Jump to content

Gifford Pinchot National Forest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bri (talk | contribs) at 19:41, 27 December 2011 (typo). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
Old Snowy Mountain in Goat Rocks Wilderness
Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 526: Unable to find the specified location map definition: "Module:Location map/data/USA relief" does not exist.
LocationWashington, USA
Nearest cityAmboy, WA
Area1,319,650 acres (5,340.4 km2)
Established1908
Visitors1,800,000 (in 2005)
Governing bodyU.S. Forest Service

Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in southern Washington, USA. With an area of 1.37 million acres (5300 km2), it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Range from Mount Rainier National Park to the Columbia River. It includes the 110,000 acre (445 km2) Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, established by Congress in 1982. In addition, Congressional action since 1964 has established the following wilderness areas:

Also, William O. Douglas Wilderness is administered jointly with Wenatchee National Forest. A 1993 Forest Service study estimated that the extent of old growth in the Forest was 198,000 acres (80,000 ha),[1] some of which is contained within its wilderness areas.

The forest offices are located in Vancouver, Washington. There are local ranger district offices in Randle, Amboy, and Trout Lake.[2] The forest is named after the first chief of the United States Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot. Washington towns near entrances of the forest include Cougar, Randle, and Carson.

History

Gifford Pinchot National Forest is one of the older national forests in the United States. Included as part of the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve in 1897, the area was set aside as the Columbia National Forest in 1908. It was renamed the Gifford Pinchot National Forest on June 15, 1949.[3] In 1985 the non-profit Gifford Pinchot Task Force formed to protect the area. At 338 spots more than 6,000 culturally modified trees were identified, of which 3,000 are protected now.

The forest was named after Gifford Pinchot, one of the leading figures in the creation of the national forest system of the United States.

Geography

Gifford Pinchot National Forest is located in a mountainous region approximately between Mount St. Helens to the west, Mount Adams to the east, Mount Rainier National Park to the north, and the Columbia River to the south. This region of Southwest Washington is noted for its complex topography and volcanic geology. About 65 percent of the forest acreage is located in Skamania County. In descending order of land area the others are Lewis, Yakima, Cowlitz, Klickitat, and Clark counties.[4]

Fauna

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest is the native habitat for several threatened and endangered species. Local endangered species include the bald eagle and the spotted owl as well as multiple species of Northwest fish like the bull trout, chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead salmon. The forest also provides habitat for other species like the gray wolf, grizzly bear and marbled murrelet

See also

References

  1. ^ Bolsinger, Charles L.; Waddell, Karen L. (1993), Area of old-growth forests in California, Oregon, and Washington (PDF), United States Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Resource Bulletin PNW-RB-197
  2. ^ USFS Ranger Districts by State
  3. ^ Davis, Richard C. (September 29, 2005), National Forests of the United States (PDF), The Forest History Society {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |– [http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl= ignored (help)
  4. ^ http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/lar/2007/TABLE_6.htm

External links

Map of Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gifford_Pinchot_National_Forest&oldid=467959951"