Archive - Nurse Logs

This EPOD was originally published July 4, 2019Photographer: John Kupersmith Summary Author: John Kupersmith This infrared image, taken on the Hall of Mosses trail in the Hoh Rain Forest area of Olympic National Park, shows several trees growing out of a so-called nurse log. This is a tree that has fallen but still provides nourishment for the seedling trees, as well as a rich habitat for other species such as insects and small mammals. Here, the root systems of two large trees seem to be reaching for one another, overlapped (at right) by the roots of a third, younger tree. The underlying nurse log has partially rotted away.
The infrared camera makes the sunlit foliage appear bright white but nonetheless renders details of trunks and roots much as the naked eye sees them. Photo taken on June 18, 2019.
Photo Details: Taken with a Sony A6000 camera; 720 mm lens; infrared conversion by Lifepixel; ISO 100; 1/80 second exposure; f/6.3.

Hoh Rain Forest, Washington Coordinates: 47.8609, -123.9348Related Links

Prickly Pear Cactus Viewed in Infrared
Nurse Logs: Healers of the Forest
John’s Flickr page


Student Links

Decay: Ecology of a Nurse Log
Temperate Rainforests


Earth Observatory

Olympic National Park



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