The Oregon Coast Range

[AlanLichty]

A panoramic view of Oregon's Coast Range from last fall. The view is looking north from the divide between the Siuslaw River and the Umpqua River drainages. The one thing that stands out in this area is the complete lack of any kind of viewpoint on the ground that lets you see these mountains like this with trees blocking the view from every peak and ridge crest you can see. Prior to buying a drone I had never seen with this range even looked like. Sadly you can easily spot all of the clear cuts from the air both new and old with the uniform height single species replanting efforts on full display. Perhaps nice for future logging efforts but also a major fire risk for flames that reach the tree crowns. Four panels at 70mm.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Michael13]

Can't see the forest for the trees. Truer words were never said. At least in this photo everywhere visible appears to be healthy, even thriving.

 

[AlanLichty]

Can't see the forest for the trees. Truer words were never said. At least in this photo everywhere visible appears to be healthy, even thriving.

Thanks Michael - no shortage of dense vegetation in the coast range and the amazing part about the lush view is that the forest is even more dense at ground level than what you can see from above The only places where I have found views from the ground is in a fresh clear cut but that almost never includes a peak or ridge top overlooking anything interesting.

 

[JimFox]

Wow! Literally trees upon trees! And it's so wild, that it's fall, but yet you can almost count the actual fall colored trees on 1 hand.

 

[AlanLichty]

Wow! Literally trees upon trees! And it's so wild, that it's fall, but yet you can almost count the actual fall colored trees on 1 hand.

Thanks Jim - there are a lot more fall colors that are entirely below the tree canopy you see from above but they are seriously disadvantaged under thee evergreens. I was still below the evergreen tree tops at 200' above the ground.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice aerial view of these forests. I dread to think what would this look like if a fire ever starts there.

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice aerial view of these forests. I dread to think what would this look like if a fire ever starts there.

Thanks Jameel - most of the coast range forests are pretty much tree farms as seen from the air. Each of the tree harvest parcels are easy to spot with almost quilt like patches of uniform treetop heights and single species replanting. There are only small patches of old growth left and that's mostly due to more difficult terrain for clear cutting. Dear Leader thinks the lumbermen should be allowed to finish those patches off. A crown fire in mid September when the forests are at their driest would be very difficult to extinguish.