Kuiper surveys his domain in the Mt. Hood National Forest, a little to the east of Portland, Oregon. ❤️
Did you know that we have rainforests in Oregon? Not all rainforests are tropical?; a very small percentage are “temperate” rainforests. The western side of Mt. Hood National Forest gets 80 inches (2m) to 170 inches (4.3m) of rain a year! ?️ By comparison, the city of Portland (only an hour or so west!) gets 36 inches (0.9m.) ☔
Temperate forests have much less biodiversity than tropical forests; ours are mostly Douglas Fir. You may have even seen some of our trees for sale at some point; Oregon is the biggest producer of natural Christmas trees ? in the US. Every November and December, a total of over 5 million (6-10 year old) trees are harvested from Oregon tree farms. The farmers have to work super duper quickly to keep all the trees fresh, so many of them use helicopters ? to move them from their field to refrigerated trucks.
Other tree inhabitants of Oregon forests include Western Redcedar, Western Hemlock, “true” firs like Noble, Grand & Pacific Silver, and Bigleaf Maple ? (the last is a very popular snack for deer and elk.) Native mammals include the beaver (the state animal), black bears (no grizzlys seen since 1930s), otters, sea lions, over 15 species of bats, porcupines, pronghorn antelope and mountain lions. ?
We have birbs, too: a billionty different waterfowl (including the red-breasted merganser, the fastest duck ?? alive), wild turkeys, albatrosses, osprey, bald eagles and the close-to-endangered Northern Spotted Owl. ? I won’t even get started on the native fish like salmon and steelhead ? or the fact that Mt. Hood is considered an active volcano; they warrant their own post or three!
What kind of wild creatures do you have in your neck of the woods?
Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjBK3YJgOEZ/