Hacker News Reader

Comment by divbzero | Hacker News Reader

Are there any swaths of land on Earth where old growth forests have not been clear cut? Perhaps parts of northern Canada?

View on HN

Yes, huge swaths of them in Olympic National Park. Washington State, USA. Here's the giant spruce:

https://www.scenicwa.com/poi/quinault-rain-forest-worlds-lar...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_National_Park

The park is almost a million acres; it's enormous -- larger than small countries like Luxembourg. There are two entrances; most visitors go to the North entrance near Port Angeles to see mountains. If you want to see trees and beaches take the Southwest entrance at Lake Quinault instead.

I recommend the North Coast hike from La Push to Chilean Memorial. It's a multi-day hike, and you need to get a permit from the Park Service office at Lake Quinault beforehand. But it's worth it. Remember to get a copy of the tide charts so you don't get trapped by the tides.

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/north-coast-beach-travel...

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chilean-memorial

Borneo has a huge area of primary forest, though it has been extensively logged. And of course the Amazon, the Congo, areas of Uganda, and many others.

Human habitation and influence on the landscape in the Amazon seems far more extensive in scope and duration than previously thought, based on recent discoveries.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Amazon+mounds+archaeology&t=ffip&i...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Amazon+australasian+dna&t=ffip&ia=...

The significance of the second link is ancient peoples further north and in other parts of the Americas don’t share this genetic link, indicating a longer timeline of human habitation in the region than previously thought.

For sure! While there were definitely civilizations there, there are still huge areas that were likely never clear cut. And even the areas where pre-colonial civilizations had developed have been reforested for 600+ years, which by itself makes it interesting forest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Białowieża_Forest on Poland. Unfortunately, if some people have their way a good portion of it will be cut for profit. Battles over the wood have been going on for years. If you are ever in the region it's worth a visit.

Uh, Siberia and Russian European North.

sure- parks and such. maybe "swath" is bigger than I pictured....

Reply on news.ycombinator.com