Olympic Rainforest

Towering hemlocks, glacier-fed rivers, wetland habitats — these are the hallmarks of the Olympic Rainforest, our state’s coastal jewel. These forests are some of the most productive on Earth, and contain the largest specimens of Douglas fir, western hemlock, western red cedar, Sitka spruce and mountain hemlock.

Big, untamed rivers connect the mountain tops to the sea — the Quillayute, Hoh, Queets, Clearwater and Quinault. When they are running high, they pull cedars and Douglas firs and other rainforest giants out of the ground and toss them around like matchsticks. The rivers provide the spawning grounds for some of the healthiest and most diverse wild salmon runs south of the Canadian border. More than 50 percent of wild salmon on Washington’s coast spawn and rear in coastal streams of this area.

The Olympic Rainforest is also the southern anchor of the world’s most expansive temperate rainforest and one of North America’s most iconic landscapes. The broader region The Nature Conservancy calls the Emerald Edge stretches from Washington to Southeast Alaska, and is abundant with salmon, old-growth forests and marine life. Local communities including more than 50 indigenous communities depend on this abundance for their way of life.

The Conservancy has an ambitious vision for the future of the Olympic Rainforest. Our goal is far beyond saving salmon from extinction — we are working to return salmon to an abundance that keeps ecosystems and communities thriving. The Conservancy, coastal tribes, the Hoh River Trust and the Washington Department of Natural Resources are working together to rebuild the Olympic Rainforest by restoring lands along these rivers that flow through the heart of the forest — from mountain summits to the sea.

"Olympic Peninsula communities are intimately tied to the land where forests provide sustenance, jobs and attract people from around the world"
—Rod Fleck, Forks city planner

Since 2010, the Conservancy has worked closely with private and public partners to acquire key timberlands, begin the restoration process and build a new model for how conservation lands can bring tangible benefits to the local community and beyond 

Beyond forest protection and restoration, the Conservancy is actively working with communities on sustainable economic development. For example, the Washington Coast Works business competition, which is starting its third year, is providing seed funding and training for startup businesses on the coast.

This effort is about empowering people who live in and around the Olympic Rainforest to use resources in a way that benefits their families, the community at large and sustains the forest and fish for future generations. In the coming years, we will build on this effort as we assess early results, engage more deeply with the community and test solutions using an exploratory “social lab” process.

Olympics Fast facts:

Nine species of fish spawn in their natal streams

Contains nearly 60 percent of Washington coast's wild salmon habitat

More than $200 million per year spent by regional visitors

2.2 million gallons of fresh water (median) flows from the Hoh, Quinault and Queets/Clearwater rivers

Restoring nature, community

It’s happening in the Hoh River Rain Forest

The mossy Hoh River is among Washington’s most iconic places. Clear and undammed, the river hosts one of the healthiest wild salmon runs in the Lower 48 states. Downstream of Olympic National Park, people come to the Hoh River valley to fish, hunt and gather plants. The Hoh Tribe lives at the river’s mouth, with profound cultural ties to resources and places in the watershed.

The Conservancy welcomes visitors to enjoy the Hoh River Recreation and Conservation Area. Our goals: restore a natural, mature forest and keep forest and resource management local.

The Hoh offers an opportunity for a high-profile test case for temperate rain forest restoration that benefits the local community. It also fits right into the Conservancy’s Emerald Edge program, which aims to conserve and restore the world’s largest temperate rain forest, stretching from Southeast Alaska through coastal British Columbia and into Washington’s coast.

Restoration includes thinning and planting trees to increase natural diversity, adding log jams and repairing culverts to create more salmon habitat, and fixing forest roads, which can wash out and deliver damaging sediment to streams. Local residents already benefit, with jobs related to the restoration. Two hundred years from now, big trees will once again thrive, along with the local communities that will be the stewards of this treasured valley.

In addition to this 10,000 acres on the Hoh, the Conservancy also owns and manages about 5,835 acres along the Clearwater River, a major tributary to the Queets River south of the Hoh. These are some of the most important salmon rivers in Washington and indeed on the whole west coast of the United States.

Ideal for the Olympic region could be a community forest, owned and managed locally, with sustainable forestry and income flowing back into the community.

What to see and do:

Logging roads wind through acres that were once managed for timber production producing a patchwork of stand ages and ecosystem types. From lingering small pockets of old growth to young hearty stands of regeneration, from boggy wetlands to  bigleaf maples spreading their shade along the river, there’s a little bit of everything.

We keep this property open to outdoor recreation such as hunting, fishing, hiking, and bird-watching access. However, this is a working forest and an active restoration site so you may encounter crews at work. Please do not block roads or gates, and steer clear of logging or construction activities.

• Access beyond the gates is by foot only; motorized use is prohibited.

• Hunting and fishing are allowed with all applicable state licenses.

• Pets are allowed—please pick up after them and leash when wildlife is present.

• Pack out any litter. Camping or campfires are not allowed.

Nearby

The Olympic National Park Hoh Rain Forest Visitors Center offers wheelchair -access interpretive trails as well as trails leading up into the backcountry.

https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-the-hoh.htm

Kalaloch and Ruby Beach, South Beach campground

Directions

The Conservancy owns land both east and west of Highway 101. Easiest to find is to take Highway 101 south from Forks and turn east on the Upper Hoh Road.

Read More About Our Work in this Region

Restoring a Rain Forest

Welcome to the Clearwater Forest REserve

The Clearwater River runs cool and clear out of the Olympic Mountains, flowing into the Queets River, one of the Washington Coast’s most important wild salmon rivers. Restoration of ecological processes in this critical salmon spawning and rearing habitat is an important step to increasing the abundance and resilience of salmon in coastal rivers.

The Conservancy owns 5,835 acres along 38 lower miles of the river, a corridor of conservation around the river lowlands and terraces down to the mouth.

The reserve is focused on practicing sustainable, ecological forestry principles to experiment, restore, and provide natural resource resiliency. Conservancy foresters and ecologists have developed long-term plans that include planting trees, restoring important salmon and wildlife habitat, and implementing sustainable long-rotation timber harvest where it makes sense.

By restoring these forests, we’ll be able to secure a healthy future for salmon and the people who depend on them. This is not a rapid fix. Over the next century, your continued support will enable us to restore the forest so that it resembles more and more its former magnificence – and provides all the habitats needed by wildlife. This is active conservation that will provide jobs for generations and demonstrate how the same can be done in other vital salmon rivers.

This land on the Clearwater was the Conservancy’s first acquisition in the Olympic Rain Forest and launched a new effort to restore forests and rivers for salmon on the coast. Since then we’ve acquired about 10,000 acres on the Hoh River, and we are providing support to the Quinault Indian Nation in their efforts to restore the Quinault River. We’ve also been working further south on the Coast for nearly 20 years, at the Ellsworth Creek Preserve near Willapa Bay, where we’ve pioneered much of the rain forest restoration technique we are implementing in the Olympics.

The work on the coast is also part of a much larger effort—it’s part of the Emerald Edge, the largest intact coastal rain forest on Earth, spanning 100 million acres through Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. Here with your support, The Nature Conservancy is empowering community-led conservation to protect old growth forests, wild salmon runs and a close-knit web of life, as the region faces unprecedented threats.  

Restoration includes thinning and planting trees to increase natural diversity, adding log jams and repairing culverts to create more salmon habitat, and fixing forest roads, which can wash out and deliver damaging sediment to streams. Local residents already benefit, with jobs related to the restoration. Two hundred years from now, big trees will once again thrive, along with the local communities.

What to see and do:

Logging roads wind through acres that were once managed for timber production producing a patchwork of stand ages and ecosystem types. From lingering small pockets of old growth to young hearty stands of regeneration, from boggy wetlands to  bigleaf maples spreading their shade along the river, there’s a little bit of everything.

We keep this property open to outdoor recreation such as hunting, fishing, hiking, and bird-watching access. However, this is a working forest and an active restoration site so you may encounter crews at work. Please do not block roads or gates, and steer clear of logging or construction activities.

• Access beyond the gates is by foot only; motorized use is prohibited.

• Hunting and fishing are allowed with all applicable state licenses.

• Pets are allowed—please pick up after them and leash when wildlife is present.

• Pack out any litter. Camping or campfires are not allowed.

Nearby

Olympic National Park offers beautiful beaches, campgrounds and well-maintained trails through the rain forest.

Kalaloch and Ruby Beach, South Beach campground

Queets River Rainforest

Quinault Valley

Directions

To reach the Clearwater Forest Reserve, drive up the Clearwater Road from Highway 101 where it crosses the Queets River.

Read More About Our Work in this Region