Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest (3/31/2012)

On the first day of our field trip for the Natural History class for the University of Washington we spent most of the day hiking through the trails at Pack Forest. The weather was heavily clouded with a few sprinkles of rain, but with no accumulation, temperature being in the 50s (F).

What I learned and observed at Pack Forest:
Pack Forest is a secondary forest with very few old-growth trees and is at the point in the process in which the forest looks young filled with saplings, but still the majority of the vegetation had age to it. The forest was heavily covered in layers. The bottom layer with shrub like plants, flowers and weeds, the mid section with fairly young trees no bigger than 10-20 feet tall (mostly Red Alders), and the canopy filled with the older trees (mostly Douglas Fir, Western White Pine, Western Hemlock, and Big Leaf Maples). However the forest was covered in moss and lichen from bottom up and expressed the richness and quality of the environment in this area. Also one of the volunteers (apologies I forgot her name) explained that lichens are a combination of fungus and algae and are fairly susceptible to pollution, which is why lichen are not very fond in the city, but grow well in areas such as Pack Forest.

On the days of our visit to Pack Forest the trails were very wet and muddy, however as you go further into the trail there are very small creeks and just water flowing down from hillsides due to rain. The deeper we walked into the forest the more uncommon species of plant we found. For instance we found some Western White Trillium and Yellow Violets, which were not found earlier in the trail. Also diverse species of mushroom were also found further into the forest such as the Morel Mushroom (looks like a brain). Another uncommon species of plant found further into the forest was the Pacific Madrone. Long, skinny trees with a reddish/orange color with bark that has been peeled off revealing the "rubber-like" wood that was very dense and also very smooth.

Overall a great experience to hike in a forest and have people share knowledge on some of the wildlife and vegetation of a local area. Although my wet socks made things slightly uncomfortable.

Posted on May 1, 2012 05:51 AM by jinam22