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Bridle Trails Park Foundation | ||||
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| Natural History of the Park | ||
| Introduction
Natural History > Park Animals |
The land that is now the park was part of the original land grant to Washington State in 1889. It was managed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources until Washington State Parks began leasing the land in the early 1930s, acquiring ownership in the 1960s. Preliminary research indicates that the park was logged around the 1920s. At least some of the park was selectively logged, leaving Douglas-firs now as large as 5 feet 2 inches in diameter and more than 215 years old. |
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Forests in the Puget Sound region experience a cycle of development and regrowth called forest succession. Prior to settlement of the area by Europeans, the dominant coniferous forests in the Puget Sound region were primarily disturbed by large-scale wildfires every few hundred years, which typically killed trees over many thousands of acres at a time Standing dead trees, or snags, were often left after forest fires. The snags have been shown to be of great values to many species of wildlife. Woodpeckers feed on insects that attack the dead wood, making holes used by other birds and flying squirrels. Logs on the forest floor are host to many animals as well, such as mice and salamanders. |
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| The park is well on the way to developing into old-growth forest. Several severe windstorms in the last few decades have created many gaps and many snags and logs. The canopy is broken, and understory trees are starting to reach for the canopy. There is a lot of dead wood in many areas, and shrubs and herbaceous plants are present in areas with light penetration through openings in the canopy. There is also a considerable diversity of hardwood trees, such as bigleaf maples. |  |
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| Action is also occurring on the forest floor of an old-growth forest, as a variety of herbaceous plants and fungi develop in a complex relationship with each other and the soil. The spotted coralroot at the left below does not photosynthesize, but lives on decaying organic material in the soil. The Amanita pantherina on the right is a poisonous mushroom that grows in the park. Other fungi in the soil are necessary for the growth of trees and other plants. | ||
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