Wind River Experimental Forest NEON - United States of America

Wind River Experimental Forest (WREF) Located in an old growth Pacific Northwest forest west of the Cascade Range, Wind River Experimental Forest has a rich history of research and timber management since the early 1900s. The area is best known for its old-growth forests of Douglas-fir and western hemlock. Data collected at this site provides an interesting comparison to NEON's ABBY site which is located Yacolt Burn State Forest, a relatively young growth industrial timber production forest. Remote sensing surveys of this field site collect lidar, spectrometer and high-resolution RGB camera data. The flux/meteorological tower at this site is 279ft with 8 measurement levels. The tower top extends above the vegetation canopy to allow sensors mounted at the top and along the tower to capture the full profile of atmospheric conditions from the top of the vegetation canopy to the ground. The tower collects physical and chemical properties of atmosphere-related processes, such as humidity, wind, and net ecosystem gas exchange. Precipitation data are collected by a tipping bucket at the top of the tower, a Double Fence Intercomparison Reference (DFIR) near the tower, and a series of throughfalls located in the soil array.This site has one phenocam on the top of the flux tower and one near the bottom of the tower. This site has five soil plots placed in an array within the airshed of the flux tower. Field ecologists collect the following types of observational data at this site: Terrestrial organisms (birds, ground beetles, mosquitoes, plants, small mammals, soil microbes, ticks), Biogeochemical data, and and soil data. Total data products planned for this site: 118.