Goat Marsh Research Natural Area is a 1,195 acres (484 hectares) research natural area located southwest of Mount St. Helens and within Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The natural area is composed of wetlands, young conifer forests growing in volcanic soils, and old-growth stands of superlative Noble Fir and Douglas Fir.
The area has been identified as a region of scientific importance and preserved for ecological research due to its recent volcanic history as well as for its large tracts of mature and undisturbed Noble Fir forest. [1]
The wetland and Lodgepole Pine forest ecosystems of Goat Marsh RNA were established in between approximately 1550 and 1700 C.E. when pyroclastic flows triggered by the eruption of Mount St. Helens disrupted the hydrology of Cold Springs Creek. These ecosystems comprise the majority of the natural area, about 780 acres (320 hectares).
The remaining 365 acres (148 hectares) located on the northern edge of the NRA is dominated by a 350 year old forest of Noble Fir and Douglas Fir that were spared by recent volcanic eruptions. This temperate rainforest contains tracts with average canopy heights of 213 feet (65 meters) [2] and 44,584 cubic feet per acre (3,120 cubic meters per hectare) of living terrestrial biomass—the highest in the Pacific Northwest outside of the "Redwood Belt" of Northern California and among the highest the world [3]
Goat Marsh RNA contains many of the largest and tallest remaining specimens of Noble Fir, including the "Goat Marsh Giant" (272 ft height, 8.3 ft DBH, 4,430 cubic feet volume), "Riker!" (253 ft height, 7.3 ft DBH, 3,810 cubic feet volume) and an unnamed fir 295 feet tall. [4] This relatively small area of forest also contains Douglas Fir measured at over 300 feet in height. [1]
Other conifers common within Goat Marsh RNA include Western Hemlock, Pacific Silver Fir, and Western Redcedar. Common understory vegetation includes Vine Maple, Vanilla-leaf, and Redwood sorel. Wetland vegetation includes various species of sedges and grasses.
Lassen Volcanic National Park is a national park of the United States in northeastern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak, the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range. Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the few areas in the world where all four types of volcanoes can be found: plug dome, shield, cinder cone, and stratovolcano.
The western tanager, is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), other members of its genus and it are classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). The species's plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.
Abies concolor, the white fir, concolor fir, or Colorado fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. It naturally occurs at elevations between 900 and 3,400 metres.
Abies amabilis, commonly known as the Pacific silver fir, is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range. It is also commonly referred to in English as the white fir, red fir, lovely fir, amabilis fir, Cascades fir, or silver fir. The species name is Latin for 'lovely'.
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The Cascades ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and California. Somewhat smaller than the Cascade mountain range for which it is named, the ecoregion extends north to Snoqualmie Pass, near Seattle, and south to Hayden Pass, near the Oregon-California border, including the peaks and western slopes of most of the High Cascades. A discontiguous section is located on Mount Shasta in California.
The Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and California. In the rain shadow of the Cascade Range, the eastern side of the mountains experiences greater temperature extremes and receives less precipitation than the west side. Open forests of ponderosa pine and some lodgepole pine distinguish this region from the Cascades ecoregion, where hemlock and fir forests are more common, and from the lower, drier ecoregions to the east, where shrubs and grasslands are predominant. The vegetation is adapted to the prevailing dry, continental climate and frequent wildfire. Volcanic cones and buttes are common in much of the region.
The Blue Mountains ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Pacific Northwest, mainly in the state of Oregon, with small areas over the state border in Idaho and southeastern Washington. It is also contiguous with the World Wildlife Fund's Blue Mountain forests ecoregion.
The Klamath Mountains ecoregion of Oregon and California lies inland and north of the Coast Range ecoregion, extending from the Umpqua River in the north to the Sacramento Valley in the south. It encompasses the highly dissected ridges, foothills, and valleys of the Klamath and Siskiyou Mountains. It corresponds to the Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency and to the Klamath-Siskiyou forests ecoregion designated by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The Northern Basin and Range ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and California. It contains dissected lava plains, rolling hills, alluvial fans, valleys, and scattered mountain ranges in the northern part of the Great Basin. Although arid, the ecoregion is higher and cooler than the Snake River Plain to the north and has more available moisture and a cooler climate than the Central Basin and Range to the south. Its southern boundary is determined by the highest shoreline of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, which once inundated the Central Basin and Range. The western part of the region is internally drained; its eastern stream network drains to the Snake River system.
Trout Creek Hill is a small Pleistocene basaltic shield volcano in Washington, United States. Located in Skamania County, Trout Creek Hill rises to an elevation of 2,946 feet (898 m). It is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, located in the Marble Mountain-Trout Creek Hill volcanic field.
Indian Heaven Wilderness is a protected area located inside the Gifford Pinchot National Forest of southwestern Washington state. The wilderness consists of 20,782 acres (8,410 ha) of broad, forested plateau, with meadows straddling numerous volcanic peaks and at least 150 small lakes, ponds, and marshes. The wilderness also contains the Indian Heaven volcanic field. Originally known to the Indians as "Sahalee Tyee," the area has been and remains culturally important to Native Americans. During the past 9,000 years, the Yakama, Klickitat, Cascades, Wasco, Wishram, and Umatilla tribes gathered in this area for berry picking, fishing, and hunting.
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The Central Pacific coastal forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion located in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
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FORECAST is a management-oriented, stand-level, forest-growth and ecosystem-dynamics model. The model was designed to accommodate a wide variety of silvicultural and harvesting systems and natural disturbance events in order to compare and contrast their effect on forest productivity, stand dynamics, and a series of biophysical indicators of non-timber values.
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The upper montane forest is a vegetation type generally found above the mixed coniferous forest and below the subalpine forest vegetation types. Most of what grows in upper montane forests are conifers, because of the short growing season.