timber value. Logging was for mostly local use and an effort to open up some of the meadows to farming - initially sheep and a few orchards and later hay and timothy.



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