Incredible Forests

Posted by Harald in Interesting Articles on Jun 24th, 2009 | one response

Allegheny National Forest

The Allegheny National Forest sits in the rugged plateau country of northwestern Pennsylvania. Many creeks and streams cut deeply into the plateau, creating a rolling and sometimes steep topography with a 1,300 foot range of elevation. The terrain is covered with a typical eastern hardwood forest: Black cherry, yellow poplar, white ash, red maple, and sugar maple are all common to the area.

Willamette National Forest

The Willamette National Forest offers mountaintop vistas, lakes, waterfalls, rocky bluffs and alpine meadows. You will encounter more wildflowers than you knew existed. Old Growth, some well over 500 years, towers above you. The trunks of these giants reach eight feet in diameter. Look for Douglas fir, lacey-leafed western red cedar, prickly Engleman spruce, lazy-topped western hemlock. Imagine — in 1500, just years after Columbus landed in America, some of these trees were saplings.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

In the jungles of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest live half the world’s population of highly endangered Mountain Gorillas. Visiting them is one of the most emotional wildlife encounters you will ever experience.
This pocket of huge primeval forest in the Virunga Mountain range is one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth. It has an eco-system that defines the very essence of the continent and has therefor been designated as a World Heritage Site.
The forest floor is damp and laden with leaf mould, matted vegetation and fallen vines, which serve to trip you up as you clamber up and down the slippery slopes in search of a glimpse of the elusive gorillas.

Mt. Hood National Forest

Located twenty miles east of the city of Portland, Oregon, and the northern Willamette River valley, the Mt. Hood National Forest extends south from the strikingly beautiful Columbia River Gorge across more than sixty miles of forested mountains, lakes and streams to Olallie Scenic Area, a high lake basin under the slopes of Mt. Jefferson. The Forest encompasses some 1,067,043 acres.

Tongass National Forest

The Tongass National Forest, a forest of islands and trees and rain. Lots of islands and trees and rain. It also abounds in animals and birds and fish, with unsurpassed scenery and hardy people. It’s a place where eagles are commonplace, most roads are deer crossings, and bears use the trails, too. The Tongass is a wild place, where the natural world is a strong presence that nurtures spiritually and materially and demands respect. Look around at what the Tongass has to offer.