Old Growth Forests look primeval, having no signs of human settlement – logging, farming, grazing. They are protected and sought out for their beauty and biodiversity. Most have trees that are centuries old; some have trees that are thousands of years old. Only 1% of Eastern and 5% of Western forests are Old Growth. Their air is invigoratingly pure, their colors are more vivid and the biodiversity they support (different families of trees in different stages of growth, varieties of ferns, lichen, mushrooms, fungus) creates a mesmerizing cornucopia of shapes. The locations of all known Old Growth Forests in the Eastern U.S. are available in this downloadable free book.
The Old Growth Forest Network gives greater detailed descriptions and arresting visual images of selected forests that have joined it’s network. It is also a great current resource for educational materials concerning Old Growth Forests. Wikipedia’s Old Growth Forest lists forests throughout the world larger than 10 acres. My research into Old Growth Forests of Mid-Atlantic, Piedmont and Southern forests will be available to you via my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I hope to photograph visual manifestations of the research finding of botanist/forest ecologist Dr. Suzanne Simard. Her controversial but scientifically accepted theories have led to a new understanding of forests. Trees began their evolution over four billion years ago. They have learned to cooperate as well as compete with each other, recognize kin and neighbors, remember past events and exercise agency about their future. Dr. Simard’s discoveries are presented in her recent book, Finding the Mother Tree. She is an energetic champion of the protection of Old Growth Forests as a hub of biodiversity important to the solutions to problems caused by climate change.
Old Growth Forests are characterized by the lack of human and/or natural disruptions to the land. The size of the forests or age of the trees are secondarily important to the classification. Forest are more than just trees. They are home to 80% of the worlds terrestrial biodiversity – plants, animals, fungi and bacteria. They are essential to life on earth, protecting watersheds, supplying the oxygen we need to survive. Importantly, they are carbon sinks, soaking up carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change. The “giantism” of Old Growth Forests allows the highest treetops more sunlight from which the canopy leaves can photosynthesize more carbon (energy) to fuel additional growth.
“A walk in the woods” – aka “forest bathing” aka immersing yourself in nature – is being embraced by a growing cohort of the scientific community as a way to combat stress and improve health. Dr. Qing Le of Tokyo Medical School, Vice President of the International Society of Nature and Forest Medicine and author of Forest Bathing offers a wealth of data that it can elevate mood and reduce blood pressure, stress and blood sugar levels. Soaking up the forest environment – the still atmosphere, the verdant scenery, the gentle crunching of twigs underfoot – reduces the body’s primary stress hormone, cortisol and activates the parasympathetic, self-healing, nervous system.
The Last Stand is a creation of Kamala Sankaram which will debut in a New York City park. It will be a sound installation featuring an experimental opera created for and about trees. Composed of similar familiar sounds and vibrational tones that allow trees to experience the project, the soundscape investigates deforestation and the climate crisis, making the point that our planetary survival depends on our collaboration with our neighbors. It was inspired by Dr. Suzanne Simard’s scholarship exploring the many ways trees communicate.
Remaining cost redwood forests grow naturally only in a narrow strip along the Pacific coastline from central California into souther Oregon. Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park protects 10,000 acres of these first-growth primeval treasures.
California’s coast redwoods follow the fog and thrive ain continuous belts at elevations below 2,000 feet, where heavy winter rains and moderate year-round temperatures occur. Trees can grow to 350 feet or more, with a base diameter of about 20 feet. Their root systems are broad and shallow, from only a few inches to 6 feet underground. The oldest coast redwoods are about 2000 years old and show no signs of dying out. They resist insects, fire, and rot to a remarkable degree, and their vigor in sprouting back when cut or badly burned is an important factor in their longevity. Despite that, experts fear the Earth’s changing climate, due to the excessive use of fossil fuels, endangers the redwoods survival as temperatures increase and costal fog diminishes.
California's Jedediah Smith State Park
The Congaree National Park constitutes the largest remaining expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States, Covering over 11,000 acres. The long growing season and rich soil of the floodplain swamp lands yields incredible biodiversity among unique species of trees. As a very tall temperate forest, the Congaree has a canopy reaching upwards of 130 feet in some areas, and is home to 25 state and national champion trees. Champion trees are characterized as the largest of its species, according to a standard formula bu the American Forestry Associate that cumulates circumference, heigh, and average crown spread.
The land provides ideal conditions for growth of large trees due to little human disturbance maintaining natural old growth, as well as a long and warm growing season. Furthermore, periodic flooding from the Congaree and Water Rivers provides the land with an influx of nutrients and sediment that increases the fertility of the land and sustains biodiversity. Approximately 80% of the park is part of the Congaree River floodplain, which overruns its banks most commonly during tinder months. Even the ground itself is important to the health of the floodplain, as it functions to filter water by trapping and detoxifying harmful pollutants. In some parts of the floodplain, the forest floor is made up of Dorovan muck, an 8-feet thick muddy mixture of clay and old leaf debris.
South Carolina's Congaree National Park
Cook Forest 11 old growth stands in the park, totaling more than 23,000 acres. More stands are dominated by ancient hemlock and white pine, many of which exceed 13 feet in diameter, approaching 200 feet in heigh, and are approximately 350 years old. The forest also contains ancient understory trees like:
White and chestnut oak
Black cherry
Red Maple
Cucumber tree
Pennsylvania's Cook Forest State Park
