!16RainForest

240 inches of rain fall each year at Lake Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. The Olympic Mountains, the forests, the mushrooms, the salmon and steelhead too...what a place! The three three-hundred foot giants of this temperate rain forest are the Douglas Fir, the Western Cedar and the Sitka Spruce. We rely on Rain Forests in ways that we are only just beginning to understand. Rain Forests play a significant role in maintaining weather patterns and the Earth's limited supply of fresh water. We also know that natural elements and species from the Rain Forests are the basis of countless consumer, agricultural, medical, and industrial products. Although Rain Forests cover less than 2 % of the Earth's surface, they are home to more than half of all plant and animal species. According to The Nature Conservancy, originally, 8 million square miles of tropical Rain Forest encircled the planet. More than half has been burned, bulldozed and obliterated. If deforestation continues at current rates, scientists estimate that nearly all tropical Rain Forest ecosystems will be destroyed by the year 2030.

The first image shows the amazing growth of mosses under the rain forest canopy and the second displays a beautiful stand of Western Hemlocks. The third image watches the life supporting beams of light as they penetrate through the tall trees. The fourth shows the renewal-sustaining blow-down which is a primary nursery base for seedlings. The fifth is an incredible display of large cones on top of a Douglas Fir and the sixth picture is a group of Sitka Spruce. The seventh shows a lowly Slug, one of the important recyclers of the Rain Forest, and the eighth image is a majestic Douglas Fir. The ninth picture shows a view through the trees of the Hoh Rain Forest. The tenth image looks up through the trees at the Muir National Monument in northern California. The eleventh picture is a portrait by Bruce Wolfe of the legendary naturalist John Muir digitally superimposed over El Capitan by Phillip R.P. Ashwell. The twelfth picture shows one the Olympic Peninsula's beautiful coral mushrooms, the Ramaria formosa. The thirteenth is an image of the upper Hoh River with the Olympic Mountains in the background. The fourteenth photo looks up at another Quinault giant. The next image displays the mist hanging over Lake Quinault in the morning. The last picture illustrates the paraphrased John Muir/Sierra Club motto.

Just think, those Lumber and Paper Products Companies are doing their very best to get rid of every nasty tree, once and for all!

"Take only photos and memories; kill only time; leave only footprints in the sand!"

The Rain Forest

                Oh Mount Olympus, Fountainhead,
                Prime Forests green, each Tree well-bred;
                Flow Queets and Hoh; cross Virgin Stead,
                True pristine Source, pure Watershed.

                Of filtered Light, Earth’s wondrous High,
                Where Chanterelles on Moss Beds lie;
                While stately Spruce and Cedars vie,
                With Douglas Firs to reach the Sky.

                John Muir, in Deed, did recognize,
                Life’s long-term Need, to natur’lize,
                This rare Resource; should Edenize;
                That Man, in Moments, would devise,
                Through careless Greed or Enterprise,
                A clear-cut Plan to jeopardize,
                The World; could cause his own Demise!

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