Reading the Forested Landscape does a wonderful job of drawing you into that big picture. Sure, maybe those trees are gone now, but they're part of this story. Wessels delightful book really will tell you how to read the forested landscape of New England, and he manages to do so with charm and style. A walk in the woods will never leave you puzzled again. In some forestry circles, other adjectives like decadent are used to describe this forest's towering Douglas firs, western red cedars, and western hemlocks-that is, a forest that has reached maximum wood fiber capacity.
Loggers contend that allowing such giant trees to die, rot, and fall over is a waste of resources.
The only problem with this view is that it misses the forest for the trees. The Andrews Experimental Forest is unique in that it brings together scientists from diverse fields to join a collaborative effort, with the end result being an entire ecosystem under the microscope. Others are busy identifying thousands of species new to science. But meanwhile, the last remnants of unprotected Pacific old-growth forest continue to fall to the chainsaw. The Hidden Forest is testimony as to why sooner is better than later.