A day on the ragged North Pacific coast get soaked by whipping mist, rainsqualls tumbling, mountain mirror ponds, snowfield slush, rock-washing creeks, earfulls of falls, sworls of ridge-edged snowflakes, swift gravelly rivers, tidewater crumbly glaciers, high hanging glaciers, shore-side mud pools, icebergs, streams looping through the tideflats, spume of brine, distant soft rain drooping from a cloud,

sea lions lazing under the surface of the sea –

            We wash our bowls in this water
            It has the flavor of ambrosial dew –

                    ~~ Gary Snyder
                                          Mountains and Rivers Without End

Course Description

Natural History of the Pacific Northwest is a ten-day natural history expedition for graduate students in the Environmental Education Program at Southern Oregon University that includes camping and hiking trips to study the biotic and geologic processes in the landscape and the influence of humans on the land.

Destinations change yearly and include the high deserts, the mountains and plateaus of central Oregon, coastal forests and shores, the Olympic Peninsula, the Cascades, and the Klamath Mountains.

 

Prerequisites:  Two years of natural sciences and permission of instructors.  This course is part of the Environmental Education core curriculum and may be repeated for up to six credits.
 
 
 
 

Our expedition in 2002 takes us to the far corners of the Olympic Peninsula.

Required texts for the course:

 

Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast
    [please bring your HAND LENS . . .recommended: 10x Hastings Triplet]
 

Olympic Battleground

 

Highly Recommended Reading:

 

Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are
 
 

101 Common Mosses, Liverworts & Lichens of the Olympic Peninsula
 

Links to relevant information:
  [please browse and read as widely as possible from these web resources prior to the trip]

Voice of the Wild Olympics

Invasive cordgrass (Spartina densiflora) found in Grays Harbor [page down]

Tidepool: News for the Rain Forest Coast

Tide predictions for the Washington Coast in 2002: Correction times for secondary stations

The Importance of Marine-Derived Nutrients For Ecosystem Health and Productive Fisheries

Analysis of the Mountain Goat Issue

Conservation Biology Institute:  Occurrence, Ecosystem Role, and Tested Management Options for Mountain Goats in Olympic National Park

Roosevelt Elk and Forest Structure in Olympic National Park

Effects of Natural and Anthropogenic Stressors on Ecosystems in the Olympic National Park

Olympic Region Long Term Ecological Monitoring Programs: Forested Riparian Areas

Inventory and Monitoring of Amphibians

Barred Owl Displaces Northern Spotted Owl in Olympic National Park

Behavioral Ecology of Marbled Murrelets

Olympic National Forest

Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park Natural History Teaching and Learning Resources

Olympic Park Institute

Olympic Park Associates

Olympic Park's Missing Predator

Olympic Environmental Council

The Makah Nation

Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Dungeness Spit, Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center: Olympic Peninsula World Heritage Site

Pacific Northwest Conservation Assessment:    Central Pacific Coastal Forests

Washington Natural Heritage Program

National Parks and Monuments of the Pacific Northwest

Research and Study Opportunities in National Parks of the Pacific Northwest

The U.S. Man and the Biosphere Program

Natural History of the Pacific Northwest: The 2001 Expedition to Steens Mountain and Vicinity