Malcolm Knapp Research Forest

This is our only coastal location, situated near Maple Ridge, east of Vancouver. As is typical for the British Columbia coast, mean annual precipitation is high and temperatures are mild. The sites are in the Coastal Western Hemlock zone and stocked with western redcedar, western hemlock, and lesser amounts of Douglas-fir. Average elevation is 540 m. The forests here were generally dark and dense with little in the way of understory regeneration or vascular plants.  The sites were considerably more productive than in the interior, with higher stand volume, basal area and site index of Douglas-fir. Dominant and codominant trees had an average age of 68 years when logged. The stand established following a fire and logging of an old growth forest, with huge cut stumps still remaining in the forests. Soils were Podzolic with sandy loam and silt loam textures and the forest floor was thick.