![]() Coniferous, or softwood, species such as pine, spruce, fir, hemlock and western redcedar are predominant in close to 90 per cent of B.C.’s forests. B.C.’s rich forest diversity includes more than 40 different species of native trees, with some of Canada’s most interesting and valuable tree species. Historically, this diversity has presented a challenge to resource managers who want their actions to match the needs of each unique ecosystem. It has temperate rainforests, dry pine forests, boreal forests, alpine tundra, grasslands and more. It has the country’s only temperate desert, near Osoyoos in the far south, and North America’s wettest weather station, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. For thousands of years, aboriginal peoples have looked to the forest for shelter, clothing, food, tools and medicine.īritish Columbia is Canada’s most ecologically diverse province. These vast forests are at the heart of B.C.’s history and its current way of life. Forests cover close to two-thirds of the province – an area of almost 60 million hectares (149 million acres). ![]() ![]() is characterized by its abundant forests, rugged Pacific coastline, mountainous terrain, plateaus, and numerous lakes and rivers. Only 30 countries in the world are bigger. Click on the other headings on this page to learn more about Pacific Northwest old-growth forests.īritish Columbia, Canada’s western-most province, covers 95 million hectares (235 million acres) – larger than any European country except Russia, and larger than any U.S. Much of this work was done by Pacific Northwest Research Station scientists. Scientists have done a lot of research on old-growth forests in the last 30 years. But several species of trees live for hundreds of years in the Pacific Northwest old-growth forest, not just one. In other forests, some junipers and bristlecone pines live longer. But several species of big trees grow in the Pacific Northwest old-growth forest, not just one. Some of California's giant redwoods are bigger than the biggest Douglas-fir tree. No other forest has an entire group of tree species that equals the trees in the Pacific Northwest old-growth forest for their size and long lives. The Pacific Northwest also has old-growth forests dominated by Sitka spruce and western hemlock, along the Pacific Coast, and at higher elevations in the Cascade Mountains, true fir and hemlock old-growth forests.Īmong all the forests of the world, the Pacific Northwest old-growth forest is unique because of the size and old age of its trees, the accumulations of biomass (weight and density of living organisms), and the climate, with its wet, mild winters and dry, warm summers. The youngest old-growth forests are 200 years old, and the oldest are about 1,000 years old. ![]() In the Pacific Northwest, the most common type of old-growth ecosystem is forests dominated by Douglas-firs and western hemlocks, generally 350 to 750 years old. The Pacific Northwest old-growth forest is a conifer forest, dominated by large, old trees. ![]()
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