Has anyone else noticed this? Or am I the only one? All over Discovery Park are planted hundreds and hundreds of shore pine in an effort to "reforest" or "restore" the park. Pinus Contorta. Shore Pine. I'm seeing it everywhere. It makes me wonder what the hell is going on with forest restoration in the park? Have the Parks Department staff come under some type of spell, thinking that somehow, planting thousands of pine trees in the Park is a good thing?
Let me outline why I think it is most definitely NOT a good thing. The idea behind planting trees in the Park is to improve habitat for wildlife. This usually means birds. The bigger, the taller and the older growth the trees the better, as that provides a richer palette for more diverse bird and other wild life populations. That is our goal, at least it's mine. Unfortunately, shore pines do not fulfill this goal, in any way shape or form. It is with a great deal of confidence that I can say here and now that shore pine DO NOT WORK! They do not develop into a canopy (best for biodiversity), most of them just stop growing at around 10 years of age and fall over. Seriously. I will be happy to show you hundreds of dead shore pine carcasses that we've planted have failed and had to pull up. Seriously. Isn't it time we actually examine what we're doing and ask is it working? Shore Pines are NOT!
If you want old growth, if you want biodiversity, if you want refugia for wildlife you need a canopy. In Magnolia, located in the mid Puget Sound that means you want to be investing your time and money in a tree that will grow and thrive like Douglas Firs, Hemlocks and Western Red Cedars. The good news is, because these are also used in industrial tree farming, seedlings of these trees are extremely cheap and easy to obtain. And so should be the obvious choice of trees for forest restoration work at Discovery Park.
If you look at the time, effort and expense it requires to plant one tree in the park, would you rather plant something that will stick around for maybe 10-20 years, then die? Or would you be better off planting something that will stick around for many hundreds of years - i.e. conifers like hemlock, doug fir and cedar.
