…That’s why it exists
The timber industry. That’s what kept it alive, but now it’s tourism
Gotta like green
If you don’t like green, you gotta deal with it
Very fertile, sunshine, vegetation, muskeg
Mountain rocky country, very rugged domain
Like prehistoric times, the ice age just moved off here
The soil base over the rock hasn’t had time to develop
So tree roots grow flat across the ground
Can’t grow down. It’s solid rock
Nothing to grab on to and blow over
A lotta blowdowns, a lotta debris
The center of Red Cedar is dead, rotted
Like the stem of a tulip, hollow
Only the outer bark and sapwood are alive
Dead, dried and seasoned, this Red Cedar refuse turns into topsoil
Commercial thinning, clear cuts. Timber is merchantable
Versus virgin timber – old growth, never been logged
The very big timber is up on the mountains
Big hemlock, timber 200 feet tall
We have Tennessee Red (the most fragrant), Western Red,
Yellow Cedar (most rare) and the Giant Red
Also Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock, with bark that’s scaly
The dead standing snags make great firewood
Yeah, just rock or swamps
And beneath the swamp is rock or lake
Peat moss grows up 11 feet, so it’s one hundred to two hundred feet
To the bottom of that ravine, unforseen
The deeper you go, the more soggy it gets.
Like prehistoric times before soil built up on the earth
Sink holes, they’ll swallow you up
Lumber mills, big saw mills
Has a Forest Service contract
He cuts lumber really fast
Shipped all over the world
Steelhead streams – The ‘Real’, The ‘Newenberry’
Creekbeds are marble white. Fish show up better
Rainbow and Cutthroat trout
And hundreds of no name lakes full of fish
By the five gallon bucketful
Four deer per person per household, antler deer
For ‘Tricky’ and his boys, that’s twelve deer a season
This year it’s been mostly twins and triplets
Two bucks or two bucks and a doe
Also ptarmigan, a little native grouse in the summertime
Roaming the western hills
State bird, I think
By skiff, ferry or floatplane
It’s a superb ride to a Native land
You – don’t – know
You – stupid – white – man
Birds in Trees 