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I prefer the Redwoods in Redwood National Park because I build decks and patio furniture and those trees would make a swell picnic table and elegant tiki-bar for each and every American.
Visually, a lot of trees packed in together pretty much look the same to a person standing within them. When you're walking a narrow trail in a South American jungle, it is amazing how much it resembles walking through a deciduous forest in the northern USA.
No it doesn't. To you maybe. But not to someone who pursues natural sciences/nature study for either a career or hobby.
To someone who isn't all that interested in architecture, the skyscrapers of a downtown area all look the same.
Northern Appalachia, Northern Cali and the Northwoods.
The PacNW has pretty trees for postcards, but on the ground it is a dank, dreary, mucky, mouldy wet mess most of the time.
No, that's not anymore true for most of the Pacific Northwest than it is for a good chunk of the Northern California coast. Also the Pacific Northwest for one, isn't simply all coast range rainforests unless you've never explored both sides of the Cascades or Southern Oregon.
Secondly, I hike all year round in the Columbia Gorge and woods around Portland. The trails might get a little wet in the winter and spring, but the dense canopy means that you can basically hike through them fine when it is raining. They stay beautiful and lush with conifers and ferns year round--as opposed to the barren look of some forests in the Midwest and East come winter time...
Most likely has the most intact ecosystems in the US, part of a temperate rainforest. Tongass is the largest national forest in the US at 17 million acres, contains ice fields, and surrounds Glacier Bay NP as well as several wilderness areas.
Northern Appalachia, Northern Cali and the Northwoods.
The PacNW has pretty trees for postcards, but on the ground it is a dank, dreary, mucky, mouldy wet mess most of the time.
You may be surprised at the various ecosystems. Old growth, muskeg, subalpine,alpine, tidal flats. Even though much of the temperate rainforest in the NW that runs from Northern Cal to Western Alaska "soggy" there are many areas that are in rain shadows and fairly dry.
It's an incredibly diverse area. This "Salmon Forest" has some of the most abundant wildlife on the planet and some of the largest undeveloped areas in N. America. It's one of the last places in N. America that nature is still in reasonable balance and you have completely intact ecosystems.
You may be surprised at the various ecosystems. Old growth, muskeg, subalpine,alpine, tidal flats. Even though much of the temperate rainforest in the NW that runs from Northern Cal to Western Alaska "soggy" there are many areas that are in rain shadows and fairly dry.
It's an incredibly diverse area. This "Salmon Forest" has some of the most abundant wildlife on the planet and some of the largest undeveloped areas in N. America. It's one of the last places in N. America that nature is still in reasonable balance and you have completely intact ecosystems.
I don't know if I'd be "surprised". I lived in Eugene for several years, travelled a fair bit in Oregon, Washington and NorCal.
I didn't think it was the most beautiful, majestic, stunning place on earth. I thought it was lovely at times and in certain spots, but I never thought it was anywhere near as phenomenal as the natives and proselytizing transplants seemed to. There a kind of culture in Oregon (especially) and the PacNW in general of utter disbelief if an individual doesn't think Oregon is The Greatest Thing Ever!! I never understood that.
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