Life in the Rainforest

Phew...I finished a 30 mile in the pouring rain. With the exception of one partly sunny day, it's been raining for three weeks straight. I'm in the most strenuous part of my ultra-training, and Saturday I ran 30+ miles with much of it in a heavy downpour. Juneau is surrounded by the Tongass Rain Forest. The Tongass is our nation's largest national forest and contains 30% of the world's remaining old growth, temperate rainforest. A temperate rain forest has (1) high rainfall (over 80 inches per year), (2) ocean proximity, and (3) coastal mountains. That's Juneau...a cluster of colorful, mining-era homes wedged precariously between Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts with chilly, salt water lapping at its doors twice daily with 20 foot diurnal tides and rain, rain, rain. How much rain? The average annual rain fall in Juneau differs dramatically within just a few miles.

My partner and I studied this map, compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, closely when we decided to purchase a home here after two years of renting. Downtown residents suffer over twice the annual rain fall (165 inches) as we do on the north side of Douglas Island (70 inches), a mere eight miles away! Rainfall also increases dramatically as you ascend in elevation.

My long run on Saturday started 26 miles north of Juneau on the Herbert Glacier trail. I'm not sure what the annual rainfall is at Herbert Glacier. The sand flats in front of the glacier are around 800 feet in elevation. Anyway, statistics didn't much matter this weekend since it was pouring everywhere in the Tongass. As my partner ran across the sand towards the glacier, I stopped to stretch feeling tight and cold after 26 miles in the chilly, wet weather and wondering why we didn't move somewhere warmer and drier. Then I started reflecting on life in the Tongass. Rainforests hold 2/3rds of the earth's plant and animal species. Rainforests also play a key part in maintaining our global climate system in part because they absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, dramatically cooling our air as it passes through. Rainforests are in jeopardy primarily because of clear-cutting. In 1950, they comprised 14% of the planet's surface, and in mere decades that number has fallen to 6%. Some experts predict that rainforests may vanish in the next 40 years. Due to deforestation, we are already losing an estimated 137 plant, animal and inspect species every single day! These sobering thoughts reminded me of how fortunate my partner and I are to call the Tongass home and left me wondering what I can do to preserve this moist, verdant treasure. Back at my Jeep, I waited for my hands to warm up before turning my key in the ignition and reflected on what a treat it was to spend my morning running in the rain!