The opening shot of the series is a bird perched on a tree branch. This is representative of Christ on the cross.
Laura Palmer's body is discovered by Pete Martell, washed up on a riverbank next to a giant prehistoric log near the Packard residence and sawmill. Victims of the incubus Bob, Laura and Teresa Banks wrapped in plastic, float like logs down the river to a sawmill.
Wood cabins are owned by Jacques Renault, Margaret Lanternman, and Windom Earle.
The Great Northern Hotel is made up almost entirely of wood, decorated with tribal patterns by Native Americans whose ancestors inscribed the petroglyphs found in Owl Cave which pinpoint the geographical location of the entrance to the Red Waiting Room & Lodges within a grove of sycamore trees.
Dreams of the Red Waiting Room and its inhabitants which include a one armed man named Philip Gerard (aka Mike) who lost a "limb", his Arm (aka The Little Man From Another Place), haunt Cooper in his room at the Great Northern Hotel. The Great Northern is owned by Benjamin Horne who is having an affair with Catherine Martell, whose family owns the Packard Sawmill. In Fire Walk With Me a drug delivery goes awry at the Packard Sawmill, a place described by drug dealer Jacques Renault as being "at the sound of sawing wood". The Great Northern may also be described as such, since it lodges a great number of sleeping guests including Cooper each night, and people are said to be sawing logs when snoring in their sleep.
When Josie Packard dies in Thomas Eckart's room at the Great Northern Hotel, Cooper has a vision of the Black Lodge incubus Bob and The Little Man from Another Place (aka The Arm) who inhabits the Red Waiting Room. Josie's face then appears in a wooden doorknob on Eckart's bedside table.
According to Native American Sheriff's Deputy Tommy "The Hawk" Hill, regarding widow of fire fighter Margaret Lanternman (aka the Log Lady)'s log which may be possessed or be a transmitting device from the Red Waiting Room and/or Lodges, the Wood holds many secrets. The rings of Margaret's log are physical representations of the passage of time, and circling fans, record albums revolving, doughnuts, rings of gold and a ring set with a green stone depicting the Owl Cave symbol, circular coffee mugs and pies, the prominence of names like "Cooper" "Bob" and "owl" which have the circular letter "o", Philip Gerard's request to Cooper in his dream at the Great Northern for a nickel (which are round and may or may not have been what is known as an "Indian Head" nickel, in association with the Native American mythical nature of the Black and White Lodges), cross-like wooden telephone poles (which like the Log Lady's wooden log help to transmit information), and circles of trees and candles figure largely within the circular narrative of Twin Peaks which ends at the conclusion of the film prequel Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me. Hawk is the best scout the Twin Peaks Sheriff Department has, is familiar with the woods, and has a namesake reminiscent of the King of the Egyptian Gods Horus whose myth was incorporated into the Jesus Christ myth (who in his story is crucified on a wooden cross) and personified by Agent Cooper in the Passion Play of Twin Peaks.
Trees are seen frequently blowing in the wind. Wind was said in Hebrew mythology to be a physical effect of Lilith the succubus who is represented by Lil in Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me.
The last time murder suspect James Hurley sees Laura Palmer alive was at the intersection of Sparkwood and 21. The traffic light at this intersection is frequently seen in the series. The green/go, yellow/yield, red/stop of the traffic light could be seen as representative of the White Lodge (Heaven), Red Waiting Room (Purgatory), and the Black Lodge (Hell).
Audrey (who wears a blouse with a forest pattern on the day she meets Agent Cooper and shows him her ring) and Benjamin Horne, upon losing the ownership of the Packard lands which are home to the Packard Sawmill, and the property known as Ghostwood, set out on the Save Ghostwood Campaign in hopes of saving its endangered inhabitant the Pine Weasel.
Owls, which are animal forms of incubi from the Black Lodge, often perch in trees and are factored into crucial moments in Twin Peaks. An owl observes James Hurley and Donna Hayward hiding material evidence when burying half of James' and Laura's heart locket in the woods, an owl witnesses the abduction of Major Briggs to the Lodges during his fishing trip with Cooper, and an owl attacks Cooper and his men in Owl Cave leading to the accidental discovery of the Owl Cave petroglyph map before flying back out and into the woods.
The aptly named Judge Sternwood instructs Cooper at Leland Palmer's hearing to keep an eye on the woods.
The most prominent use of the symbolism of wood in the Twin Peaks passion play as a reference to the crucifix is the Log of the Log Lady, Margaret Lanternman. Margaret's Log uses it's owner as a medium through which it bestows many important clues about the Lodges and the murder of Laura Palmer to Agent Cooper and others. If viewed as a transmitting device from forces within the Woods surrounding Twin Peaks themselves, the Log Lady's Log delivers messages similar to the encoded message Major Garland Briggs' Project Bluebook department receives stating "the owls are not what they seem" and "Cooper" repeatedly. Margaret cradles her Log like an infant, an act which in itself becomes thematically essential when viewed in terms of the myth of the destiny of the Christ Child on a wooden crucifix as depicted in Twin Peaks.
Incidentally, in Dark Shadows, the principal setting for its supernatural drama of other dimensions, parallel time, and time travel, is the mansion of Collinwood.
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