You'll need the latest version of QuickTime (available free) to see these panoramic movies.

Above is a 360 degree panorama of a second growth forest in the eastern foothills of the Coast Range, close to Corvallis, Oregon. Move your cursor onto the center of the picture, click down and hold it, then drag your icon left or right, up or down. You can spin around in the forest! Be sure to look at the "second growth" characteristics: same-sized trees, a single-layer tree canopy, relatively few standing snags, and few, small-sized decaying logs on the forest floor.

This forest is roughly 40-years old. In about 80 years (western Oregon forests seem to begin to have characteristics of old growth at over 100 years in age) this forest will begin to have the characteristics of old growth. Some trees will die, unable to compete with neighboring trees. These dead trees will become the snags and downed logs that are characterisitc of old growth. The remaining trees will conintue to grow— even better now that some of the competition has died! The open areas in the forest, left after trees died, allow plants in the understory to develop, creating layers.