| Native Vegetation of the Jacksonville Cemetery
Jacksonville's native plant communities, shaped by hot, dry summers, and cool, wet winters, are composed of dense thickets of
shrubs such as manzanita, mountain mahogany, and buck brush, with an overstory of Douglas fir, incense cedar, Pacific madrone
and ponderosa pine. Native Oregon white oaks thrive on southern exposures, with California black oak found on northern expo-
sures - mostly at the bottom of small ravines.
These types of native forest communities in and around the Jacksonville Cemetery are known as chaparral environment.
As the native trees reach climax or maturity, the cemetery's historic overstory is beginning to thin dramatically. During the past
decade dozens of ponderosa pines, weakened by age and drought, have been killed by pine beetles. Old age and naturally
occurring dry rot have taken down a number of majestic white oaks and the reddish curly barked madrones.
Non-native trees, planted by grave tenders, are replacing native trees. Look around and you will see Pacific yews, western juni-
per, trees of heaven (brought in by the Chinese miners), and even the lowly boxwood hedges outlining family graves. |