WWU grad student goes off the beaten path to classify Whatcom County’s legacy forests

Take a walk in the woods with environmental studies grad student Finley Bell to ground-truth DNR forest data First appeared in WWU News Oct. 13, 2026. It’s one of those exquisite Pacific Northwest July mornings when the sky is clear, and the promise of ripening berries lightly scents the crisp air. Western Washington University students Finley Bell and Aaron Dubbels hike a narrowing trail into Olsen Creek State Forest, east of Lake Whatcom, accompanied by a soundtrack of birdsong and bootfall. Legacy forests like this one are structurally complex, with a diversity of tree species, ages and sizes, plus dense undergrowth. These mature forests are nearing old-growth status — which can take 150-200 years to reach — but are not quite there yet. “I grew up in Deming, about half an hour away from here. I had this type of forest in my backyard,” said Bell, a second-year environmental studies graduate student. “A lot of logging happens out there. I grew up watching it happen every summer.

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