If you want to find mountain hemlock you have to get high, or should I say, go high. The mountain hemlock is a high elevation tree of the Sierra and Cascades mountains. You can find mountain hemlock growing at elevations from 6,000 feet to 11,000 feet in the Sierras of California.
Mountain hemlock grows in a wide band along the Pacific coast. Its range extends from the Sierra mountains of California in the South to Southern Alaska in the North. In Alaska it grows in extensive stands down to sea level. This is common with most trees that have a wide north to south range. The farther north you go, the lower elevation you grow.
It is not commonly harvested in California, because it is not common in California’s managed timberlands. As a result, I don’t run into it very often in my job.
Tsuga mertensiana is the scientific name, but let’s really look at this wonderful tree. Hemlocks have a different personality from the other western conifers and that’s what I enjoy about them. They have a bit of a fairytale quality.
From its delicate needles to the droopy tips the mountain hemlock has a poetic gestalt, or gesture as artists are so fond of saying.
Blitz is back on duty keeping the squirrels in line. What would I do without her.