Part 1

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Stewart R. Udall

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE George B. Hartzog, Jr.

_NATURAL HISTORY HANDBOOK NUMBER ONE_

This publication is one of a series of handbooks explaining the natural history of scenic and scientific areas in the National Park System. It is printed by the Government Printing Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C., 20402. Price 30 cents.

olympic national park-Washington

By GUNNAR O. FAGERLUND

NATURAL HISTORY HANDBOOK SERIES No. 1 WASHINGTON, D. C., 1954 (Revised 1965)

_Administration_

Olympic National Park, established on June 29, 1938, and containing about 1,400 square miles, is administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

The National Park System, of which this park is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and enjoyment of its people.

A superintendent, whose address is 600 East Park Avenue, Port Angeles, Wash., 98362, is in immediate charge of the park.

_America’s Natural Resources_

Created in 1849, the Department of the Interior—America’s Department of Natural Resources—is concerned with the management, conservation, and development of the Nation’s water, wildlife, mineral, forest, and park and recreational resources. It also has major responsibilities for Indian and territorial affairs.

As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department works to assure that nonrenewable resources are developed and used wisely, that park and recreational resources are conserved, and that renewable resources make their full contribution to the progress, prosperity, and security of the United States—now and in the future.

_Contents_

PAGE THE MOUNTAINS ARE FORMED 2 GLACIATION 5 THE SHAPE OF THE LAND TODAY 5 GLACIERS TODAY 6 CLIMATE AND THE WATER CYCLE 9 THE FORESTS AND WILDFLOWERS 11 Rain Forest 13 Mountain Vegetation 16 HOW TO IDENTIFY SOME COMMON PLANTS 23 Trees 23 Shrubs 27 Nonwoody Plants 28 WILDLIFE 35 You and the Animals 36 Seeing the Mammals 37 Birds 42 Fish 46 Other Animal Life 47 PACIFIC COAST AREA 48 MAN IN OLYMPIC 51 Indians of the Olympic Peninsula 51 Exploration by sea 52 Exploration by land 54 Establishment of the Park 56 SUGGESTED READINGS 57

Olympic rocks tell of their having been formed of mud, sand, and lava, uplifted from the sea; they tell of earth disturbance that alternately submerged the land beneath the sea and elevated it into mountains. The rocks and the shape of the land also tell of colder climates, when ice from the north made almost a glacier island of the Olympic Mountains, and of mountain valley glaciers which sculptured the mountains during thousands of years. The rugged beauty of the Olympic high country, enhanced by scores of mountain lakes, bears testimony to the former presence of these extensive glaciers.

Only about 11,000 years have passed since the last wave of northern ice retreated and laid bare Olympic rocks. Since then the moist and gentle climate has favored the growth of plants and the development of soil. The present Olympic forests and flowering meadows are products of a succession of plantlife from the first lichens and mosses that grew on Olympic rocks. Animals returned when the ice retreated. Plant eaters and meat eaters, large and small, throve in abundance. When primitive man came, he found the land and sea kindly. He easily obtained what he needed for food, clothing, and shelter without depleting the supply.

While most of the Northwest was being explored and settled by the white man during the 19th century, the bulk of the Olympic Peninsula remained virtually unknown. Its rugged mountains, dense forests, and isolation contributed to the delayed advance of modern civilization to this northwesternmost corner of conterminous United States. The Olympic Peninsula thus remained one of the last frontiers, and the park retains genuine wilderness quality, even to its boundaries which descend to sea level.

In this piece of original America the perceptive eye and mind will find a functioning model of nature—a model of earth forces, climate, and life.

The Mountains Are Formed

The present Olympic Mountains were born between 12 and 20 million years ago when western Washington was pushed up into a great range that extended from Cape Flattery southeastward to the eastern part of the State. At the same time, the land to the north and south was depressed and remains depressed today as Juan de Fuca Strait and Chehalis Valley, respectively. The Olympics were further elevated about 5 million years ago. This coincided with the building of the Cascade Mountains and the down-folding of the land between to form the Puget Sound trough. The Olympics were now isolated, having lowland on all sides.

Olympic rocks formed in shallow seas that at least five times have covered western Washington. Sediments washed from adjacent land areas and accumulated on the sea bottom. Muds became shales and sands were cemented into sandstones. Molten lava erupted through these beds and was quickly cooled by the water. Thousands of feet of rock material formed in this way.

When earth forces lifted the sea floor, the sea disappeared, and for long periods there were mountains where the sea had been.

Pressure and heat changed the rocks, especially the sedimentary rocks, which became harder and tougher. Shale changed progressively into slate and phyllite. All of these rocks are found in the Olympic Mountains. The sedimentary rocks and lava flows, originally horizontal on the sea floor, were tilted and folded when uplifted and this is how we see them today.

Long periods of erosion have removed thousands of feet of rock and remolded the Olympics into magnificently rugged mountains. Thus, earth forces build mountains and water slowly carries them back to the sea. So it has been since the first rains fell upon the cooling earth.

Today only the oldest rocks remain, for these were the bottom layers. The greater part of the Olympic Mountains are made up of these rocks, now mostly slates and hardened sandstones. This includes all the rock inside a horseshoe-shaped line running from the village of Sappho east to Lake Crescent, Lake Mills, and Deer Park, then south to the west side of Mount Constance and the north end of Lake Cushman and then west to Lake Quinault. The horseshoe-shaped rim of the mountains outside this line is mostly basaltic lava.

Because fossils are scarce in the oldest rocks, geologists are not certain about their age, but they are thought to be about 120 million years old. The rocks in the outer rim of the Olympic Mountains contain more fossils. These have been found in the sandstones, shales, and limestones interbedded with the thick volcanic rocks. Fish teeth, marine clams, snails, algae, wood fragments, and microscopic shells found here represent forms of life that existed 50 to 60 million years ago.

Glaciation

Other important geological events started about a million years ago. As the climate of the world became colder a great ice sheet formed to the north and moved down across Canada into the United States. There were periods when the climate warmed and the ice retreated. It advanced again when temperatures lowered during tens of thousands of years. The sheet moved southward at least four times during the last million years.

At the same time, valley glaciers flowed out of the mountains of British Columbia, joined forces, and formed a piedmont glacier that moved southward into Puget Sound and against the eastern edge of the Olympic Mountains. A lobe of this glacier branched off and flowed westward through Juan de Fuca Strait. This piedmont glacier, at least 3,000 feet thick, rubbed the northern edge of the Olympic Mountains and sent ice fingers up the valleys. It brought granite boulders from the north and dropped them along the way when it melted. Some of these granite boulders have been found near Camp Wilder, 25 miles up the Elwa River Valley, and as high as 3,000 feet on the side of Klahhane Ridge.

As the ice moved west along the northern border of the mountains, it plowed and scraped the deepened and ancient valley that filled with water when the ice melted. This valley contains Lakes Crescent and Sutherland. These and numerous other telltale marks attest to the work of a thick ice sheet.

Approximately 11,000 years have elapsed since the retreat of the last northern ice sheet from Washington.

With the onset of colder climate, valley glaciers also formed in the Olympic Mountains. They flowed from high mountain cirques down the valleys, probably filling the valleys during times of greatest ice volume and becoming thinner and shorter during times of warmer climate. Like the larger ice sheets from the north, the valley glaciers of the mountains must have advanced and retreated periodically. The greatest advance was as much as 25 to 40 miles in the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault Valleys. A terminal moraine left by a glacier dams Quinault Valley and holds the lake behind it.

The Shape of the Land Today

Knowledge of the geological history of an area enables us to better understand the shape of the land today. It will be recalled that earth movements depressed the land on the north, south, and east, leaving the Olympic Mountains standing alone, isolated from other mountains. However, they are a segment of that elongated western fringe of mountains known as the Coast Range. In all that range the Olympics are the highest; yet, for western mountains they are not high, dominating Mount Olympus being only 7,965 feet above sea level. This is not to suggest, however, that the Olympics are small. These mountains have their base at sea level, or not much above, and viewed from any lowland position they appear impressive indeed. A mountain climb will confirm this idea of their size.

The Olympics are not a single range of mountains but a profusion of peaks and ridges with intervening valleys—a mountain dome 60 miles across from north to south and east to west, cut by glaciers and numerous streams into rugged peaks and steep-walled valleys. There are nearly a hundred named peaks in Olympic National Park.

Mount Olympus occupies a central position on the Peninsula. To the west the ridges descend gradually and merge with the coastal plain which varies from a few to 20 miles in width. The eastern half of the Olympics maintains a high elevation all the way to the eastern edge. There they drop steeply to Hood Canal, an arm of Puget Sound, leaving but little lowland on that side of the Peninsula. The mountains end abruptly on the north side, too, but with some foothills between them and the shores of Juan de Fuca Strait, some 3 to 6 miles distant. Except for the western slopes, the ridges have a fairly uniform elevation of between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, and the peaks rise 1,000 to 2,000 feet higher.

The Olympic high country shows the effects of glacier scouring everywhere. Numerous lakes lie in basins that were scooped out by the same glaciers that carved circular hollows at the heads of valleys. Slopes sweep upward from the basins with increasing steepness and in many places end in serrated rock ridges and pinnacles.

More than a dozen streams flow out of the Olympic Mountains, returning rain and melt water to the ocean. They drop down steeply from the high level basins; after a few swift miles they flatten out and the water takes a slower pace.

Glaciers Today

A glacier is an accumulation of ice large enough to move of its own weight. Mountain glaciers form at high altitudes where snowfall exceeds melting and the snow builds up annually until, largely due to its weight, the lower layers become solid ice. When the depth of this ice becomes great enough—100 feet or more—it will flow down slope and the ice is transported to lower altitudes where warmer temperatures cause the ice to melt. The glacier terminates where this melting equals the amount of ice moving down from the area of accumulation.

The glaciers in the Olympic Mountains today are small indeed compared to the extensive glaciers that formerly filled the valleys and sculptured the mountains. The shape of the land testifies that a greater number of glaciers once were here. However, more than 60 glaciers, having a collective area of at least 20 square miles, are present today in the Olympic Mountains. Mount Olympus alone has 6 major glaciers, and the total area of permanent snow and ice on it is more than 10 square miles. Several other mountains also have glaciers, notably Mounts Anderson, Christie, Tom, and Carrie.

In addition, there are numerous snow patches that remain from one winter to the next but are not thick enough to form glaciers. Viewed from a high position, a panorama of north-facing slopes presents a profusion of snow and ice patches. The presence of so much snow and ice in mountains of modest height does not mean they are enveloped with inhospitable cold. It is due to the abundance of winter snow and considerable cool weather which retards its melting.

Glaciers are very sensitive to climate. Even slight changes in snowfall or temperature can cause them to advance or recede. Most glaciers everywhere have been shrinking during the past century. In recent years, western Washington climate has been cooler and wetter. As a result, many glaciers in this region, including Blue Glacier, have enlarged slightly.

Climate and the Water Cycle

Of all inorganic substances, acting in their own proper nature, and without assistance or combination, water is the most wonderful. If we think of it as the source of all the changefulness and beauty which we have seen in clouds; then as the instrument by which the earth we have contemplated was modeled into symmetry, and its crags chiseled into grace; then as, in the form of snow, it robes the mountains it has made, with that transcendent light which we could not have conceived if we had not seen; then as it exists in the foam of the torrent—in the iris which spans it, in the morning mist which rises from it, in the deep crystalline pools which mirror its hanging shore, in the broad lake and glancing river; finally, in that which is to all human minds the best emblem of unwearied, unconquerable power, the wild, various, fantastic, tameless unity of the sea; what shall we compare to this mighty, this universal element, for glory and for beauty? or how shall we follow its eternal changefulness of feeling? It is like trying to paint a soul.—_Ruskin_

The earth’s supply of water is fixed—it is used over and over again. What falls on land as rain or snow runs off, evaporates, or sinks into the ground. That which sinks into the ground may return: (1) to the air, by transpiration from plants and by evaporation from soil; and (2) to the sea, as ground water either flowing into streams or directly into the sea. All water falling upon the land eventually returns to the sea or to lakes whence it came. It evaporates and precipitates again and again. This continuous round of moisture is known as the hydrologic, or water, cycle. It is impressively demonstrated in the Olympics.

Salt water borders the Olympic Peninsula on three sides. Lowland on the south completes the isolation of the mountains. From atop some mountain peaks one can see the Olympic water cycle in its entirety—ocean, “cloudscape,” snowfields, glaciers, streams from source to mouth returning water to the sea, and forests transpiring moisture into the air.

A landscape is an expression of climate. The Olympic landscape, with its rain forests, snowfields, glaciers, lakes, and numerous streams in deep valleys, is a superb expression of a superhumid climate. Abundant water is the prime source of Olympic’s character. The prevailing on-shore winds acquire much moisture in passing over the ocean. The windward slopes of the Olympics cause this nearly saturated ocean air to rise. Consequently, the western slopes of the Olympic Mountains receive the greatest precipitation in the conterminous United States.

The Hoh Ranger Station has a mean annual precipitation of 142 inches, with 174.6 inches recorded in 1961. Precipitation on Mount Olympus recorded in 1958 was 149 inches but this same year only 130 inches were received at the Hoh. Scientists who have been studying Blue Glacier on Mount Olympus since 1957 believe the heads of the western valleys receive 200 inches in some years.

Marine climates have greater precipitation in winter than in summer. Seventy-six percent of the yearly precipitation in northwest Washington occurs during the 6 months between October 1 and March 31. There is no definite time for the beginning and ending of the “dry” and “rainy” seasons, as the transition is gradual and variable.

The Olympic Peninsula would be well watered even if there were no mountains. The mountains, however, are responsible for wringing the bulk of the moisture from the saturated clouds and for creating local variations in the amount of precipitation. After passing over the mountains, the air is warmed in descending the leeward slopes. Consequently, the lowland areas on the lee side of the mountains are much drier than on the windward side. For instance, on the Olympic Peninsula at Sequim (pronounced Squim) the mean annual precipitation is less than 17 inches, and irrigation is required for successful agriculture.

Another prominent characteristic of the climate is the mildness of the winters at low elevations. In fact, western Washington is milder in winter than any other section of the continent in the same latitude. The reasons for this are the warming influence of the ocean and the protecting influence of the Cascade Mountains and of the Rocky Mountains against the flow of cold continental air westward to the coast.

Storm centers that pass eastward across Washington in winter shift to the north in summer, resulting in sunny summer weather that is delightfully cool under the influence of the ocean.

The Forests and Wildflowers

Our continent has a variety of climates, and each climatic area has its appropriate vegetation. Generally, the interiors of continents do not have forests, but have grass or desert vegetation. The most luxuriant forests develop near oceans where climate is sufficiently moist. This is true of other continents as well as North America.

The differences in the general character of our natural vegetation from coast to coast and border to border are apparent despite three centuries of man’s disturbance in the East and one century in the West. Sizeable samples of some of the many kinds of original vegetation are preserved in national parks and monuments. These are precious remnants of our plant heritage that become more valued year by year in proportion to their scarcity elsewhere.

The mild, humid climate of the northern half of the Pacific slope is unusually favorable for forest growth. The most luxuriant of the western forests developed here in unbroken stretches. The forests that girdle the Olympic Peninsula represent the best development of this evergreen forest domain. Its ultimate composition is of western hemlock and western redcedar in dense stands, with trunks commonly 4 to 6 feet in diameter and 125 to 200 feet tall. Their crowns shut out most of the sunlight, but enough gets through to the bottom of the forest for the growth of mosses and ferns. Shrubs grow dense and tall, in places becoming almost impenetrable to hikers. Fallen trees of all sizes soon are enveloped by the lush growth in the damp shade, and in time return to the soil through decay.

Hemlock and redcedar seedlings take root in the forest litter or on prostrate, moss-covered trunks. They are able to live in the deep shade. The most hardy of them outstrip their rivals, and when a vacancy occurs in the forest canopy their growth speeds up. Thus a forest of hemlock and redcedar is maintained. This is the climax forest in the lowlands of the northwest coast. It is the kind of forest the climate here will produce and maintain in the absence of interference.

Interference has been the rule, however, both before and since the coming of man. Therefore, the climax forest is less common than the subclimax in which Douglas-fir is the dominant tree. Forest fires have repeatedly exposed the forest floor to sunlight and thus allowed the development of Douglas-fir, by far the most abundant and widespread tree in northwest forests. In the regeneration of a forest after fire, logging, or other disturbance, it is Douglas-fir that is ever present.

The northwest coast is an evergreen land. This may not be apparent in summer, however, when all plants are green. Not counting the numerous mosses that are always green, there are 73 species of evergreen plants on the Olympic Peninsula.

RAIN FOREST