Life Sciences Commons^™

Multi-Scale Environmental Conditions Associated With Shade-Tolerant Conifer Regeneration In Forest Park, Portland, Oregon, Matthew Cook

Dissertations and Theses

Forest Park is a 5,100-acre urban forest located in Portland, Oregon, that has been impacted by various anthropogenic stressors including logging, fragmentation, invasive species, air pollution and recreation use due to its proximity to the urban environment. This legacy of land use coupled with natural disturbances has resulted in changes to forest structure, composition, and function--threatening the long-term sustainability of the park. Past research in Forest Park has identified a lack of regenerating shade-tolerant conifers, particularly western hemlock and western red cedar species, in the section of the park closest to the city. Typically, western hemlock and western red cedar …