Wind River Arboretum, part of the Wind River Experimental Forest

Wind River Experimental Forest

The Wind River Experimental Forest is an ecological and silvicultural research in Stabler, Washington, in the United States. Used as a research site by the U.S. Forest Service beginning in 1908, and functioning as an experimental forest since 1932, it is "known as the cradle of forest research in...

, is a research arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 located in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in southern Washington, USA. With an area of 1.37 million acres , it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Range from Mount Rainier National Park to the Columbia River. It includes the 110,000 acre Mount St....

, Carson, Washington

Carson, Washington

Carson is a small unincorporated town in Skamania County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Washington.Carson is the population base of Skamania County, located just north of the Columbia River near the towns of Stevenson, Bingen and White Salmon in Washington and Cascade Locks and Hood...

.

The arboretum was established in 1912 by Thornton T. Munger

Thornton T. Munger

Thornton T. Munger was a pioneering research scientist for the U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest, known for founding research operations at the Wind River Experimental Forest.-Early life:...

 of the United States Forest Service

United States Forest Service

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...

 to determine the best trees for commercial purposes. Foresters planted tree species from various temperate and subtropical zones to compare their performance with local Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

 native tree species. After more than 90 years and 165 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 tested, the general conclusion has been that native species are best adapted to the local environment.

The Wind River is best known for its old-growth forests of Coast Douglas-fir

Coast Douglas-fir

Pseudotsuga menziesii, known as Douglas-fir, Oregon Pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer species native to western North America. Its variety Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii, also known as coast Douglas-fir grows in the coastal regions, from west-central British Columbia, Canada...

 and Western Hemlock

Western Hemlock

Tsuga heterophylla. the Western Hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma County, California.-Habitat:...

. Other species include Western Redcedar

Thuja plicata

Thuja plicata, commonly called Western or pacific red cedar, giant or western arborvitae, giant cedar, or shinglewood, is a species of Thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae native to western North America...

 and Pacific Silver Fir

Pacific Silver Fir

Abies amabilis, commonly known as the Pacific silver fir, is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range from the extreme southeast of Alaska, through western British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, to the extreme northwest of...

, Grand Fir

Grand Fir

Abies grandis is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea level to 1,800 m...

, and Noble Fir

Noble Fir

Abies procera, the Noble Fir, is a western North American fir, native to the Cascade Range and Coast Range mountains of extreme northwest California and western Oregon and Washington in the United States...

. Understory trees include Pacific Yew

Taxus brevifolia

Taxus brevifolia is a conifer native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. It ranges from southernmost Alaska south to central California, mostly in the Pacific Coast Ranges, but with an isolated disjunct population in southeast British Columbia, most notably occurring on Zuckerberg Island...

, Vine Maple

Vine Maple

Acer circinatum is a species of maple native to western North America, from southwest British Columbia to northern California, always within 300 km of the Pacific Ocean coast....

, Pacific Dogwood

Pacific Dogwood

The Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii , is a species of dogwood native to western North America from lowlands of southern British Columbia to mountains of southern California. An inland population occurs in central Idaho. Cultivated examples are found as far north as Haida Gwaii...

, and Red Alder

Red Alder

Alnus rubra, the Red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America.-Description:It is the largest species of alder in North America and one of the largest in the world, reaching heights of 20–35 m. The official tallest red alder stands 32 meters tall in Clatsop County, Oregon...

. Much of the forest is more than 400 years old.

External links

• Wind River Experimental Forest History (Forest History Society
  Forest History Society
  The Forest History Society is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of forest and conservation history. The society was established in 1946 and incorporated in 1955....
  
  , U.S. Forest Service History Collection)
• Wind River Experimenal Forest