Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
November 13, 2008
Story and Artwork by Brian F. Harrison
On everyone’s list of Top Ten Plants That Define the Pacific Northwest, you’ll probably find Sitka spruce, red alder, hemlock, Douglas fir and western red cedar. But look between and beneath those fine trees and you’ll likely encounter another Top Ten contender: the salal, more humble maybe, but ubiquitous in northwest forests, clearcuts, roadsides, and indeed everywhere it can spread its rhizomes.
Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)
June 3, 2008
It is difficult for us today to fully appreciate what western red cedar meant to the native cultures of the Northwest Coast. We have nothing that can compare. Not even plastic, the ubiquitous source of so much of our stuff, can provide the variety of essential material goods to our contemporary culture. Beyond that, the tree held a position of great spiritual significance among coastal peoples-a reverence unimaginable for any substance today. For the Native Americans of the Pacific Coast, cedar was their tree of life. Read more
Wildflowers of Saddle Mountain
May 14, 2008
Story and Photos by Laurie Choate
Stand anywhere in Clatsop and Pacific counties, and Saddle Mountain will be visible in the backdrop to the south. It is not an imposing peak, as mountains go, but provides a prominent landmark to northcoast residents. Read more
Act of Faith
May 7, 2008
by Jim LeMonds
My college roommates didn’t believe me when I told them about cone picking. The subject came up our sophomore year during a game of pinochle that evolved into a discussion of jobs we’d held in junior high and high school. Read more
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