The Hoh Rainforest is located on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington state, USA. It is one of the few temperate rainforests in the U.S., and also one of the largest.[1] Within Olympic National Park, the forest is protected from commercial exploitation. This includes 24 miles (39 km) of low elevation forest (394 to 2,493 feet) along the Hoh River. The Hoh River valley was formed thousands of years ago by glaciers. Between the park boundary and the Pacific Ocean, 48 km (30 mi) of river, nearly all of the forest has been logged within the last century.
Contents |
Annual precipitation ranges from 141 to 165 inches (360 to 420 cm). Summers are relatively dry, but only by comparison to the rest of the year. The late fall, winter and spring floods cause the Hoh River to regularly erode its banks, change its course, and deposit fresh terraces of alluvium that are soon colonized by Red Alder (Alnus rubra). Giant trees topple into the river increasing the diversity of aquatic habitats.
The dominant species in the rainforest are Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) and Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla); some grow to tremendous size, reaching 95 metres (312 ft) in height and 7 metres (23 ft) in diameter. Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii), Western Redcedar (Thuja plicata), Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum), Red Alder, Vine Maple (Acer circinatum), and Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) are also found throughout the forest.
Many unique mosses and lichens are also present in the rainforest, such as lettuce lichen (Lobaria oregana), which "requires the cool, moist conditions found under the canopy of old-growth forests" and is consumed by deer, elk, and other animals.[2]
Many native fauna also make the Hoh Rainforest their home, including the Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacris regilla), Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), Bobcat (Lynx rufus), Cougar (Felis concolor couguar), Raccoon (Procyon lotor), Olympic Black Bear (Ursus americanus altifrontalis), Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti), and Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus columbianus).
The area is also home to the Banana slug (Ariolimax columbianus), which has recently been threatened by the encroachment of a new species of slug, the Black slug (Arion ater), an invasive species from Northern Europe.[3]
The Hoh Rainforest is home to a National Park Service ranger station, from which backcountry trails extend deeper into the national park. A short, popular trail near the visitor center is the Hall of Mosses Trail, which gives visitors a feel for the local ecosystem and views of maples draped with large growths of spikemoss.