Pacific Coastal Forests
With an emphasis on Olympic National Park and Vancouver Island
Temperate Rain Forests
OVERVIEW
The Central Pacific Coastal Forests are defined as a Biome
stretching from the Northwestern Oregon Coast to the extreme Northern extent of
Vancouver Island according to the World Wildlife Fund. The real gems of this
biome are the luxuriant and diverse temperate rain forests of Olympic National
Park and Vancouver Island’s Clayoquot Sound. To be classified as a rain forest
you have to think “lots of rain” and these areas hold no exceptions. Henderson
Lake, on Vancouver Island, averages an astonishing 256 inches a year with a
maximum in 1997 of 354 inches
making it the wettest place in North America (NOAA National Climatic Data
Center). Mt Olympus which juts up against the Olympic rain forests averages 200
inches annually making the wettest place in the contiguous 48 states (NOAA).
The two rain forests combined average between 100-135 inches of rain annually
(NOAA, Archibold). Temperatures average between 5 and 20 degrees centigrade for
the entire region and frosts are rare (Archibold). This leads to phenomenal
productivity and an above-ground biomass that is unmatched by tropical
rainforests (Archibold, NGM July, 2004) and in some cases, like the Olympic
rain forests, they can exceed their tropical counterparts in biomass by two
times (NGM July, 2004)! If you include the near-shore hyper-productive reefs
and kelp beds that overflow into the estuaries with the forest biomass, it is
arguably the most productive eco-region on the planet.
With massive amounts of rains a growing
season uninterrupted by frost and epiphytes and lichen clinging to everything
in sight it is not a far cry to say that this region produces the most
spectacular forests on Earth. The dense carpet of moldering wood and debris
which forms the forest floor, far thicker than any tropical forest, supports a
variety of ground huggers from sword fern, hedge nettle, and horsetail to a
variety of mosses and fungi (NGM July, 2004). Mid-way up you can find alder and
cottonwood species breaking the monotony of the pine forests, with their
broadleaf canopies providing even more color to an already vibrant world when
their leaves lose chlorophyll. Yet, even though the pines dominate the forest
structure, they do so in a way that commands attention and respect. Yellow
Cedar, Sitka Spruce, Ponderosa Pine, Douglas fir and Western Hemlock form old
growth groves that soar to heights above 250 feet with massive trunks sometimes
12 feet in diameter (Archibold, Bergman, NGM July, 2004). In Olympic National
Park and the surrounding national forest champion conifers, the largest of
their species, are in an extraordinary abundance. The world’s largest western
red-cedar, yellow cedar, subalpine fir, western hemlock and Sitka spruce are
all on the peninsula, with some of these giants dating to 1000 years old (NGM
July, 2004).
One of the main reasons these goliaths can almost match the
redwood species in sheer size is the symbiotic relationships that exist between
the fungal population and the 500 species of lichens known to exist in the
region with the forest (NGM Feb, 2003, NGM July 2004). The lichens, one of the
many epiphytes that crown and cover everything in sight, are known to actually
absorb nitrogen out of the air, covert it into organic compounds and then
transfer it back into the ecosystem as they die and fall off the trees. This
essential nutrient, nitrogen, is necessary for any healthy soil system and
revitalizes the pacific coastal forest’s otherwise rather nutrient poor soil. A
combination of factors leads to slow decomposition of the forest floor like low
temperatures and resistant pine species but this creates a perfect habitat for
a wide array of decomposers and fungal species including thousands of mushroom
species. In particular, mycorrhizal fungi “collect moisture and nutrients via
their own rootlike networks and pass them along to plants in return for some of
their energy laden sugar” (NGM February 2003). This symbiotic relationship
exists not just with the big trees and fungi but interwoven throughout almost
all the plant life in the region, creating a community with borders that are
very hard to define.
Human Impacts: Past and Present
Humans have lived in the
Pacific coastal forest system for at least 15,000 years and specifically in the
Central Pacific Temperate Rain Forests for at least 8000 years. Due to the
complex combination of geologic turmoil, acidic soils and extremely difficult
terrain little is known about these most likely maritime people (QSR, Aug 2008).
Historically, First People’s impact on the coastal forests has been minimal.
When the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Clayoquot sound needed wood they would “cut
what was needed from the leeward side so the tree would heal more readily than
if it were exposed to the wind” (NGM February 2003). In this way, First Peoples
had a minimal impact on the ecosystem. Europeans first settled the region in the
early 1800’s with minor fishing and trapping settlements but it wasn’t until
commercial logging began in the late 60’s that real impacts would be seen. Over
90% of old growth forest on Vancouver Island has been logged since the 1960’s (see
graphic). Tragically, since temperate rainforests take up a fraction of one
percent of the earth’s landmass, this accounted for a large percentage of
remaining old growth temperate rain forest on earth (NGM Feb, 2003). Due to the
formation of Olympic National Park in 1938 under President Franklin Roosevelt
the Olympic peninsula would avoid the worst of the logging crisis to its
temperate rain forests.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
With the current crisis of Global
Warming and Climate Change looming over the heads of all human beings, it is
necessary to rethink and re-plan our view and usage of the temperate forests of
the Pacific Northwest. In “Managing BC’s Forests for a Cooler Climate” Ben
Parfitt highlights several points of interest regarding the current state of
Pacific Northwest Forests and provides several enlightened, collaborative ideas
for managing the forests for future use. These ideas cross the boundaries of
conservation and public use. Namely, he admonishes the coastal temperate
rainforests almost incalculable ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere
and trap it in the long-lived old growth temperate rainforest. These forests
aforementioned have little to no fire threat which means little to no chance of
a massive release of stored carbon in a conflagration and can therefore be
conserved for eons to a great benefit to the planet. Naturally, and I
completely concur, the best course of action to take with the coastal temperate
rain forests (and the less common interior temperate rainforests) is conservation
for carbon sequestering (Parfitt). It should come as no surprise that a region
as heavily logged as the Pacific Northwest would a large economic reliance on
the logging industry. On the Olympic peninsula logging has been in decline for
half a century but it would seem that the contentiousness of the past toward
environmentalists is just that; past. The peninsula is a shining example of
ecotourism and it would seem is in great shape for the future (NGM July, 2004).
In British Columbia, measures ranging from selective logging, to spreading out
the length of time between cuts, to outright conservation of key forests are
receiving their due consideration (Parfitt). A combination of conservation and
ecologically sound timber practices are the future and clear-cut scars on the
landscape are hopefully a thing of the past.
Works Cited
1: Parfitt,
Ben “Managing BC’s Forests For a Cooler Planet.” CCPa–BC office, BC government
and Service employees’ union; Communications, energy & Paperworkers union; david
Suzuki Foundation; Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada; Sierra Club BC; united
Steelworkers district 3 –Western Canada;
and Western Canada Wilderness Committee
2:
Erlandson, John M. Moss, Madonna L. Lauriers, Matthew Des “Life on the Edge:
Early maritime cultures of the Pacific coast of North America” Quaternary Science Reviews 27, pp. 2232-2245
3: Archibold, O. W. Ecology
of World Vegation Chapman and Hall,
Great Britain 1995 pp 238-279
4: Mitchell,
John G. Nature’s Champion: Olympic
National Park National Geographic Magazine July, 2004 pp 56-75
5: Chadwick,
Douglas Pacific Suite National
Geographic Magazine February, 2003 pp 104-127
6: Bergland, Eric Prehistory and Ethnography of Olympic National Park CULTURAL RESOURCES DIVISION PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION SEATTLE
http://www20.us.archive.org/stream/prehistoryethnog00nati/prehistoryethnog00nati_djvu.txt
7: R. Ross,
J. Strittholt, G. Orians… “Central Pacific Coastal Forests” Ecoregions, World
Wildlife Fund http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/na0510
8: “Global
Measures of Extremes of Temperature and Precipitation” National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Climatic Data Center Website
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalextremes.html
Images
obtained through National Geographic Magazine
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