There is an exciting world waiting for you...The wet forests of the Willamette Valley and West Cascades are like a sea of strange creatures hanging from trees, growing off of stumps and rocks, and hanging onto soil. What are these strange plants? Well to find out, you must immerse yourself in the WORLD OF LICHENS AND BRYOPHYTES!!
Why would you want to learn to identify lichens and mosses? Well not only are they cool and interesting, but they are very important for our forests! Lichens and mosses have also been used by humans for millions of years. In addition, lichens and mosses evolved before vascular-land plants, meaning these are some of the Earth's most early plants.
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Lichen and bryophyte shapes and forms are as varied as snowflakes. To see their strangeness you may want to bring a hand lens to appreciate their diversity. This website is designed to help you recognize and learn about some of the most common lichens and bryophytes in the Willamette National Forest, found along the Pacific Northwest .
About the Willamette National Forest
The Willamette National Forest stretches 110 miles along the west side of the Cascade Range in western Oregon. The Willamette National forest is 1,675,407 acres total. This acreage includes streams, meadows, forests, canyons, and many other diverse ecosystems. The elevations found in this forest range from 1, 500 feet to 10, 495 feet above sea level. The forest is mostly covered with Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco (Common Name, Douglas-fir)
trees for timber with some old growth stands. About 15 other species of conifer
trees can be found in the forest.
About the Author: |
My name is Laura Benton and I have a Master's of Science degree in Botany from Oregon State University. I also have a Bachelor's of Science degree in Biology. I am knowledgeable in the subject of lichens and bryophytes from the many courses I have taken and from personal learning. I have taken bryology and lichenology classes taught by Bruce McCune. I have taken a short course emphasizing the lichen genus Cladonia taught by Daphne Stone. In addition, I completed a short course in bryophytes taught by Scot Loring. There are rare lichen and bryophyte surveys I have conducted with a Forest Service botanist to apply my skills in the field.