Old-growth reference stand network in the Pacific Northwest: recording long-term ecosystem dynamics

Researchers in many regions increasingly recognize the centralrole of long-term studies in predicting the functioning of an old-growth ecosystem and its community dynamics. Subtle, complex,or gradual forest processes may be noticeable only in terms of de-cades or centuries and cannot be properly addressed in the typical2-3 year study. Also, random or catastrophic events occur unpre-dictably, frustrating researchers whose lack of base-line data se-verely limits their description of ecosystem response to such events.Temporal dynamics can only be fully addressed by observing spe-cific stands over time. Such concerns prompted the U.S. Forest Ser-vice to establish an extensive network of unmapped, one-acre plotsin many Pacific Northwest forest types during the early part of thetwentieth century. Although some have been harvested, the re-maining plots are extremely valuable sources of data due to theirlong record and diverse habitat locations.