Chattermarks

My cohort-mates have heard this a few times by now, but I’ve been to the Olympic Coast four times and despite its reputation for tempestuous weather, I’ve had blue skies each time. I must be pretty lucky. But then again, so many fortunate things happened on Cohort 12’s spring Natural History Retreat that “lucky” probably should have been the theme of the whole trip.

For one, despite arriving at the ferry terminal at the exact time the boat should have been floating away from the dock, we still somehow made it on board. This initial triumph colored our moods for the rest of the trip—we beamed as the boat sailed towards menacing rain clouds that obscured most of the high Olympic Peaks.

Tracking, on the shores of the Elwha. Photo by Hillary Schwirtlich

» Continue reading Graduate students explore natural history on the Olympic Coast

Exciting news from our friends at North Cascades National Park:

Look at the paws on this guy! Last summer, a visitor reported … that they had seen a wolverine chasing a marmot while hiking just to the west of the Park boundary in the Skagit watershed. North Cascades National Park biologist Roger Christophersen set up a scent lure to attempt to attract the wolverine to a hair snare and motion camera. The remote camera captured these photos of a male wolverine and the snare caught a useful hair sample.


Keith Aubry, Wildlife Biologist with the US Forest Service had the hair sample analyzed and recently reported that the DNA analysis confirmed this report as the westernmost verifiable record of a wolverine in the last 15 years! In addition, the hair sample identified this wolverine as “Special K”, a previously captured wild study animal. Special K was caught in a trap near Bridge Creek back in February of 2012, but would not go down during immobilization and had to be released without a radio-collar intended to track movements across its home range. Luckily, biologists had taken a hair sample that allowed this identification that gives researchers another example of how wide-ranging these animals are – the two sites are separated by more than 45 miles and a mountain range!

» Continue reading Wolverine in the Skagit!

It’s been hardly a year since the last concrete remnants of the Elwha Dam were removed and already the rebirth of the rainforest river is underway. While most people watching the Olympic Peninsula experiment have been excited about what they hope will soon move upriver—steelhead and all five species of Pacific salmon—the first chapter in the river’s restoration has been more about what is moving downriver: sediment, up to 34 million cubic yards of it in total, with the motherlode of that amount still trapped behind the 2/3rds-demolished Glines Canyon Dam.

“Scientists recently learned there was about 41 percent more sediment trapped behind the dams than originally thought,” reports The Seattle Times’ Lynda Mapes, who recently published Elwha: A River Reborn, “and that the river is transporting more mud and wood than they expected.”

The flushing of the river’s channel, after being pent up behind two dams for the last 100 years, is creating new ecological dynamics that have scientists scrambling to keep up. Fish are adapting to murky waters by pioneering new side channels and feeder streams. Riverbank erosion has been chaotic and unpredictable. And down at the river’s mouth, where the Elwha’s glacially-fed freshwater merges with saltwater at the Strait of Juan de Fuca, all kinds of interesting things are happening: dramatic loss of kelp beds under smothering sand, making way for ecologically-valuable sea grass pastures; a new sand spit emerging, one-third of a mile long and expanding; reinvigorated habitat for important species like sea smelt and sand lance.

It’s only the beginning of an audacious experiment, the demolition of two century-old dams and restoration of a river, a $325 million endeavor that will open up more than 70 miles of pristine spawning habitat. It’s the largest dam removal project in the world, undertaken in a part of the world renowned for harnessing its raging rivers for hydropower, shipping and agriculture.

» Continue reading Elwha: rebirth of a rainforest river

North Cascades Institute former staffers and current friends Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele just launched four new films for their multimedia project, Facing Climate Change. Oyster Farmers, Coastal Tribes, Potato Farmers, and Plateau Tribes all explore global climate change through people who live and work in the Pacific Northwest.

These stories came about after one of the project’s partners, the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, released the Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment. It’s an incredible resource with startling projections for how climate change will impact the Northwest’s future, but it’s also 400 pages and a lot of science to wade through. Benj and Sara’s goal is to put a face to projections like these and to bring new voices into the conversation.

» Continue reading Facing Climate Change in the Pacific Northwest

Join NatureBridge, the WWU Huxley College of the Environment and the North Cascades Institute to hear about the historic Elwha Dam removal and restoration project in Olympic National Park Wedneday, April 10, 7 pm, at Western Washington University Room AW 204.

For the first time in 100 years, the Elwha River is beginning to flow free. As the first chunks of the dams concrete were removed in September of 2011, the river and surrounding ecosystem began to heal: vegetation has emerged on the newly exposed deltas, sediment and nutrients are reaching the Straits of Juan de Fuca and salmon returned last fall!  Restoration!

The dam removal is ahead of schedule with the lower dam removal now complete, with the upper dam likely to be fully removed by the end of 2013.  Each day reveals new images and insights for researchers monitoring this historic event.

Find out how the restoration efforts are progressing from:

• John Gussman, filmmaker, shows selections from his documentary film in progress, Return of the River.
• Dr. Jeff Duda, U.S. Geological Survey – Western Fisheries Research Center, shares current research on the freshwater, estuaries and marine ecosystems before and after the dam removal.
• Stephen Streufert, Pacific Northwest Director, NatureBridge, explains how the Elwha Restoration project has become an ideal laboratory for schools to connect in-class learning with real world experiences at the NatureBridge campus.

FREE EVENT – Registration requested: http://elwhawwu.eventbrite.com/#

For more information, contact Karen Molinari at 206-382-6212 ext 12 or kmolinari@naturebridge.org.

While I have personally never beheaded a chicken, I’ve definitely heard the saying, “running around like a chicken with its head cut off,” but I have never heard anyone say anything about “squawking like a chicken with its head cut off.” Apparently this happens too.  We can attribute this bizarre occurrence to a fine, bird-specific organ called the syrinx.

The syrinx has significance far beyond decapitated squawking chickens or I probably would not be writing a blog post about it. While some musical artists have outrageous vocal ranges and skills, their lack of the syrinx means that they will never quite achieve the complexity or even efficiency of a song bird. Humans have a simple larynx to vocalize while birds have a larynx and a syrinx which sits at the base of the trachea right atop the bird’s two lungs. Basically, it’s an extra arrangement of muscles and membranes that a bird can control closely. It will expand and contract to create whatever notes or sounds it needs to. When humans speak, we can utilize only about 20% of the air leaving our respiratory system to create sound; with their syrinxes, birds can use 100%.

During our Mountain School Training earlier this month, I was struck by the song of the American Dipper. I could not help but become mesmerized with its beautiful song as it bobbed up and down along the log boom. At that point, I had not heard a real bird song since last summer!

Sketch of the American Dipper from Ryan Weisberg’s natural history journal

Since that day, the forests around the Learning Center have been full of singing birds. I am keeping a running list of first bird songs of the spring on the Learning Center grounds. So far, I have observed the following first songs:
March 5, 2013: American Dipper
March 6, 2013: Pacific Wren
March 16, 2013: Varied Thrush
March 19, 2013: American Robin

I can’t wait to hear more from my winged friends—some of whom are returning from a long time away from home while others are just emerging from a lazy, cold winter. Welcome back to the North Cascades, Spring!

Sketch of the Pacific Wren from Ryan Weisberg’s natural history journal

I highly recommend this piece on the complexity of the Pacific Wren’s song. It slows down and dissects the entire song of the Pacific Wren, allowing us to hear all of the notes in its long song.

 Cait McHugh is a graduate student in North Cascades Institute and Western Washington University’s M.Ed. program. She grew up in Nashville, TN and has spent time learning and teaching about ecology and conservation in Tennessee, Connecticut, New Mexico, and most recently southern California. Cait is an intern mentor and a stewardship curriculum assistant at the North Cascades Institute.

Spring means a lot of things. Growth. New life. Lots of color. Bright greens. Warmth. Sunshine. Rain. Melting snow. Longer days. Last month, cohort 12 graduate students spent a couple days hanging out at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duval, WA. The students there told us about the medicine wheel. The medicine wheel is a circular “wheel” with eight spokes. It can refer to parts of the day, different times of year, cardinal directions, stages of human life… Looking at it, I realized that there is a time for everything, and that if I pay attention to when that time is instead of ignoring it and just making plans, things turn out better. On the medicine wheel, spring falls in the east. It is the time for new beginnings and ideas, change, energy. It’s where the sun rises and the earth wakes up.

Standing around the medicine wheel after we all collaborated in piecing it together with found materials. Photo by Carey French

I can see the earth waking up every time I walk out my front door. Everywhere I look, plants and trees that have been bare and dormant all winter are showing little pops of color as buds form on their branches. The huckleberry is brightly pink and green now, the Red-flowering currant looks ready to explode, the Vine maple’s yellow-white twin terminal buds look toward the sun…

The birds are coming back too—the past couple of days I’ve been seeing and hearing Varied Thrushes, Dark-eyed Juncos, Pacific Wrens, and American Robins all over the place.

Buds on a Red Huckleberry shrub. Photo by Ryan Weisberg

Buds on a Vine Maple. Photo by Ryan Weisberg

Other Institute staff and grad students shared with me their thoughts on the coming of spring…

» Continue reading Spring Is On It’s Way

Vargas Island wolves at Clayoquot Sound, BC; photo by David Moskowitz.

David Moskowitz presents his new book Wolves in the Land of Salmon at Village Books in Bellingham on March 21 and at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center on March 23-24, where he is also leading a tracking class in the Upper Skagit Valley.

Reports of gray wolves moving back in to Washington State have been scattered in local media over the past several years: sightings here, tracks there, poaching in the Methow, a state-run hunt in the far northeastern corner. We’ve seen Conservation Northwest’s stunning remote-camera photographs of the Lookout Pack and people have heard their distinctive howls from Hozomeen to Teanaway, less than 100 miles east of Seattle. Their sudden reappearance and rapid distribution have taken many by surprise, with developments happening so quickly it’s been a challenge to keep up with the latest news.

Map created by Analisa Fenix/Ecotrust under a Creative Commons license and prepared for publication by Laken Wright.

Enter Wolves in the Land of Salmon by Carnation-based naturalist, author and educator David Moskowitz. In his new book from Timber Press, he pulls together the many strands of wolf recovery in the Pacific Northwest—natural history and biology, politics, landscapes, the array of opportunities and challenges—in to a invaluable compendium of up-to-date information, written in an exceedingly straightforward, scientific and balanced way.

» Continue reading Wolves in the Land of Salmon: David Moskowitz tracks canis lupus’ return to the Northwest

Andrea Reiter is a graduate student at North Cascades Institute and Western Washington University studying environmental education. She grew up in Washington, getting the opportunity  to explore wilderness all throughout the state. In her free time Andrea enjoys being outdoors, near the saltwater, with her dog, and scuba diving.

The author, with her first underwater camera

In our Mountain School program we always emphasize the importance of a healthy watershed and try to teach our students how to keep theirs clean. But why?

Six years ago, a clean watershed started to have a greater importance in my life. I started recreational SCUBA diving and fell in love with the critters below our emerald sea. My sister got me interested in SCUBA diving; I took lessons and loved the sense of wildness and adventure. Shortly after leaning to dive, I got into underwater photography. This was an excellent way to show others what is living in our backyard. Most people have only seen a photo or two of some of the stars in the Salish Sea, such as orcas, salmon, and the Giant Pacific Octopus. 

A young Giant Pacific Octopus in Hood Canal

We have so many amazing animals living in our waters that after more than 300 dives I still want to take my camera on every dive to capture a new one. These underwater animals have personalities of their own, and in the changing of the seasons, their personalities and habits alter. We are currently in the heart of Lingcod and Cabazon nesting season, one of my favorite times to dive. The water is amazingly clear because the algae dies back with the reduced amount of sunlight and the fish are protecting their nests. Swim too close and you are likely to get head-butted by a Cabazon or chased off by a Lingcod.

A Cabazon laying on eggs at Edmonds Underwater Park

Lingcod perched on a rock. Lingcod are considered bottom fish and conserve energy by resting on the sea bottom.

Red Irish Lord hiding in coral in British Columbia

Teaching about watersheds to all the students who come to the Learning Center is part of why I am here.  The Salish Sea is a precious gem to the area—we all have a responsibility to reduce our impacts on it and help clean up the water.

Graduate student Jacob Belsher writes a natural history book review on John McPhee’s Basin and Range

According to James Hutton, a Scottish geologist working in the late 18^th century:

“To a naturalist nothing is indifferent; the humble moss that creeps upon the stone is equally interesting as the lofty pine which so beautifully adorns the valley or the mountain: but to a naturalist who is reading in the face of the rocks the annuals of a former world, the mossy covering which obstructs his view and renders undistinguishable the different species of stone, is no less than a serious subject of regret.”

Entertainment value aside, Hutton’s remark may be of some use in inspiring a more informed perspective of how our biotic lives play out upon the earth’s abiotic bedrock. An understanding of the primary geological forces shaping our planet helps elaborate this perspective, and writer John McPhee rises to the task in his first in a series of books on the geology of North American landscapes: Basin and Range. This largely accessible book focuses specifically on the physiographic province of the United States ranging from eastern California to eastern Utah.

The rigid, outer most shell of our rocky planet is called the lithosphere. All life, from Hutton’s “green slime” to the suspended inhabitants of the marine world, act out their roles on this stage. It turns out that these roles are all minor ones. The actors remain on stage and deliver their few lines and are gone so quickly that it was not until the late 1950s and early 60s that some scientists noticed the stage was moving. The current widely accepted theory that describes this motion is called Plate tectonics.

» Continue reading The Long View: Geology, John McPhee and me