Quinault Rain Forest

The Quinault Rain Forest is a temperate rain forest, which is part of the Olympic National Park in the U.S. state of Washingtonin Grays Harbor County and Jefferson County. The rain forest is formed by the valley are located the Quinault River and Lake Quinault. The valley is called the "Valley of the Rain Forest Giants" because of the number of record size tree species located there. The largest specimens of Western Red Cedar, Sitka Spruce,Western Hemlock, Alaskan Cedar and Mountain Hemlock are found in the forest as well as five of the top ten largest Douglas-firs. The forest receives an average of 12 feet of rain per year. It is believed to be the area with the greatest number of record size giant tree species in the smallest area in the world. It does have the largest trees in the world outside of the state of California.

Located on the western side of the Olympic Mountains, the Quinault Valley which was carved out by a glacier.

References

* Van Pelt, Robert (2001) "Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast", University of Washington Press, Seattle. ISBN 0-295-98140-7
* [http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/temperate-rain-forests.htm Olympic National Park - Temperate Rain Forests]
* [http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/upload/quinault.pdf Olympic National Park - Quinault]