Astoria, Oregon
Our voyage has reached its most western point. The Sea Bird began positioning along side the Columbia Maritime Museum’s dock at approximately 8:00 am. Our day would be spent here, in Astoria the oldest western port in the United States.
We would begin our day by touring the Columbia Maritime Museum with Dr. Bud, a favorite docent who could beautifully weave story and history, bringing us closer to the life of the mouth of the Columbia River. Recent renovations were complete and we were able to see several new exhibits adding to the high caliber of this facility. Once we had adequate time to explore the Maritime museum, we boarded a motor coach and began a short trip to Fort Clatsop, the winter camp of Lewis and Clark. The skies were grey, but no rain.....the soft light bringing out the many shades of green that make up the temperate rainforest. Many of us took an opportunity to wander within the National Park that makes up Fort Clatsop and enjoy the moist, canopied forest. The Sitka spruce a common coniferous tree of the coastal forests was king of this forest! Tall, straight, aromatic and strangely barked these trees dominated the forest, rising up and through the canopy of this temperate rain forest. This spruce is very dependent on the sea breezes that carry minerals which can be absorbed by the needles of the Sitka spruce taking nutrients into the tree. If one travels just a short distance inland, one will find this variety of spruce has vanished, replaced by other coniferous trees with different specialized growing needs. In and amongst the Sitka spruce were Western red cedar, Western hemlock and an occasional Grand fir!
Gazing upwards, we followed the layers of the canopy of this unique forest. In the open areas where sunlight found its way, there were Red alders, a deciduous tree. This important tree brings nutrients to the soil of the temperate forest by fixing gaseous nitrogen through bacteria attached to nodules on its roots. The nitrogen travels through out the tree and as the tree grows leaves and sheds them each fall, more nitrogen is added to the acidic soil that is most common in a temperate rainforest. Just below the Alders were the lower or understory shrubs.....Salmon berry, Red huckleberry, Thimble berry; all shrubs adding the beauty of the layers within this forest and also adding much needed food for the many inhabitants who call the temperate rainforest their home.
Slowly we let our eyes move to the floor of the rain forest. Many showy Spring flowers hoping to attract their pollinators! And the mosses and lichens! It was a feast for the eyes with so many shapes and colors! Low and behold we saw a little scampering black creature move out from a leaf! A vole with a very long nose sensed our presence, and began looking in earnest for the entrance to his vole condo. He scurried, he rushed, he moved in and out of several possible hiding places and then made his escape deep into the mounds of decomposing material into a tunnel system only made obvious by our close observations.
From the top of the trees, at least 150 feet over our heads to the ground at our feet we saw the interconnectedness of this forest. The trees relationship with fungus, spiders, birds and even this little vole who carried seeds into his tunnel, all were dependent on each other. We moved slowly out of the forest, carrying memories of soft sound, slight movements often caught by peripheral vision, and shimmering shades of green, home to reflect on this unusual forest.
Our voyage has reached its most western point. The Sea Bird began positioning along side the Columbia Maritime Museum’s dock at approximately 8:00 am. Our day would be spent here, in Astoria the oldest western port in the United States.
We would begin our day by touring the Columbia Maritime Museum with Dr. Bud, a favorite docent who could beautifully weave story and history, bringing us closer to the life of the mouth of the Columbia River. Recent renovations were complete and we were able to see several new exhibits adding to the high caliber of this facility. Once we had adequate time to explore the Maritime museum, we boarded a motor coach and began a short trip to Fort Clatsop, the winter camp of Lewis and Clark. The skies were grey, but no rain.....the soft light bringing out the many shades of green that make up the temperate rainforest. Many of us took an opportunity to wander within the National Park that makes up Fort Clatsop and enjoy the moist, canopied forest. The Sitka spruce a common coniferous tree of the coastal forests was king of this forest! Tall, straight, aromatic and strangely barked these trees dominated the forest, rising up and through the canopy of this temperate rain forest. This spruce is very dependent on the sea breezes that carry minerals which can be absorbed by the needles of the Sitka spruce taking nutrients into the tree. If one travels just a short distance inland, one will find this variety of spruce has vanished, replaced by other coniferous trees with different specialized growing needs. In and amongst the Sitka spruce were Western red cedar, Western hemlock and an occasional Grand fir!
Gazing upwards, we followed the layers of the canopy of this unique forest. In the open areas where sunlight found its way, there were Red alders, a deciduous tree. This important tree brings nutrients to the soil of the temperate forest by fixing gaseous nitrogen through bacteria attached to nodules on its roots. The nitrogen travels through out the tree and as the tree grows leaves and sheds them each fall, more nitrogen is added to the acidic soil that is most common in a temperate rainforest. Just below the Alders were the lower or understory shrubs.....Salmon berry, Red huckleberry, Thimble berry; all shrubs adding the beauty of the layers within this forest and also adding much needed food for the many inhabitants who call the temperate rainforest their home.
Slowly we let our eyes move to the floor of the rain forest. Many showy Spring flowers hoping to attract their pollinators! And the mosses and lichens! It was a feast for the eyes with so many shapes and colors! Low and behold we saw a little scampering black creature move out from a leaf! A vole with a very long nose sensed our presence, and began looking in earnest for the entrance to his vole condo. He scurried, he rushed, he moved in and out of several possible hiding places and then made his escape deep into the mounds of decomposing material into a tunnel system only made obvious by our close observations.
From the top of the trees, at least 150 feet over our heads to the ground at our feet we saw the interconnectedness of this forest. The trees relationship with fungus, spiders, birds and even this little vole who carried seeds into his tunnel, all were dependent on each other. We moved slowly out of the forest, carrying memories of soft sound, slight movements often caught by peripheral vision, and shimmering shades of green, home to reflect on this unusual forest.
