Ancient forests with trees often 150 to 1000 or more years old.
Climax forests dominated by late successional species of trees that are hundreds to thousands of years old. Examples include virgin uncut forests of Douglas fir, western hemlock, giant sequoia, and coastal redwoods located in western North America. Also see second-growth forest.
forests containing trees often hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years old.
Forest that has a significant proportion of the oldest discernible growth stage(s) in it's overstory and negligible structural evidence of disturbances.
A forest that is very old with trees that are hundreds and sometimes thousands of years old. Almost all of the old growth forests in the United States have disappeared due to logging.
an ecologically mature forest that contains significant amounts of vegetation in its oldest growth stage, including senescent trees and where the effects of disturbances are now negligible.
Forests composed of diverse stands of mature trees of various species
Forest which has not had significant unnatural disturbances altering its content or structure since European settlement.
Forests which have never been cut, consisting of trees 250 years and older. (Note: really, this means forests which have not been cut within living memory . . .)
an undisturbed forest with trees that are more than 200 years old. It is characterized by fallen trees, trees with broken tops, and mature and dying trees.
Forest that is ecologically mature and has been subjected to negligible unnatural disturbance such as logging, roading and clearing. The definition focuses on forest in which the upper stratum or overstorey is in the late mature to over mature growth phases. This definition has been amended to produce an agreed National operational interpretation as follows: "Old-growth forest is ecologically mature forest where the effects of disturbances are now negligible".
Forest that is ecologically mature and has been subjected to very little, if any, unnatural disturbance such as timber harvesting, roading and clearing or natural disturbances such as bush fire.
For the purposes of the National Forest Policy Statement, old growth forest has been defined as “Forest that is ecologically mature and has been subject to negligible unnatural disturbance such as logging, roading and clearing”. The definition focuses on forests in which the upper stratum or overstorey is in the late mature to over mature growth phases
Old growth forest, sometimes called late seral forest, ancient forest, virgin forest, primary forest or ancient woodland is an area of forest that has attained great age and exhibits unique biological features. Old growth forests typically contain large live trees, large dead trees (sometimes called "snags"), and large logs. Old growth forests usually have multiple vertical layers of vegetation representing a variety of tree species and a variety of different age classes.
