Tongass National Forest, Alaska The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is immense, and within its nearly 17 million acres lies an area of old-growth that takes up 5.4 million acres in area. As the world’s largest old growth coastal temperate rainforest, the Tongass is irreplaceable.

Old-growth forests also store large amounts of carbon above and below the ground (either as humus, or in wet soils as peat). They collectively represent a very significant store of carbon. Destruction of these forests releases this carbon as greenhouse gases, and may increase the risk of global climate change.

The DNR defines old growth forests as forests that have developed over a long period of time, essentially free from catastrophic disturbances. They contain large, old trees of long-lived species that are beyond traditional rotation (harvest) age.

Old-growth wood refers to wood from trees that belonged to forests that grew up over hundreds of years. A majority of today’s lumber is harvested from trees that have been cultivated to grow rapidly, so the wood is not as dense. As a result, it is weaker and more susceptible to decay and instability.

Answer. Answer: in a virgin island.

Thankfully, there are other ways to figure out how old your trees are. You can make a fairly good estimate with a simple formula that involves measuring the tree and then multiplying the measurement by the growth factor for that tree’s species (because different kinds of trees grow at different rates).

Because of their great quantities of large-dimension timber of desired tree species, old-growth forests are an extremely valuable natural resource. However, old-growth forests are rarely managed by foresters as a renewable, natural resource.

The open canopy structure of old-growth caused by older trees falling down allows for light to reach the forest floor and provide new growing conditions for younger trees and plants. The closed canopy of second growth does not allow for much light to reach the ground, leaving the area homogenous and sparse.

: forest trees that come up naturally after removal of the first growth by cutting or by fire.

Primary forest refers to untouched, pristine forest that exists in its original condition. This forest has been relatively unaffected by human activities. Secondary forest is rainforest that has been disturbed in some way, naturally or unnaturally.

Old-growth forests have accumulated huge amounts of carbon per hectares and clearcutting them releases massive amounts of carbon back into the atmosphere. Protecting old-growth means reducing emissions quickly and keeping the carbon where it belongs.

The Old-Growth Forest Network is the only national network in the U.S. of protected, old-growth, native forests where people of all generations can experience biodiversity and the beauty of nature.

Trees take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, which is why the preservation of old forests is an important component to any attempt to mitigate climate change. When trees are cut, unless their wood is used in long-lived products like housing or furniture, the carbon dioxide they stored returns to the atmosphere.

Because the trees are old and slow-growing, the Amazon forests, which contain about a third of all carbon found in land vegetation, have less capacity to absorb atmospheric carbon than previous studies predicted, Trumbore and her colleagues said. The oldest known tree is a bristlecone pine in California.

Dinizia excelsa tree

4,700 years

A closed canopy forest is a dense growth of trees in which the top branches and leaves form a ceiling, or canopy, that light can barely penetrate to reach the forest floor.

Primary forests are forests of native tree species, where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed. Other wooded land refers to land with trees higher than 5 meters but with a tree canopy cover of only 5 to 10 %.

Why are forest thinning and salvage logging controversial? Fire suppression lets dead and decaying plant matter to build up, increasing the risk for a larger and even more severe fire. Many biological communities also depend on periodic fires for regeneration, and so suppressing fires is a dubious strategy.

Thinning is the term foresters apply to removal of some trees from a stand to give others more room (and resources) to grow. The larger trees simply need more water, nutrients and sunlight than they did when smaller. Eventually, the site reaches a point where it can no longer support all of the young forest’s trees.