SPECIES OF

NURSE LOGS
HAZEL WOLF
PA C K F O R E S T PA N T H E R S

INTRODUCTION
Research Question:
Which type of tree, Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, or Western Red
Cedar, do we find most abundant as a nurse log in an old growth
forest?
Hypothesis:
We think that the most nurse logs in the old growth forest will be
the Douglas Fir because we observed many more Douglas fir in
the old growth than either Western Red Cedar or Western
Hemlock.

DEFINITIONS
Nurse Log: a tree that has died, fallen, and begun to
decompose, providing a moist, elevated pile of
fertilizer on which other plants can grow.
Old Growth Forest: a forest that has not undergone
any unnatural changes for over 150 years.
Transect: a sample area along a straight trail where
data is collected via observations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Materials:

Methods:

magnifying glass
access to the Old
Growth Forest
field guide
access to a trail
materials for
collecting data
(journals, pencil, the
object youre
collecting data on,
etc.)

1. Travel to old growth forest.

2. Split into small teams.
3. Go to the Trail of Giants.
4. Each small team walk the trail
and look for nurse logs.
5. Each small team identifies nurse
logs and records tree type (if
known) in jounal.

DATA
Please refer to
posters!

Douglas Fir

Western
Hemlock

Western Red Cedar

RESULTS
Our hypothesis was supported because we found that
there were more Douglas Fir nurse logs observed than
either Western Red Cedars or Western Hemlocks.

LIMITATIONS
Could have counted the same nurse log more than once.
TIME! We did not have enough to count / identify all the nurse
logs.
We could not be sure we had the correct identification.
We could have accidentally counted other things as nurse logs.
We were limited to 20 steps off the trail.
Some nurse logs we wanted to identify were not accessible.

DISCUSSION
We only studied 3 types of trees, what if we studied
more?
Next time, we would want more time to do our study
so we could collect more data. We would also want to
cover more ground to collect more data. In addition
we would want to use flagging next time to see that
the same nurse logs were not counted twice.

LARGER IMPLICATIONS
The amount of trees that multiply faster would be the
trees that are not stable. The reason why some of trees
multiply faster is because they fall easier than other
trees, and when they land the friction causes the seeds
to spread and the trees grow and the cycle goes on and
on. The reason this is important is because the trees
that fall more often are more accessible for lumber.

THANK YOU!
QUESTIONS?

L E O U L , I A N , C A L D E R , V I N C E N T, M A R S A I L L E ,
N A T A L I E , K A T R Y N , R U B Y, C A T H E R I N E , A N G E L I N A ,
S O F I A , A N I K A , B E R R Y, A N D E L L O R Y