Working with Nature to Rebuild an Ecosystem

On May 18, 1980, the eastern edge of the searing lateral blast rolled up and over nearby ridges, tore through the Clearwater Valley, and lifted just behind this site, leaving a gray patchwork of fallen and standing dead trees and clearings from previous timber harvests beneath a blanket of 6-14 inches of pumice and ash. Prompted by fears of insect infestation and fires, the Forest Service began a five year plan to remove dead trees and replant while envisioning the valley as a complex ecosystem and living laboratory. Managers, crews, and volunteers worked with nature to create a thriving forest community by planting noble and Pacific silver fir at high elevations where they naturally occur, replanting among downed wood and standing snags, planting native Douglas and grand fir and western redcedar on the valley floor, mixing in 4% cottonwood and lodgepole pine for diversity, leaving ¼ acre to 5 acre plots untouched for wildlife habitat and soil enrichment, and planting black cottonwood, willow, and alder next to Clearwater Creek to stabilize banks, provide cooling shade for fish, and food for deer and elk.

Washington · United States