An Old Growth Forest in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie...

Old Growth Forests are characterized by trees of all ages; wide spacing between the older trees, and a luxuriant and diverse understory of plants adapted to low levels of light. The stand I was lucky enough to visit was a late succession mature Douglas Fir & Western Hemlock Forest located in the Snoqualmie River Valley. Trees in this grove included Douglas Fir, Psedotsuga menziesii, Western

Hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla , Western Red Cedar, Thuja plicata, & Pacific Silver Fir, Abies amabilis. The Douglas Fir is one ofthe most prolific tree in the Northwest. It 's charicteristics are a deeply ridged bark which allow it to survive forest fires. Old Growth Trees can reach 300 feet in height and are over 1,000 years old. The Pacific Silver Fir and Western Hemlock are the most shade tolerant conifers in the forest. The Silver Fir's name is derived from the color on the underside of the needles. The cones are barrel shaped and sit upright on the branches.

This Forest also provides a diverse habitat for many plants and animals. The individual trees are up to 750 years old. There were signs of mortality everywhere due to wind, fire, and disease culls; which left snags and openings in the canopy. Here in these places sunlight reached the Forest floor and has allowed seedlings of Western Red Cedar, Thuja plicata, & Western Hemlock ,Tsuga heterophylla to establish and grow.

I began my exploration on the Asahel Curtis Nature Trail in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near the Humpback Creek. You can here the babbling of this brook at my video here......

http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021852028

Humpback creek tumbles 1700 vertical feet in two miles from Annette Lake to the trail. A short distance down it flowed into the South Fork Snoqualmie River. There were plants of Skunk Cabbage, Lysichton americanum, Devils Club, Oplopanax horridus, White Marsh- Marigold, Caltha leptosepala and many other water saturated plants. All have adapted to wet conditions.

There were also many many snags, which are dead standing trees. Insects, disease, fire & lightening were the common cause of their mortality. Snags can remain upright for hundreds of years. While standing they provide homes for the forest dwellers, when they eventually fall, they decompose, enriching the forest soils and providing new homes for those seedlings.

The understory vegetation that I found flourishing in low light were Vine Maple, Acer circinatum, Oregon Grape ,Mahonia nervosa, Salal, Gultheria shallon with its leathery evergreen leaves, Pink Wintergreen, Pyrola asarifolia , & Western Trillium, Trillium ovatum. Devils Club, oplopanax horridus and Huckleberries, Vacinnium spp were also present further on the trail.

There were also many Nurse Logs, those upturned roots of fallen Western Red Cedars. These shallow root systems are an adaptation to the wet conditions but are less stable and sometimes fall during heavy storms. These fallen decaying logs provide habitat for many forest plants, animals, & fungi, including mosses, ferns, mushrooms and Western Hemlock seedlings, all continuing the forest succession.

Who was Curtis? 1874-1941 A noted photographer, outdoorsman and mountaineer, he spent his life photographing cultural and natural resources of the Pacific North West.

"One comes more intimately in touch with the mountains when he travels the trails. In the valleys the forests seem lower, the giant trees rise from one's side to tremendous heights and the lower growth reaches out a friendly hand to bid you welcome" Ashel Curtis

Ancient evergreen forests like the one I visited once dominated the Puget Sound lowlands around the 185o's. Curtis bore witness to the loss of these magnificant forests. The forest I visited is one of the few remaining stands of Old Growth.