Hello Dirt readers and Happy Automn Equinox!

At the start of this deliciously crisp salmonid season of harvests and pumpkins Songster Writer Zeratha invites you to appreciate and explore our local Pacific Northwest ecosystem jewels that grow to form our "temperate rainforests."

Although they make up a small portion (only 2-3%) of all the world's forests, these amazing ecosystems harbor more biomass per acre than any other forest type including tropical rainforests! Many people often picture tropical rainforests as ultimate life-rich systems. But temperate rainforests support an estimated biomass between 500-2,000 metric tons per hectare, as well as being home to some of the last remaining "old growth" forests to be found in this country.

To qualify as a temperate rainforest, a forest must receive more than 50 inches of rain per year and have a mild climate - as are often found on the coast of the Northwest United States in northern California, Oregon and Washington. These rainforests usually come with heavy summer fog and are characterized by the presence of sitka spruce, nurse logs, colonnades, trees that stand on stilts, a profusion of lichens and mosses and big leaf maple trees with clubmoss draperies.

But these details only skim the surface. Dig deeper, Zeratha explores these ideas and more in greater depth with her article on "Temperate Rainforests."

Be Well,

Laura Nobel, Zeratha Monique Young and everyone at The Dirt! Spreading Roots, Spring Forth