Page 133 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

SOUTHEAST ALASK A  131

Alaska’s Temperate Rainforests

Characterized by lush, rain-soaked mosses, lichens, shrubs, and ferns sheltering beneath
enormous conifer ous trees, the forests of Southeast Alaska make up the northern extent
of the world’s largest temperate rainforest. Much cooler than their tropical counterparts,
temperate rainforests have climatic conditions that are marked by average summer
tempera tures of less than 16º C (61º F), a cool dormant season, and at least 55 inches
(140 cm) of precipitation per year. At the southern end of the Panhandle, the rainfall can
exceed 200 inches (508 cm) per year, but moving north, it decreases to around 60 inches
(150 cm) near Juneau. The most prominent trees in Alaska’s rainforest are the Sitka spruce
and western hemlock, followed by mountain hemlock, yellow cedar, and western red
cedar. Rarer conifers include mountain juniper, subalpine and silver fir, and Pacific yew.

Rainforest trees typically live from Ferns prefer moist conditions with
200 to 1,000 years. When they fall, they low levels of light and thrive under
decompose into a rich organic material the temperate rainforest cover.
that nourishes vegetation.

Flora and Fauna Devil’s Club, a spiny plant,
Alaska’s temperate rainforest includes a canopy composed dominates the floor of the
rainforest where little sunlight
of tall coniferous trees, while smaller shade-loving trees and filters through.
shrubs make up the understory. On the damp, shady forest
floor grow ferns and large-leafed plants. Fauna species
include river otters, pine martens, and boreal toads.

Porcupines, second in
size to beavers among
Sitka black-tailed deer, Alaskan rodents, are
endemic to the region, nocturnal animals.
feed on the native hem­
lock, berries, and lichens.
The Tongass National Forest, the
world’s largest temperate rainforest, Epiphytic mosses and
covers the Southeast Alaskan mainland lichens draw nutrients
and over 1,000 islands, and includes and moisture directly from
Wrangell Narrows, a narrow waterway the air, using the host
between Mitkof and Kupreanof Islands. trees just for support.

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