Light In The Forest

Title

Light In The Forest

Artist

Jeanette French

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Forest dynamics tell the story of the staging development of a forest from stand replacement to old growth. The first stage of forest evolution may be stand-replacing, if the forest trees have been destroyed by some natural disturbance, like the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980, or by clear cut logging operations. The next stage, stand initiation, is when the new trees have become permanently established. In stage three, stem exclusion, the trees grow higher and expand the canopy which changes the distribution of light. Competition for light eliminates trees that grow more slowly, reducing the density of the forest. Surviving trees grow much bigger. When the canopies of the trees touch each other, only very shade tolerate species survive in the understory. Understory reinitiating is stage four in forest evolution. Some of the bigger trees die from disease or are blown down by storm winds. When this occurs, gaps in the canopy allow light to again reach the understory layer. Shade tolerant trees may become established at this time.
Stage 5 in forest evolution is the old growth stage. Primary trees in the forest canopy age and more of them die. Gaps in the canopy appear at different times so that the understory trees will be in various stages of size and development. Eventually, some of these trees reach the size of the primary trees and will contribute to filling in the canopy themselves.
The old growth forest can remain stable for hundreds of years or can return to stage one with a new stand-replacing disturbance, with unfavorable conditions developing for new trees to regenerate. The forest can also switch to the stem exclusion stage three if the understory trees of a different species take over the canopy.
The old growth forest is also known by other names, including ancient woodlands, primary forest, primeval forest and late seral forest. However, all agree that such a forest has reached a great age with little disturbance and exhibits much biodiversity among the large trees, standing dead trees, multilayered canopies and woody debris on the forest floor. The primary giants of the old growth tree community range in age from 150 to over 1000 years. These forests are often biologically diverse and may be home to many rare and endangered species like the northern spotted owl, the marbled Murrelet and fisher birds.
Fallen logs on the forest floor provide the nursery foundation for seedling trees and are known as nurse logs. In their natural state, old growth forests exhibit quilt-like patterns of different tree communities. In the western United States, Western hemlock usually dominates, with sections of Douglas firs, red cedar, alder and, near the Oregon and California border, giant redwoods.
From the eastern edges of the Cascades to the sea and as far south as Yosemite, the coast Douglas fir is the dominant tree west of the Cascade Mountains in the pacific Northwest. Also known as Doug fir and Oregon pine, it is an evergreen native to western North America.
The coast Dough fir conifer is second in height only to the coast redwood in the world and lives between 500 to more than 1000 years. A Douglas fir that was logged in Watcom County, Washington in 1897 was 465 feet tall, 220 feet to the first branch with a diameter at its base of 34 feet. This tree was estimated to be 480 years of age at the time.
Young Doug firs have a thin, smooth, gray bark with many resin blisters. Mature trees exhibit thick, cork-like bark. Young trees often have branches down to ground level, while older trees have a narrower, cylindrical crown 66-131 feet above a branch-free trunk. Although the trees roots are not especially deep, Doug fir will generate taproots in drier areas. It is an adaptable and fast-growing tree that is often found with western hemlock, sitka spruce, sugar pine, western white pine, ponderosa pine, grand fir, coast redwood, western red cedar tanoak and big leaf maple.
Doug fir is a tree that is crucial in the forest succession of old growth rain forests in the Pacific Northwest. Intolerant of deep shade, young Doug firs do not survive in the understory of the forest. These trees do have some competitive advantage however. They have thicker bark and a growth rate that is somewhat faster than western hemlock or western red cedar. In natural disturbances, such as wildfire and wind storms, or clear cutting, Doug firs regenerate and easily establish in the in high light conditions.
Jeanette French, paintings, photographs, canvas prints framed prints, metallic prints, acrylic prints, greeting cards, gift cards, fine art.
Creating portals of light, love, joy, beauty, compassion, hope and gratitude is my lifelong passion and gift for the earth, hence the name of my art business, For the Earth. My mother painted in oils when I was young and encouraged my own drawing, painting and handcrafting in all forms. My father, the photographer, gave me my first camera at age 8. As a result of these loving influences, I am a lifelong student of both mediums. I am grateful to my wonderful Pacific NW painter teachers, Stan Capon and Edi Olson, for training my eye and technique. I hope you will enjoy this image as much as I enjoyed its creation. More gifts for the earth can be found at these websites: jeanette-french.artistwebsites.com and jeanette-french.pixels.com.

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May 27th, 2014

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