Mount Ranier (MORA)

Mount Ranier (MORA)

Janneke HilleRisLambers

University of Washington

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.

MORAAO03
tree_years seed_count
abieAmab 2088 234
abieLasi 0 20
abieProc 0 3
pseuMenz 24 0
thujPlic 72 0
tsugHete 856 5780
MORAAR07
tree_years seed_count
abieAmab 1107 57
abieGran 0 4
abieProc 0 1
tsugHete 0 9
tsugMert 1143 1064

MORAAV02
tree_years seed_count
abieAmab 7456 276
abieGran 0 2
abieLasi 0 54
abieProc 0 39
pseuMenz 24 0
thujPlic 40 0
tsugHete 1272 7377
tsugMert 0 6
MORAAV06
tree_years seed_count
abieAmab 3447 378
abieGran 0 2
abieProc 0 5
pseuMenz 54 0
thujPlic 54 0
tsugHete 2052 2065
tsugMert 0 2
MORAAV14
tree_years seed_count
abieAmab 2008 279
abieLasi 0 26
abieProc 0 3
tsugHete 1688 8266