What Was the Original Nehalem Forest Like?
The best scientific estimates of what the original Coast Range and Nehalem forest was like are based on studies of fire scars and pollen and charcoal taken from lake sediments. These site-specific analyses indicate that before European settlement, the forest was much older and contained much larger trees than today’s forest. More often than not throughout its natural history, the Nehalem forest was old growth, filled with trees more than 200 years old. For example, in the Coast Range in the mid-1800s old growth ranged from 40 percent to as high as 61 percent (Wimberly/Spies, p. 5). Given the Nehalem’s location in the northern Coast Range it is very likely that the percentage of old growth in the Nehalem was higher than the regional average. Recent analysis by researchers at Oregon State University and the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station provide powerful evidence to support these numbers. Their analysis of pollen and charcoal in lake sediment suggests that old g
