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How much Old
Growth Forest still exists?
Sometimes, after reading articles or seeing news
stories, one would think there is little or no old growth forest left. The fact is that nearly 3 million acres
of Old Growth Forest exists today in Washington State
after nearly 150 years of mostly uncontrolled logging. That must indicate that most of the
existing Old Growth Forests are located in areas that would be very
difficult to log and that is why those areas were not logged in those first
uncontrolled 100 years.
 What is very interesting is that after those 100 years
of uncontrolled logging, approximately 6% of the State of Washington is covered in Old Growth
Forest. No one really knows how much
of the State was covered in Old
Growth Forest
before logging began because natural fires caused by lightning burned much
of the forests. Today 45% (20.4
million acres) of the State of Washington
is covered in forests. Most of those
forests are logged and replanted forests.
Today five trees are planted for every tree that is logged.
However, the remaining nearly
3 million acres of “Old Growth
Forest” in Washington
State will offer you more
opportunity to visit old growth forests than you will have time in your
lifetime to visit and amazingly, some of it is even located in cities and lowland
areas that you can drive right to the Forest. Most of the Old Growth exists at the end
of long hikes into rugged terrain and there are many National Forest and
National Park trails that are well maintained that will give you access to
some of the remotely located Old Growth Forests.
To give you an idea of how
much “Old Growth Forest” there is in the State of Washington,
2,838,432 acres is equal to 3.6 times the area of the State of Rhode Island.
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Old Growth Forests in Washington State
 Total
old growth forests in Washington
State total 2,838,432
acres according to the United States Department of Agriculture in
Publication PNW-RB-197
The publication lists, as part of that total, 693,000
acres of old growth forest in Washington’s
three national parks (Mt. Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades
National Parks). This total is nearly the size of the
State of Rhode Island.
Further, the publication lists 1,955,588 acres of old
growth forests in National Forests in Washington State.
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Old Growth Forests
in Oregon State
Total old growth forests in Oregon State
total 4,905,544 acres according to the United States Department of
Agriculture in Publication PNW-RB-197.
The publication lists 50,480 acres in Oregon’s
National Parks, 4,335,957 acres in Oregon’s
National Forests, and 9,550 acres in Oregon’s
State Parks.
To give you an idea of how
much “Old Growth Forest” there is in the State of Oregon,
4,335,957 acres is equal to 5.5 times the area of the State of Rhode Island.
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Old Growth
Forests in other areas.
The British Columbia
Ministry of Forests estimates that there are 62 million acres of old growth
forests in the Province of British Columbia, Canada
which is just north of Washington
State.
To give you an idea of how
much “Old Growth
Forest” is in British
Columbia, 62 million acres is about the size of the State of Oregon or 78.7 times the area of the State of Rhode Island.
According to the United States
Department of Agriculture there are 10,269,042 a acres of old growth
forests in Washington, Oregon,
and California which is 13.3 times the
area of the State of Rhode Island.
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