From the leaves at the top of the canopy to the insects living deep beneath the soil, a forest is a complete, unfied ecosystem. each evetn, from the growth of a single sapling to a cataclysmic fire, is critical to the life of the forest as an organism. In this text, Jon Luoma chronicles the work of a scientific research project that, over the course of several decades, have brought together scientists to piece together the long-term natural history of an old-growth forest of the Pacific Northwest. What emerges is a wealth of information that even now is pointing the way to a new approach to forest management, one that will allow for the cutting of trees for timber, while preserving the beauty and integrity of the woods.