Douglas Fir facts

While investigating facts about Douglas Fir Resort and Douglas Fir Tree, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The largest, oldest Douglas Fir trees are real life "mother trees" from the movie Avatar - they send nutrients via soil fungi to the smaller trees around them, and they favor the seedlings that are their own offspring

how to treat douglas fir for outdoor use?

Suzanne Simard tested a theory that trees could communicate with each other. She discovered that when a Douglas Fir tree was in the shade, a Birch tree shared its carbon with the other tree.

What is douglas fir?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is douglas fir wood. Here are 14 of the best facts about Douglas Fir Wood and Douglas Fire I managed to collect.

what is douglas fir used for?

1. Trees found growing in the park vary widely because of the 6000 feet of vertical change which provides for many plant zones. Plants and trees found in the park include saltgrass, prickly pear, pinyon pine, juniper, Douglas fir, white fir, aspen, ponderosa pine, and spruce, among many others.

2. The biggest Douglas Fir trees, cut down in the late 1800s and early 1900, were reportedly taller than the world’s largest living tree today, The Hyperion Redwood.

3. Between California and Vancouver Island's north end of the Pacific Temperate Rainforest there are a variety of trees including western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western red cedar, and Douglas fir, and because of the large amount of rain it is referred to as the 'seasonal rainforest zone".

4. Oregon's state flower is the Oregon grape and the state tree is the Douglas fir.

5. Trees that can be found at different elevations within Guadalupe National Park include maple, ash, oak, ponderosa pine, white pine, aspen, and Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir.

6. Trees and forests within Bryce Canyon National Park include water birch, willow, aspen, cottonwood, juniper, pine, Douglas fir, and blue spruce.

7. The man for whom the Douglas fir was named, Scottish botanist David Douglas, was killed by a wild cow on Hawaii.

8. Saguaro National Park is home to more than 1,160 plant species including everything ranging from cacti, creosote, and other desert plants, to ponderosa pine and Douglas fir in the mountains.

9. Douglas firs once grew larger than redwoods. This 1897 NYTimes article says one in WA reached 465 ft in height (redwoods top out at 379 ft)

10. Oregon's state tree, the Douglas Fir, is a misnomer and isn't even a Fir tree at all, but shares it's own very special group with the Larch

What is true about douglas fir?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

David Douglas, namesake of Douglas Fir, was born in Scotland, arrived in Oregon 190 years ago today and died mysteriously in Hawaii at 35 years of age.

TDIL that botanist David Douglas (who the Douglas fir is named for) died at age 35 from falling into a pit trap while hiking, and then having a bull fall into the same trap - source