What Makes a Healthy Forest?

Forests are considered healthy when they provide food and shelter for the full diversity of native plants and animals that live in them. Change is a natural part of healthy forests and supports resilience to short- and long-term change.

There are different types of forests, and each type has its own patterns of change. For example, in some forests, low-intensity fires occur frequently and are an important change plants and animals depend upon. In other forests, wind, drought, cold, or insects may be the leading cause of change.

In the Coastal Douglas fir forest you are standing in, a healthy forest contains a diversity of tree species of different ages, including dead and dying trees in various states of decomposition. This diversity in tree species, age, and health is what provides all the different micro-habitats needed for the plants and animals that live here. Forests with fewer tree species, and where the trees are all the same age, do not provide the same diversity of habitat.

Most forests in the Southern Gulf Islands are young forests due to extensive logging over the past 200 years. These forests, like parts of Henderson Park, contain lots of small trees of similar age and species. Over time, these forests will contain fewer, larger trees of different species.

One of the things that makes Henderson Park so special is the diversity of soil types and resulting vegetation communities. There are thin, rocky cliffs, deep wet forests, wetlands, and seaside meadows all within a tiny park, making it a great place to explore the diversity of life found in Coastal Douglas fir forests. Below is a map of the different vegetation communities found in Henderson Park.

Different patches or communities help to provide habitat and food for a greater diversity of wildlife. It can also help to create a landscape that is more resilient against things like disease and wildfire.

Can you see some of the different ecological communities as you walk around?