Mt. Rainier National Park is located in Washington State. It was established on March 2nd1899 as the fifth National Park in the United States. Mt. Rainier NP was designated a National Park before large-scale logging in the regions, so forests within the park have not been heavily impacted. The park is 957 square kilometers in size, and includes all of Mount Rainier, a 4,392 meter tall volcano. Forests are dominated by conifers with relative low tree diversity (~ 20 tree species total, despite covering large climatic gradients).
MORAAB08
tree_years
seed_count
abieAmab
280
21
abieGran
0
2
pseuMenz
104
0
thujPlic
528
0
tsugHete
1840
7935
The climate is characterized by (relatively) mild winters and summers. Precipitation (150-360 cm annually) primarily falls as snow in the fall, winter, and spring.
Monthly effective precipitation over the last five years (left) and annual values since 1960 (right) from high-elevation AB08, decreasing in elevation to AV02. At left are shown winter surpluses in blue and summer deficits in orange. At right are annual anomalies in minimum winter temperature and annual deficit since 1960.
MORAAG05
tree_years
seed_count
abieAmab
1827
326
abieGran
0
16
abieLasi
0
6
abieProc
0
58
pseuMenz
171
0
thujPlic
873
0
tsugHete
2142
1033
tsugMert
0
4
MORAAE10
tree_years
seed_count
abieAmab
2700
205
abieLasi
9
87
abieProc
18
124
tsugHete
0
17
tsugMert
63
110
Forest demographic measurements were initiated in fifteen 100 x 100 meter permanent plots at Mt. Rainier National Park by Jerry Franklin and colleagues in 1978. All trees above 15 cm dbh are tagged, identified to species, and mapped every 5-6 years (latest census in 2017). Because forest stands span a wide variety of elevations (581-1452 meters ASL) and occur on both the west (wet) and east (dry) side of Mt. Rainier, they cover a large amount of climatic space. Stands are estimated to be between 150 and 1200 years old, with the most recent disturbance in most likely fire. Dominant tree species include Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) and Silver fir (Abies amabilis) at low to mid elevations (500-1200 meters), and Mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), Yellow Cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis), and Subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) at higher elevations (1200 – 1800 meters).
MORAAM16
tree_years
seed_count
abieAmab
3051
67
abieGran
0
2
abieProc
0
18
tsugHete
369
2274
tsugMert
621
1407
Starting in 2008, six seed traps (laundry baskets) and seedling quadrats were established within each of the fifteen 1 ha stands, as well as in three high elevation locations. Stands are visited annually, just after early summer snowmelt, and seed trap contents collected. Seeds are sorted out from litter, counted, and identified to species in the lab.
