The Lookout Creek Old Growth Trail no longer matches its signpost.
Instead of thick, mossy undergrowth under a canopy of stately, ancient trees, spears of blackened trunks now point skyward. The only green is the fireweed and low shrubs at our feet.
We’re on the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, a U.S.D.A. Forest Service site on Willamette National Forest land, just north of Blue River Reservoir in eastern Lane County. Oregon State University is a partner, collaborating as co-administrator…