Olympic National Park, Washington

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.

Part 2

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.

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