Wind River Experimental Forest

Location

45° 49' 13.7568" N, 121° 57' 6.8832" W
Brief Site Description: 
The Wind River Experimental Forest, known as the cradle of forest research in the Pacific Northwest, is a major center for ecological and silvicultural research in west-side Pacific Northwest forests.
Detailed Site Description: 

USFS

Although the Wind River Experimental Forest was not established until 1932, Forest Service research in the area began at least 20 years earlier. Thornton T. Munger, who later became the first director of the Pacific Northwest Research Station, arrived in 1909 and proceeded to establish a tree nursery, an arboretum, the first Douglas-fir growth-and-yield plots, and an important tree heredity study. Munger also established the Wind River Research Natural Area (RNA), later to be named after him, in 1926. The Wind River was set up as two divisions, Panther Creek and Trout Creek. Early on, the forest became the central area for studying the great Douglas-fir forests of the Pacific Northwest, and many of the silvicultural practices for managing these forests were developed there. Silvicultural studies continued following World War II and into the 1960s, though many other areas served as important sites for the study of Douglas-fir forests. In the 1980s research at Wind River was rekindled with an increase in ecosystem studies and old-growth/wildlife habitat research. In 1994, the Wind River Canopy Crane was established in the T. T. Munger RNA.


NEON

NEON data (Core Terrestrial) from this site. 

Field Site Type: 
US affiliate
Registration: 
Unregistered
Network(s): 
NEON
USFS
Study Start Date: 
1932
Mean Annual Precipitation: 
2 540 millimeters / year
Average Annual Temperature: 
9°C
Average Summer Temperature: 
18°C
Average Winter Temperature: 
0°C
Land Cover: 
Evergreen Forest
Geology: 
igneous-felsic extrusive
Soil Order: 
Andisol
Hydrology: Name: 
Wind River
Hydrology: Surface water stream order: 
Fifth Order
Hydrology: Surface water - Stream Flow Performance: 
Perennial
Hydrology: Groundwater: 
Arrangment of Aquifer Components - Single, dominant unconfined aquifer
Climate: 
Temperate
Sub-Climate: 
Ultrahyperhumid
Group visibility: 
Public - accessible to all site users