The Passing of Our Forest Mosses

Abstract

One of the notable sights that attracts the eye of the visitor to the Northwestern Coast of this continent, is the rank growth of Bryophytes which is found near tidewater and along the bottom lands of the numerous creeks and rivers tributary to it. The mosses cling from the trunks of the trees, hang in cushions on the limbs, cover logs and stumps and are found on the humus upon the ground. Climatic conditions are most favorable for their propagation. There is in this section of the country a plentiful precipitation of moisture with freedom from low temperatures. The forest at certain seasons is saturated with moisture and one hears here the constant sound of dripping water. Owing to the absence of bright sunshine for eight months of the year, evaporation is at a minimum. Though there is comparatively little rainfall during the summer and early fall, the forests to the west of the Cascade Mountains do not become as dry in summer as do the forests on the eastern slopes of the range. One finds these conditions, ideal for moss growth, extending from the Oregon Coast to southeastern Alaska. Inasmuch as in many portions of this area new conditions are arising unfavorable to the persistence of a luxuriant moss flora, it may not be out of place for one, who is living under these changing conditions and loves the mosses of the primeval forest, to record the reasons why they are disappearing or becoming rare in localities where once they were plentiful. The region, particularly considered in this paper, is in the northwestern part of the State of Washington bordering upon Puget Sound. Settlers first began clearing land here about seventy-five years ago. The discovery of gold in Alaska, in the nineties, directed attention to this part of the United States and, since then, settlement has been very rapid. Lumbering has been and still is the great industry of Western Washington. Innumerable sawand shingle-mills are to be seen in operation both summer and winter. What remains of the old forest will, all too soon, find its way to these mills. The land, when suitable, is being brought under cultivation and cities and towns are springing up everywhere. The country bordering upon Puget Sound is a great valley, bounded on the east by the Cascade Range of mountains and on the west by the Olympics. The land of this valley consists primarily of glacial deposits, together with the erosion from the mountains and alluvial deposits in the river bottoms. There is very little out-cropping rock. One, however, does find granite boulders, left by the receding glacial ice, scattered about. As so many of our mosses depend upon the forest for their environment, the story of the forest is naturally the story of the mosses. Take away the trees and many of the mosses typical of this section go with them. Prior to the last decade one could collect within the city limits the most of our forest mosses. Now one must go some distance to find them. The few

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