By Intermountain West Regional Manager, Ashley Martens
OGFN welcomed three new Idaho forests into the Network this year, each featuring my favorite tree: western red cedar (Thuja plicata). This is no surprise since ancient western red cedar groves were the first old-growth forests that I fell in love with in my young adult years in the state.
I call these giant western red cedars “Grandmother Trees” not only because they are a thousand or more years old, but because their stature feels feminine - strong yet soft, steady yet yielding. I love the felty feel of their soft striped bark when I rest my back against their trunks. I love the gentle touch of their needles against my head as I duck under their boughs. I love the cool shade they cast on the forest floor that nourishes carpets of emerald ferns and mosses. I love the sharp scent of wild ginger underfoot and the exuberant tinkling sound of the Pacific Wren’s song. I love feeling both infinitesimally small and infinitely connected to the web of life in these old forests.
Keep reading to discover more about the three ancient forests we celebrated earlier this year.
The first forest is a hop, skip, and a jump over the Montana border into the Big Wild Clearwater Country of north-central Idaho. This roadside grove gives visitors a glimpse into the inland rainforest communities that used to cover vast swaths of the lower elevations in the Clearwater river basin. Wild Salmon still struggle their way up its tributaries to spawn and feed these lush forests. This particular forest was named for Bernard Devoto, known for publishing his edited versions of the Lewis and Clark journals in 1953. His most valuable contribution to American history, however, was his publication in Harper’s Magazine of an article entitled, “The West Against Itself”, in 1947. In it, he exposed a plot aimed to sell off hundreds of millions of acres of public land and fueled that era’s fight to keep public lands in public hands (you can read more about the Devotos story in Nate Schweber’s book This America of Ours). The Grandmother Trees of this forest saw all of this human history unfold and more, all the way back to the Nimiipuu people as they made their ways back and forth between the lands of salmon streams and bison plains. May we stand up to keep Grandmother Trees growing, wild streams flowing with salmon, and wild prairies teeming with bison. Bernard Devoto would be proud.
Our second Idaho forest lies just east of the west shores of Priest Lake, a deep blue gem in the far north of the Idaho panhandle. Hanna Flats is a small grove of giant western redcedars, western hemlocks, and a few mighty western white pines. Soaring snags abound that are studded with cavities and fungi of all forms. This small grove evaded generations of homesteading, logging, firestorms, and centuries of nature’s wrath. This grove provides habitat for birds that require old-growth forest features and is featured as a stop on the Idaho Birding Trail. Look and listen carefully for Varied Thrush, Pacific Wren, Cassin’s Vireo, Brown Creeper, Pileated Woodpecker, and Northern Goshawk.
The 3rd Idaho forest to join the Network serves as our 1st Community Forest in the state, the beloved Cedar Trail at Idler’s Rest Nature Preserve near the town of Moscow, Idaho. Mature western red cedars, Douglas firs, and western larch line a small creek hopping with frogs and water striders that delight the very young and the very old. “This place is so special to our community and I think many, many people on the Palouse have great memories of Idler’s Rest,” said Mark Deming, vice president of the Palouse Land Trust Board of Directors who now owns and manages the preserve. “They come here to soak in nature, bring their children, walk their dogs, reconnect with the beauty around us, and there’s something really special about the old growth trees here. I don’t know what it is but old growth resonates with your heart in a way nothing else does and it’s really neat for me to see Idler’s Rest recognized as part of the Old Growth Forest Network”.
I look forward to bringing more forests in the beautiful state of Idaho into the Old-Growth Forest Network in the coming years. If you have nominations for Idaho, or the Intermountain West region, please share them here.
