Terra Verde

Telling the Story of Temperate Rainforest Giants

 Forested mountains on Pooley Island rise above the sea, with clouds obscuring the tops of their peaks.
Forested mountains on Pooley Island, British Columbia. Photo by Laurie MacBride/Wikimedia Commons

The Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest is the largest swath of temperate rainforest on the planet. Stretching from Alaska to California, this carbon dense forest is an important habitat for the region’s distinctive biodiversity and has long been a source of sustenance and cultural significance for coastal Indigenous communities. In this week’s episode of Terra Verde, host Gary Graham Hughes talks with Cascadia Times investigative journalists Paul Koberstein and Jessica Applegate about their new book, Canopy of Titans: The Life and Times of the Great North American Temperate Rainforest, which celebrates the beauty and complexity of these ecosystems and uncovers how climate policy mechanisms that favor extractive industry are contributing to the ongoing degradation of this amazing rainforest.