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- The Andrews Forest is situated in the western Cascade Range of Oregon
in the 15,800-acre (6400-ha) drainage basin of Lookout Creek, a
tributary of Blue River and the McKenzie River. Elevation ranges from
1350 feet (410 m) to 5340 feet (1630 m). Broadly representative of the
rugged mountainous landscape of the Pacific Northwest, the Andrews
Forest contains excellent examples of the region's conifer forests and
associated wildlife and stream ecosystems.
Several distinctive aspects of the Andrews Forest environment and
research program have placed it center stage in the science and
politics of natural resource management in the region. Basic watershed
research in the Pacific Northwest has its roots in small watershed
experiments involving forestry treatments initiated in the 1950s. The
Forest contains extensive examples of old-growth (500 year old)
forests which were subject of intensive basic research beginning in
the 1970s. The original work on northern spotted owl and its relations
with forest habitat was conducted at the Andrews in the 1970s, setting
the stage for extensive monitoring studies that continue. Studies of
carbon cycling over the past two decades have revealed the exceptional
properties of Pacific Northwest forests at the scale of a single tree
to the regional scale in terms of carbon sequestration. The Andrews
Experimental Forest serves as a science benchmark for each of these
themes and thus has been examined in terms of its regional context and
representativeness.
The Andrews Forest is administered cooperatively by the USDA Forest
Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station (USFS Research), Oregon
State University (OSU) and the Willamette National Forest. Funding for
the research program comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF),
Pacific Northwest Research Station, Oregon State University, and other
sources. The Andrews Forest is one of the 24 major ecosystem research
sites in the United States funded through NSF's Long-Term Ecological
Research (LTER) Program.
The National Science Foundation-sponsored LTER Program provides
relatively stable (6 year funding cycle) support to the basic science
program at the Andrews Forest, and a mechanism for integration across
the larger Andrews research program. Over 50 scientists and 30
graduate students from Oregon State University, the PNW Station, and
other cooperating institutions are involved with the Andrews LTER
program.
Website: "http://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu/lter/index.cfm?topnav=180"
[Summary provided by Andrews Experimental Forest.]
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