Post by NatureNut on Aug 18, 2010 10:31:52 GMT -5
Greetings from Washington State. We're here on the northwest corner of the country (not counting Alaska) staying on the Olympic Peninsula. Sure is cool and damp here, even in mid-August. 50-70 degree temps. It's really something to see for a couple of Easterners and their travel-junkie dog.
We got our first look at the Pacific Ocean
Yesterday, we saw the Hoh Rainforest. It's one of the few temperate rain forests in the U.S., and also one of the largest. It gets its name from the Hoh Indian tribe which resides on a reservation in the Hoh Valley. The livelihood of the Hoh Indians is primarily fishing although a few of the residents make traditional decorative baskets, carved canoes for ocean going or river use and other decorative carvings.
We've been in a tropical rainforest, but had no idea how a rainforest could be way up here. What we learned was that some very special circumstances created a beautiful conifer rainforest. A cool mountain mass (the Olympics), a nearby ocean (the Pacific), an ocean facing valley (the Hoh Valley), a protective barrier mountain range (the Cascades), and prevailing onshore winds combined to create this special place.
The dominant species in the rain forest are Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock; some grow to tremendous size, reaching 95 m (over 300 feet) in height and 7 m (23 ft) in diameter. This Spruce tree has stood for over 500 years and reaches 270 feet in height.
This Red Cedar is ancient.
The atmosphere of the rain forest is so fertile that some plants thrive on air. Dining on moisture and nutrients from rain and windborne particles, clubmoss and licorice fern fasten to trunks and branches but do not harm their hosts. There are even licorice fern growing out of clubmoss.
These trees have no taproots, the roots that grow deep down into the ground. Without the anchor of taproots, mature trees are blown over during winter storms and slowly decay. Not to worry though, because in this special ecosystem, they soon become covered by mosses and liverworts.
They later become nurse logs for new tree seedlings. In time those little trees grow roots down into the ground and then can grow more vigorously. Eventually, surviving trees grow in a line along the old trees, forming a colonnade. Centuries later, when nurse logs decay, tunnels through the buttressed bases mark where the old logs lay.
Meet the Rainforest
Thanks for looking! Jo
We got our first look at the Pacific Ocean
Yesterday, we saw the Hoh Rainforest. It's one of the few temperate rain forests in the U.S., and also one of the largest. It gets its name from the Hoh Indian tribe which resides on a reservation in the Hoh Valley. The livelihood of the Hoh Indians is primarily fishing although a few of the residents make traditional decorative baskets, carved canoes for ocean going or river use and other decorative carvings.
We've been in a tropical rainforest, but had no idea how a rainforest could be way up here. What we learned was that some very special circumstances created a beautiful conifer rainforest. A cool mountain mass (the Olympics), a nearby ocean (the Pacific), an ocean facing valley (the Hoh Valley), a protective barrier mountain range (the Cascades), and prevailing onshore winds combined to create this special place.
The dominant species in the rain forest are Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock; some grow to tremendous size, reaching 95 m (over 300 feet) in height and 7 m (23 ft) in diameter. This Spruce tree has stood for over 500 years and reaches 270 feet in height.
This Red Cedar is ancient.
The atmosphere of the rain forest is so fertile that some plants thrive on air. Dining on moisture and nutrients from rain and windborne particles, clubmoss and licorice fern fasten to trunks and branches but do not harm their hosts. There are even licorice fern growing out of clubmoss.
These trees have no taproots, the roots that grow deep down into the ground. Without the anchor of taproots, mature trees are blown over during winter storms and slowly decay. Not to worry though, because in this special ecosystem, they soon become covered by mosses and liverworts.
They later become nurse logs for new tree seedlings. In time those little trees grow roots down into the ground and then can grow more vigorously. Eventually, surviving trees grow in a line along the old trees, forming a colonnade. Centuries later, when nurse logs decay, tunnels through the buttressed bases mark where the old logs lay.
Meet the Rainforest
Thanks for looking! Jo