Douglass-Firs

[Stang1996@aol.com]

>From swf@elsegundoCA.ATTGIS.COM

<<At least along permanent water courses, the trees present along with the
sauropods may have been ancient relatives of modern trees like redwoods and
douglas fir. These can grow *very* large (douglas fir can grow to a size only
slightly smaller than a redwood).>>

I don't think that aridness would have been much of a problem for these
trees.  Douglass-firs actually thrives in dry, well-drained environments.
 The reason most people think that they don't is because they are the
harvested, "replacement" trees planted by logging companies in place of a
real forest.  They grow so well in the clear-cuts because there is a micro-cli
mate formed in every clear-cut that can, in the summer, raise the temperature
(in the shade) as much as 20 to 30 degrees farenheit above the temperature of
the surrounding forest.  The actual old-growth forests of the north-west have
almost no douglass-firs in them because the ground is too wet.

Forgive my ranting.

Peter Buchholz (native Seattlite extraordinare)
Stang1996@aol.com