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Vegetation

Carbon stored reflects timber harvest history

The amount of carbon stored in tree trunks, branches, leaves and other biomass — what scientists call “aboveground live carbon” — is determined more by timber harvesting than by any other environmental factor in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, according to a report published by researchers at Oregon State University: "Complex mountain terrain and disturbance history drive variation in forest aboveground live carbon density in the western Oregon Cascades, USA" (doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2016.01.036).

Tallest Tree

The tallest tree on the Andrews Forest, a Douglas Fir, was identified by LIDAR imaging.  If you saw the previous version of this Fast Fact, you would have seen that the tallest tree on site was 299 feet, measured in 2008. The height of that tree was verified in 2009 with a measuring tape! This other, now taller tree, was measured by LIDAR in 2016. A cross-section of that LIDAR image is pictured here. As a point of comparison, the Statue of Liberty stands at 305 feet tall, including her base. 

old-growth trees area

Most of the Andrews Forest is covered in dense forest. Huge, iconic Pacific Northwest old-growth conifer forests grow here with cedar, hemlock, and moss-draped ancient Douglas fir trees. See our Forest Description page for more information.

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