These two very old and contorted Douglas Fir trees are now situated about 40 metres inside the forest along the exposed coast of Hornby island in British Columbia. However I suspect they must have been more exposed before fire suppression efforts allowed trees to grow in the grassy area between where they are and the cliffs. The First Nations would have regularly burnt the grassy area to encourage growth of food plants in the open sunlit grassland.

Ancients Hornby islandAncients Hornby island by Trevor Reeves, on Flickr