RainForests of the Pacific
Northwest
Imagine
yourself walking through a forest so ancient that some of the trees
were already centuries old when Columbus discovered America. Many of
the trees are giants, their limbs reaching skyward for more than 75
meters (245 feet.), their trunks dwarfing all who set eyes on them.
Moss and lichen cling to lower branches, and a lush green mantle of
vegetation blankets the forest floor. There is a special feeling
associated with natural cathedrals like these - a spiritual quality.
You can smell it in the damp air, feel it in the endless silence, and
sense it in the rich earth beneath your feet.
These are the Temperate
Rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, stretching almost 2800 kilometers
(1700 miles) along the west coast of Canada and the United States: from
Alaska, through British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, to northern
California. About one half of the world's Temperate Rainforests are
found here and they are by far the most productive, containing some of
the oldest and largest trees found anywhere on earth.
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