Thrush Lake Grove

There is an extensive area of primary forest (never roaded or logged) north of Thrush Lake (near Saltwater Lagoon) that contains old-growth forest. The trail to Maud Island passes through a portion of the forest. TimberWest has been logging towards this area for several years.

View of old forest north of Thrush Lake

TimberWest began logging nearby in 2008. The location of old forest is shown in the satellite image below.

The images below were taken from a drone. The first image looks north and the subsequent images look progressively further south toward Thrush Lake.

The image below shows a 2017 TimberWest clearcut that overlapped the area containing old-growth forest.

The stand is mainly small-diameter hemlock. The Douglas fir are much older and one tree with a diameter of 3-feet at breast height was found in the forest. All the fir show the area was burned in the past; the 1925 fire burned this area. The forest floor is sparsely vegetated and almost entirely covered with step moss. The areas appears to have only a thin layer of soil, which may account for the fact that it has never been logged: the trees are smaller and less commercially attractive than other low-elevation areas on Quadra.