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Olympic National Park, Washington
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Olympic National Park, NPS photo
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The 1,400 square miles of Olympic
National Park in northwestern Washington state encompasses not only snow-capped Mount Olympus,
glaciers, alpine meadows and rocky Pacific Mountain coastline, but also one of the few temperate
rain forests in the world.
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Olympic
National Park, NPS Photo
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The luxuriant forest is created by
the warm, moisture-laden air from the Pacific, meeting the mountains and dropping more than 12 feet of
rain a year. This cool, perpetually damp environment results in a dense, green, jungle-like world. It
is home to some of the world's largest conifers, towering 230 feet; moss-enshrouded maple trees with
40 foot spans; and a dense undergrowth of shrubs, wildflowers, ferns and lichen. All are vying for
light and room to grow. The cycle of growth and decay is abundantly demonstrated here, for example
when new trees sprout up along the decaying trunks of fallen trees. The biological evolution, the
ecological variety and the sheer splendor of the coastline, forests and mountains of Olympic make it
a special place.
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Olympic National Park, NPS photo
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Inscribed in 1981 as a Natural site, under Criteria N (ii) and (iii).
Links
Olympic National Park
World Heritage Convention
