The forest canopy has been termed "the last biotic frontier". It presents a habitat conducive to the evolution of literally thousands of species of plants, micro-organisms, insects, birds, and mammals that are rarely or never encountered on the forest floor. Although forest canopies have been among the most poorly understood regions of our planet, their mysteries are being explored by biologists. Canopy communities are now believed to be important in maintaining the diversity, resiliency, and functioning of the forests they inhabit.

 WHEREAS...

1) Forest canopies contain a major portion of the diversity of organisms on Earth; scientists have estimated that as much as half of the world's biodiversity live in or use the resources of the treetops.

2) Processes that occur in canopy communities contribute substantially to the forest dynamics - the life and death of forest ecosystems they inhabit: flowering, fruiting, fruit dispersal all occur high above the forest floor and contribute to the next generation of the forest. The structure of the canopy can modify wind speed, pollutant concentrations, and the water and nutrient balance of an entire landscape.

3) The forest canopy is the interface between the atmosphere and the biosphere, the thin skin of living material on Planet Earth: the canopy is where first and primary exchanges of gases, energy, wind, sunlight, and nutrient elements occur.

4) Understanding forest canopies will provide information for better forest management. Forests give humans a number of vital products without which our civilization would be drastically different: wood for creating shelter, paper for writing and packaging, plant medicines for health, habitat for wildlife, and an aesthetically pleasing backdrop for the creation for art and living space.

5) Rare and poorly known canopy-dwelling organisms are being collected from temperate and tropical forest treetops as part of a worldwide effortto search for anti-viral and anti-cancer substances for diseases that have so far defied medical answers. Several have been found to have medicinal properties, and are being tested.

6) The economic, aesthetic, and spiritual well-being of those who dwell in Washington State are closely tied to the well-being of its forests. Because of the importance of organisms and processes that occur in the treetops, understanding and celebrating the forest canopy will contribute to our own long-term health.
 

I therefore proclaim July 20-26,1997 as Forest Canopy Week.
 

Signed, Governor Gary Locke

May 18, 1997

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