A couple of things before I get to this month’s topic. First, a big Mountain welcome to Matthew Nelson, new owner of The Mountain Times, and his crew at Active Media Publishing Group. Matt tells me that he aims to continue publishing this column. More importantly, The MT will remain a Mountain-focused community newspaper, as it has been for more than 30 years. You may recall that Lara and I owned and operated The MT from January 2002 to June 2008. Ancient history! We wish Matt and The MT all the best.

Next: A reader responded to the question at the end of last month’s Woodsman column about sustainable forest management: What single-use product in most homes was sustainably harvested? The answer: toilet paper. Correct! So are paper towels, napkins, and facial tissues. And the absorbent fibers in personal care products such as diapers (for babies and adults) and feminine hygiene products are made from wood pulp, otherwise known as cellulose fiber — the same sort of material the pages of this and other newspapers are made from. Though some might say that harvesting trees to make these products isn’t sustainable, the vast majority of it is from sustainably managed forests.

Now to this month’s topic. When a colleague recently asked me for gift ideas for a friend in British Columbia, a friend who enjoys drinking tea, I suggested Douglas Fir Spring Tip tea from Juniper Ridge. The company says, “We harvest the Douglas Fir Spring Tip tea from the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. It’s a stream-side hike in a cup, roofed by clean and crisp evergreen and dappled forest sun. Serve hot for a restful companion in the cold, or chilled for the perfect refreshment after a long day outside. Naturally caffeine-free.” It’s a perfect (and sustainably harvested) gift for anyone who enjoys hiking amongst the majestic Douglas-fir trees in our area.

Some home-brewers make beer flavored with the new growth of Doug-fir or spruce branches, harvested in spring while they’re still light green and supple. Such brews also make for enjoyable stream-side hikes. So does a concoction of Doug-fir tips steeped in vodka for a couple of weeks, served on ice with a twist of lemon.

Indigenous Americans in this region probably didn’t make alcoholic beverages with Doug-fir tips, but through the millennia, they learned to use a wide variety of trees, shrubs, plants, grasses, fungi, and other products of our forests — products most residents of the region today are scarcely aware of. An excellent source of information about them is one of my favorite books, “Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast,” by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon along with a handful of contributors. For example, they write that the pitch of Douglas-fir trees was used to make a medicinal salve for wounds and skin irritations. Doug-fir wood was used to make spear handles, harpoon shafts, spoons, dip-net poles, harpoon barbs, fire tongs, salmon weirs, fish hooks and caskets.

Devil’s club, a common shrub native to the Pacific Northwest named for its thorny branches and stems, (its scientific name is Oplopanax horridus) also was useful. According to the authors:

This spiny shrub, related to ginseng, is still highly important as a medicine and protective agent for aboriginal peoples throughout its range. At least on the BC coast, it is one of the most important of all medicinal plants. The roots, and especially the greenish inner bark, were the major parts used for medicine. Numerous ailments, including arthritis, ulcers, and digestive tract ailments and diabetes, were treated with devils club. Possibly because of its diabolical spines, it is considered a highly powerful plant that can protect one against evil influences of many kinds. Devils club sticks are used as protective charms, and charcoal from burned devils club is used to make a protective face paint for dancers and others who are ritually vulnerable to evil influences.

I may cut a devil’s club stick from the shrub growing on my property and carry it in my car as a protective charm against all the crazy drivers from California and Washington.

Black cottonwood, one of our area’s most beautiful and stately trees, albeit one that is scorned by allergy sufferers in the springtime, also has many uses. The members of some tribes eat the sweet inner bark in late spring and early summer. Others picked cottonwood buds in the spring and boiled them in deer fat to make a “fragrant salve.” The buds were used in preparations for baldness, sore throats, whooping cough, tuberculosis, and as a poultice for “lung pains and rheumatism.” The Squaxin people in western Washington State used cottonwood leaves as an antiseptic and placed them, mashed or bruised, on cuts, and made an infusion from the bark for curing sore throats. The Quinault people “placed the gum that exudes from the burls of cottonwood directly on cuts and wounds.”

Not only is red alder wood considered the best fuel for smoking salmon and other fish, its bark also makes a red or orange die, and fishing nets were sometimes colored with alder bark to make them less visible to fish. According to the book, “alder bark was highly valued for its medicinal qualities. A solution of the bark was used against tuberculosis and other respiratory ailments and as a tonic, and it has been credited with saving many lives. It was also used as a wash for skin infections and wounds and is known to have strong antibiotic properties.”

One of the several native rose species in our area, the Nootka rose, had medicinal uses, too. “The branches or strips of bark were boiled to make a tea used as an eyewash for cataracts or to enhance eyesight. The Makah mashed the leaves as a poultice for sore eyes and any type of abscess. The chewed leaves were applied to bee stings, and the ripe hips were steeped, mashed, and fed to babies with diarrhea.”
You may be tempted to try some of these remedies, but be careful. I have no information about the safety of any of these forest products, so please do your own research and use caution. If you are injured or ill, see a doctor. On the other hand, knowledge of these natural tonics and preparations may come in handy during the zombie apocalypse.

Have a question about the medicinal uses of trees and plants in our area? Can you think of a single-use product made from materials that are not sustainably harvested? Let me know at SWilent@gmail.com.