4/27 Overcast with sun breaks and light rain. 52 degrees.
(pictures will be in their own tab)
Olympic NP is one of my favorite places in the world. It's espcially significant to me because four years ago I came to Lake Crescent with my first Environmental Science class. My high school started offering environmental science my senior year as an alternative to physics. In many ways taking that class was a defining moment that helped me become the naturalist I am today. Four years ago, I remember visiting the Elwha and learning about some of the challenges with dam deconstruction. Since then I've studied the geologic history of the Olympic Range, learned about the different species in the ecosystem, and read the ethical considerations that go into maintaining a unique natural treasure. I want to say I've come full circle, but I really foresee myself returning here throughout my life to see what's remained the same and what's changed.
The first day of the trip we spent mostly at Naturebridge and the area on the south side of Lake Crescent. It should be noted we stopped on the Klallum Reservation to learn about how the native tribes were the first natural historians. Once we got settled at Naturebridge, we began to explore the rainforest on the Moments in Time Trail. Once on the trail, you immediately get a feel of what an old growth rainforest in the pacific northwest is. The sheer amount of vibrant, green, biomass is very unique to this region. A key aspect of the forest is that it is largely undeveloped, unlike many other places in the US. We took a few moments to absorb the sensation of the forest, then got to work identifying species...
There are many ways to explain this complexity of the Hoh temperate rainforest, but a particular way we covered was three elements every ecosystem has: 1) structure, 2) function, and 3) composition. The structure is how the different species in the ecosystem are organized and interrelated to one another in time and space. The function is the different physical, chemical, and biological processes of the species and the ecosystem so it can regulate and maintain itself. The composition is the specific species that make up any given ecosystem. For the rainforest we were in, the keystone species, or the defining species of the ecosystem, are the Douglas Fir trees. The Douglas Firs can live up to 300 years, providing a great canopy for Western Hemlocks and other shade tolerant plants to develop and make up the understory. In the forest we observe Douglas Firs that had re-sprouted their dormant branches which provides a habitat like Licorice Ferns and Downy Woodpecker's. After Douglas Firs die, and other trees for this matter, they provide nutrients to shrubs, trees, mosses and small fowl, thus enriching the species of the forest floor. Along with Douglas Firs, there was a good deal of Grand Firs, Western Red Cedars, Pacific Madrones, Western Hemlocks, Red Cedars, and Big Leaf Maples. While the distribution of the trees was mostly even, there were several niches were one species would thrive, such as a swamp that was so moist, that the only trees that were growing were the Cedars.
Besides the trees, there are many shrubs, lichens, mosses, and some fungi coating the forest floor. The most common shrubs were Sword Ferns, [dull and tall] Oregon Grapes, and Salals. In terms of structure, I noticed that Salals did particularly well on the slope of Mt. Stormking, whereas there were more Ferns and Oregon Grapes where the slope was more level. Some other shrubs I noticed were Lady Ferns, Vanilla Leafs, Baldhip Roses, Coltsfoots (in wet areas), Salmonberries, and Red Huckleberries. While I'd seen a similar composition of species before at Ravenna Park (though the rainforest was much more dense), I'd never seen so much moss. I noticed at least four different kinds of moss, some that resembled Fern Moss and Big Shaggy Moss, and some which I couldn't identify. The mosses did particularly well on the bare pillow basalt on Stormking. According to the National Audobon's guide, lichens help identify a healthy ecosystem, and the rainforest had plenty of lichen, but I mostly noticed Old Man's Bread in the trees and Lettuce Leaf. In terms of fungus, there was Artist's Foot growing on the end of many host logs as well as a patch of mushrooms, which I couldn't identify. Between the trees that make up the canopy and the different species on the forest floor, the rainforest can be considered an old-growth forest. Old-growth forest are measured by complexity, not age, although the rainforest has both. The abundance of precipitation allows life to flourish, and there are plenty of species who's function is to consume the dead organisms leading to a cycle of nutrients.
While there's a great deal of wild animals in the park, the only ones I noticed on by the end of the day were the Band-Tailed Pigeons, a Rufous Hummingbird, a Common Raven, a Douglas Squirrel and the Mule Deer. I can't recall ever seeing a raven before so it was quite a treat to see how elegant and quiet it was while we were hiking Stormking. It's not too surprising we didn't see to many animals because we stayed so closes to Naturebridge, which typically has people that animals might be interested in avoiding.
At the end of the first day, we met after dinner to discuss some of the history of the region. European explores started coming to the northwest as early as 1778 to trade with the natives, the original natural historians. It wasn't until about a hundred years later that the first parties went deep into what is now Olympic National Park to explore, in the winter at that. I was pretty tired after hiking Mt. Stormking, which was the highlight of my day, but I can't imagine what Lewis, Clark, and Charles Barnes went through.
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