ghostsofevolution's video: Helping Forests Walk - 03 Thinking Like a Yew Connie Barlow June 2021

Connie Barlow uses video documentation at 8 sites in North America, along with natural history observations, to arrive at lessons for selecting wild sites for assisted migration of native species of wild yew: genus Taxus. Time-coded topics list below: 00:00:02 - Introduction to "Helping Forests Walk" video series. Quote by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Title of episode 3: "Thinking Like a Yew." Goal: To inform others to begin helping yews migrate poleward in North America, Europe, and China — and for selecting the best habitats. UPDATE: In a June 30 email, Robin told me the naming story: "Those words actually came to us from a respected Haudenosaunee elder, Henry Lickers, as we worked together on a climate change education project; he gave us that term for the project." As well, two colleagues pointed out that the yew hedge I stand along is likely not the European yew (T. baccata) but the Japanese yew (T. cuspidata) or a hybrid of the two. 00:04:38 - Maps of native range of Pacific Yew and Canadian Yew; but actual populations are highly "disjunct". (Detailed map example of n. California.) 00:06:21 - PACIFIC YEW - Introduction to the 3 video sites and USDA information. 00:08:43 - SITE 1 - Sahalie Falls, Oregon; McKenzie River. Associated canopy trees: Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Western Red Cedar (Taxus plicata). 00:14:51 - SITE 2 - Olympic Peninsula, Washington state. Canopy trees are same as at Site 1 but also Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). 00:19:29 - SITE 3 - Icycle Creek, WA, east side of Cascade Mtns. Canopy trees are same as at Sites 1 and 2, but also Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) and Grand Fir (Abies grandis). Also along trail but not associated with the yew are Western White Pine (Pinus monicola), Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta), and Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa). 00:40:36 - USDA information on Pacific Yew "vegetative regeneration" whereby the yew "expresses climax sociological dominance over tall conifers." 00:42:30 - SITE 3 continues. 00:45:04 - yew pollen cones 00:47:43 - EASTERN USA yew species begins with map of North America under Pleistocene glaciation. 00:48:55 - FLORIDA YEW (Taxus floridana), a glacial relict, at 1 site in Florida, where Torreya taxifolia also is relictual. 00:55:51 - CANADIAN YEW (Taxus canadensis) introduction to 4 sites. Site 1 is in Nova Scotia, where common name is "Ground Hemlock." Maps showing similar native ranges of Canadian Yew and Eastern Hemlock. UPDATE: This 2011 article is highly recommended (and offers helpful ideas for Pacific Yew, too): "The ecology of Canada Yew (Taxus canadensis Marsh.): A review" by Steve Windels and David Flaspohler - https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/b10-084 00:58:09 - SITE 2 of Canadian Yew at waterfalls, border of NY and MA. Canopy is Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) plus smaller deciduous trees. 01:00:53 - SITE 3 is relict site s. Virginia, steep cliff. 01:01:47 - SITE 4, Keeweenaw Peninsula, n. Michigan. Canopy fully deciduous: Red Oak, Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch. Range map of Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis). 01:06:00 - 7 LESSONS for "Thinking Like a Yew" 1. Cool, dark, moist — but well drained (slopes) 2. Slope of a ravine or the north side of a mountain 3. Fires: none or rare over centuries 4. Deer rarely venture into the site because forest is dense, slope is steep, big carnivores in the ravines, falls and rapids are loud. SUGGESTION: rewild the carnivores. 5. Slope and winds encourage tree-falls. 6. Help the relict populations move north first. 7. Seek out Tsuga and Thuja canopies (rewild to Europe). A terrific illustrated page of champion Pacific Yews is here: https://bctreehunter.wordpress.com/2019/08/23/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-elusive-pacific-yew/ "Helping Forests Walk" playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJvRBS695TaXYUr_1HyB5xMtPqCI7V33l Torreya Guardians website: http://www.torreyaguardians.org/