[NatureNS] White Cedar

From: "Mary Macaulay" <marymacaulay@hotmail.com>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2007 19:27:10 -0300
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What a great discussion on Cedar distribution.  Biogeography is one of my 
particular loves and so this discussion really interests me.  My references 
indicate that white cedar is certainly native to NS (Native Trees of Canada 
by Hoskin see page 98 for range), but do indeed prefer an alkaline soil. 
Other references, including Peter Kalm's diary and William Cronon's "Changes 
in the land" indicate that white cedar was historically a highly prized 
source of shingles.  Those references also indicate that intense cutting 
resulted in cedar swamps being extirpated of the species and reverting to 
red maple swamps because they tended not to regrow once cut.
Re: cedars now - I have seen them in Cumberland county in the oxford area 
and one or two growing by brooks north of wentworth.  I have not seen native 
cedars around truro and would notice because I'm always on the look-out for 
them.  Love to know where any native stands around truro are - hidden agenda 
to see what is growing along with them!

Mary

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Sabine, Dwayne     (DNR/MRN)" <Dwayne.Sabine@gnb.ca>
Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Subject: RE: [NatureNS] White Cedar
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 15:26:41 -0300

When I first moved from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick some years ago as a
forestry student, I was struck by the abundance of cedar, a tree species
I had only seen as an ornamental.  I have since learned that white cedar
prefers calcareous soils, which are lacking in much of Nova Scotia,
particularly on the Atlantic slope.  That said, one can find cedar in
New Brunswick on acidic, granite-derived soils, although it doesn't
reach nearly the same stature or abundance as on the richer soils.  It
is better developed in wet areas where the groundwater is influenced by
calcareous subsoil, and is also common on dry calcareous ledges, such as
on the limestone ledges near Saint John.  Cedar swamps are among my
favourite sites to poke around in - great places to see orchids and rare
lichens.  In NS their role is partly taken over by red maple swamps,
which have their own intrinsic values, although after living in NB for
so long it now feels like something is missing when I visit a red maple
swamp in NS (I could do without the ticks too....).

With respect to shingles: a few years back I asked my grandfather, who
had been a lumberman and sawyer all his life in the Digby County area,
what he sawed for shingles given that there was no cedar to speak of.
He told me that when they were logging swampy areas they kept an eye out
for spruce with dark, pitch-filled heartwood.  Shingles sawn from such
logs will last for decades, as those of you who have found fresh, solid
pitchwood in an ancient, punky spruce stump can attest.

While probably never abundant in NS, some of the old references seem to
indicate that it may have been a bit more common in the past.  I also
seem to recall seeing lumber production statistics from the early 1900s
that indicated limited but regular production of cedar lumber in the
province back then.

Dwayne Sabine
Fredericton, New Brunswick

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