Secrets of the Forest, a temperate forest habitat area, represents the cool rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.  The complex ecological functions of such forests support a variety of plants and animals. Forests also remove remove air particulates and facilitate carbon sequestration to cool a warming climate.

Look closely and, along with towering bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), you will find horsetail (Equisetum arvense), sword fern (Polystichum munitum), maidenhair fern (Adiatum aleuticum) and, on the tree trunks, licorice fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza).  During our rainy fall and winter a seasonal creek runs through this habitat. If you are here in the spring you will also find blooming wild ginger (Asarum caudatum), western trillium (Trillium ovatum), vanilla leaf  (Achlys triphylla), wood violet (Viola glabra), enchanter’s nightshade  (Circaea alpina), Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa), and starflower (Trientalis borealis ssp. latifolia).