Hoh Rainforest is one of the largest

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American Paci ...

s in the U.S., located on the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

in western

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state. It includes of low elevation forest along the

Hoh River The Hoh River is a river of the Pacific Northwest, located on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. About long, the Hoh River originates at the Hoh Glacier on Mount Olympus and flows west through the Olympic Mountains of Olymp ...

. The Hoh River valley was formed thousands of years ago by glaciers. Within

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...

, the forest is protected from commercial exploitation. Between the park boundary and the Pacific Ocean, of river, much of the forest has been logged within the last century, although many pockets of forest remain.

Climate

Hoh Rainforest is the wettest forest in the

Contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

, receiving over 100 inches of rain per year. It is an

Oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: Cfb).

Flora

The dominant species in the rainforest are Sitka spruce (''

Picea sitchensis ''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to almost tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth-larg ...

'') and western hemlock (''

Tsuga heterophylla ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, 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 ...

''); some grow to tremendous size, reaching in height and in diameter. Coast Douglas-fir ( ''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii''), western red cedar (''

Thuja plicata ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae, w ...

''), bigleaf maple (''

Acer macrophyllum ''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...

''), red alder (''

Alnus rubra ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description Red alder is the largest species of alder in North A ...

''), vine maple (''

Acer circinatum ''Acer circinatum'', the vine maple, is a species of maple native to western North America. Description It most commonly grows as a large shrub growing to around tall, but it will occasionally form a small to medium-sized tree, exceptionally ...

''), and black cottonwood (''

Populus trichocarpa ''Populus trichocarpa'', the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology. Desc ...

'') are also found throughout the forest. Many unique mosses and

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Lobaria oregana''), which "requires the cool, moist conditions found under the canopy of old-growth forests" and is consumed by deer, elk, and other animals.

Fauna

Many native fauna also make the Hoe Rainforest their home, including the

Pacific tree frog The Pacific tree frog (''Pseudacris regilla''), also known as the Pacific chorus frog, has a range spanning the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia in Canada and extreme southern Alaska. They l ...

(''Pseudacris regilla''),

northern spotted owl The northern spotted owl (''Strix occidentalis caurina'') is one of three spotted owl subspecies. A western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus '' Strix'', it is a medium-sized dark brown owl native to the Pacific Northwest. An ...

(''Strix occidentalis caurina''),

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

(''Lynx rufus''),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

(''Puma concolor cougar''),

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

(''Procyon lotor''),

Olympic black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

(''Ursus americanus altifrontalis''),

Roosevelt elk The Roosevelt elk (''Cervus canadensis roosevelti)'', also known commonly as the Olympic elk and Roosevelt's wapiti, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk (''Cervus canadensis'') in North America by body mass (although by antle ...

(''Cervus canadensis roosevelti''),

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

(''Canis latrans''),

Cascade red fox The Cascade red fox (''Vulpes vulpes cascadensis'') is a subspecies of red fox native to Washington in the United States. Diet They prey on small mammals and birds living only in the mountains. Due to this, they have an ecology distinct from ...

(''Vulpes vulpes''), and

black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...

(''Odocoileus columbianus''). Recently, naturalists are planning on reintroducing

fishers Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

to the forest and surrounding forests due to their almost extirpated population in

and the introduced

Virginia opossum The Virginia opossum (''Didelphis virginiana''), also known as the North American opossum, is the only opossum living north of Mexico, its range extending south into Central America. It is the northernmost marsupial in the world. In the United S ...

is beginning to make way to the region in and around the forest. The area is also home to the

banana slug Banana slugs are North American terrestrial slugs comprising the genus ''Ariolimax''. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Ariolimax Mörch, 1859. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p= ...

(''Ariolimax columbianus''), which has recently been threatened by the encroachment of a new species of slug, the

black slug The black slug (also known as black arion, European black slug, or large black slug) ''Arion ater'' L. is a large Terrestrial locomotion in animals, terrestrial Gastropoda, gastropod mollusk in the family (biology), family Arionidae, the round ba ...

(''Arion ater''), an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

from Northern Europe.Cowie R. H., Dillon R. T., Robinson D. G. & Smith J. W. (2009). "Alien non-marine snails and slugs of priority quarantine importance in the United States: A preliminary risk assessment". ''American Malacological Bulletin'' 27: 113–132
PDF

Sights

The Hoh Rainforest is home to a National Park Service ranger station, from which backcountry trails extend deeper into the national park. Near the visitor center is the Hall of Mosses Trail, a short trail——which gives visitors a feel for the local

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

and views of maples draped with large growths of

spikemoss ''Selaginella'' is the sole genus of vascular plants in the family Selaginellaceae, the spikemosses or lesser clubmosses. This family is distinguished from Lycopodiaceae (the clubmosses) by having scale-leaves bearing a ligule and by having ...

. There is also the Spruce Nature Trail (), which includes signs that identify various trailside trees and plants.

Gallery

: ''See also '' File:Hoh river in spring.jpg, The

that runs through the forest. File:ElkAtTheHoh.JPG, A herd of elk grazing at the forest. File:Banana slug in the Hoh Rainforest.jpg, A

. File:NurseryTree.JPG, A

nurse log A nurse log is a fallen tree which, as it decays, provides ecological facilitation to seedlings. Broader definitions include providing shade or support to other plants. Some of the advantages a nurse log offers to a seedling are: water, moss thickn ...

providing nutrients for other growing trees.

References

External links

Visiting the Hoh Rain Forest
at the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

Temperate Rain Forest
at the

The Hoh River Trust
founded by the Wild Salmon Center and the Western Rivers Conservancy {{Coord, 47, 51, 41.2, N, 123, 55, 28.8, W, display=title Geography of Washington (state) Natural history of Washington (state) Pacific temperate rainforests Forests of Washington (state) Olympic National Park Protected areas of Clallam County, Washington Protected areas of Jefferson County, Washington