Field Trip to the Olympic Peninsula: Lake Crescent and Salt Creek

Date: 4/19-4/20
Weather: Heavy rain on 4/19 at Lake Crescent
Partly cloudy on 4/20 at Salt Creek

What an amazing weekend on the Olympic Peninsula! I went bird-watching for the first time in my life and learned a ton about ecology, geology, and plant/animal identification!

Plant List from Lake Crescent: 

Flowering Plants:
Pacific Bleeding Heart
Fairy Slippers
Colts Foot
White Trillium
False Lily-of-the-Valley
Huckleberry
Red flowering currant
Salmonberry
Baldhip Rose
Indian Plum
Chocolate Lily
Stonecrop

Lichens: 
Witch's Hair
Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria)
Freckle Pelt
Antlered Perfume (Evernia)
False Pixie Cup
Coastal Reindeer?
Old man's Beard (Usnea Longissima)
Lipstick Cladonia

Mosses:
Menzie's Neckera
Common Scissor-leaf liverwort (on bigleaf maples)

Ferns:
Licorice Fern
Sword Fern
Lady Fern

Evergreen Shrubs:
Salal
Dull Oregon Grape
Tall Oregon Grape

Birds List from Lake Crescent:
In grasslands:
Violet green swallow

In forest perimeter:
Varied Thrush
Pacific Wren
Chesnut-backed Chickadee
Red Crossbills
In Lake:
Common Merganser (male)

In Old Growth forest: 
Brown Creeper

Red Breasted Nuthatcher

- this bird was expanding her nest in a square hole made in a snag by a pleated woodpecker

Townsend Warbler

Sapsucker

-we only saw the signs of Sapsuckers in the horizontal line of holes on the base of conifers

Winter Wren

White-crowned Sparrow

In higher elevation forest: 

Gray Jay

- on the top of Storm King Mountain, in the lower canopy of a conifer

Salt Creek Intertidal Organisms: 

Giant Green Anenome

Blood Stars

Ochre Seastars

Painted Seastars

Black Leather Chiton

Crenate Barnacles

Goose Barnacles

Purple Sea Urchin

Sculpins

Shield Limpets?

Bay Mussel?

Seaweed

Salt Creek Birds: 

In the Strait:

Pacific Loon

Harlequin duck (male)

Polagic Comorant

Surf Scoter

Marbled Murralet

Horned Grebe

Pigeon Guillemont

On the rocks in tide pools:

Savannah Sparrow

Dunlin

Salt Creek Plants: 

Surfgrass

Sea cabbage?

Searsucker Kelp

Coralline Seaweed

Bull Kelp 

Red Seaweed sps.

Rockweed?

Here are some sketches and photos of various species: 

A giant Ochre Seastar! 

Can you find the hidden Blood star? Also Giant Green Sea Anenomes!

So many species of unidentifiable kelp and red seaweed!

Blood Star up close!

Coastal Reindeer Lichen on conifer on Lake Crescent

Freckle Pelt Lichen!

Beautiful Fairy Slippers from Lake Crescent- our native orchid

Sketches of a family of Black tailed deer, 2 adults and 1 fawn

Old Growth snag and deer sketches

Trying to sketch bird calls...

Sketches from the Tide Pools:

Sketches of a what I identified later as Giant Green Anemone, Purple Urchin, and Carolline Seaweed

Sculpins, Leather Chiton, and Painted Seastar

A Sketch of Lake Crescent

Notes: 

Describing an Old Growth Forest Ecosystem

a. Examples of competition between/ within species:

Fight for sunlight for saplings in understory- Tsuga heterophylla dominates this competition due to high shade tolerance

Successional strategies- quick growing, low-nutrient tolerant trees such as Alnus Rubra will dominate newly disturbed areas 

Thuja Plicata roots seep calcium into forest floor, altering the mineral content so that the soil is inhospitable to other species other than Thuja

Barred owls invasive, moving in and chasing away the Spotted Owls

b. Examples of disturbance:

Fire disturbance evidence on the climb up to the top of Mount Stormking, a copse of Pseudotsuga meneziesiis were burned on the eastern side of their trunks

c. Examples of Predation: 

Black-tailed deers staying within the grasslands to avoid being hunted by cougars (didn't see them but could be in the forest

In Barnes Creek, frogs eating Mayflys

d. Example of an interaction that has a ripple affect through an ecosystem:

I sketched this one out

2.) How the following factors influence the structure and species vegetation along the trail?

a. slope aspect W/E:

dry site vegetation on West facing slopes (Storm King), as these west facing slopes receive warm afternoon sun. Shrubs like Arctostaphylos columbiana only grow on higher elevations of these west facing slopes. 

On East facing slopes (Marymere Falls) are moister and only receive cooler afternoon sun, thus more shade tolerant species such as sword ferns

Slope aspect N/S:

We were primarily on the North facing slopes of Lake Crescent, but on the South facing slopes of Lake Crescent (which receives more sun in winter due to slight tilt of the Earth) you can find species such as Poison Oak and California Newts. 

b. Elevation:

Higher elevations- species such as Manzanitas, Madrones, Stonecrop, Gray Jays, and in general coniferous trees of a smaller diameter. Species that are more drought/sun tolerant and cold tolerant live in these upper elevations. 

Lower elevations- more flowering species, more species diversity- I saw Devil's Club, many ferns, Trillium, Fairy Slippers, etc 

c. Soil type and moisture levels:

Up Mt Stormking, there is mostly a homogenous understory of Gaultheria shallon due to clayey soils with a low levels of nitrogen. At Marymere Falls, there soil was more nutrient rich, as well as moister, thus a greater species diversity.

Observations 4/15

Date: 4/15/14
Time: 12:50-1:50
Temperature: 65 degrees (approx)
Weather: Sunny, Partly Cloudy
Phenology Updates: 

Spring is upon us! It was a beautiful day to be at the UBNA. Today I walked around my site and made a general list of the species I could identify:

Tule Scirpus acutus
Cattail? Typha latifolia
Giant horsetail Equistem telmateia
Common Horsetail Equistem arvense
Sitka Willow? Salix sitchensis
Black Cottonwood Populus trichocarpa
Himalayan Blackberry Rubus armeniacus
some kind of big bulrush?

This for me is the real mystery. When this was first coming up I identified it as cattail, but the basal leaves have gotten too broad to be cattail- the closest I could get is some kind of Scirpus sps. These are shooting up all over the marshy, muddy edges of the pond, in conjunction with the Tule. I was just reading that Tule is an ecologically important plant because it is hardy against wind and water forces as well as prevents erosion, thereby allows for the establishment of other plants. I hope I am correctly identifying Tule here- its shoots are less than a foot long in my site:

In addition to this, the pond is surrounded by horsetail. From researching the horsetail I realized that I am not seeing two species of horsetail but rather the fertile and infertile stems of the same species, the Equisetum telmateia, or Giant Horsetail.

As you can see in the photo, there are large stems that are brown striped, unbranched and fleshy- these are the fertile horsetail. The fertile horsetail are the green, branched- these are sterile. The fertile horsetail have a big cone like top or "strobilus," where the spores are released. The infertile horsetail, called candocks, are smaller and look more like tiny pine trees. Right now all of the candocks are about 1 ft tall and all of the scouring rush (or fertile horsetail) are about 1.5 ft tall. From the last visit, I see that the candocks are really starting to unfurl their branches. Here are some sketches:

I also saw a different species called Common Horsetail or Equisetum arvense, which are shorter and have wider branchings. The common horsetail seemed farther along in its development, as you can see in the diagrammatic drawing below (of a candock):

Horsetails have a variety of ethnobotanical uses- for polishing, imbricating, and even eating. In early spring, the Coast Salish traditionally rely on the early shoots as a first food after eating dried foods all winter. You can cook the stalks of fertile horsetail like asparagus! Also, horsetail rhizome (which is thin and black) are used for imbrication, or pattern designs, of baskets.

I also had a surprise waiting for me at my site!

I think a duck layed her egg near the water's edge- good thing I didn't step on it! I wouldn't say she is the best mother because this isn't the most secluded spot to hatch. I later saw two Mallard ducks, or Anas platyrhynchos at the pond's edge- probably the mother and father. The male would be the green, glossy headed one with lighter feathers, and the female is the brown mottled duck on the right:

In general, my site is more colorful and greener than last week. I noticed some new flowers in the apple tree (Malus domestica?) to the left of the pond:

Most of the buds were still tightly closed and pink but a few were open and had turned white. The last main observation I will make for this week is a lichen I found on a fallen tree, which I think is Xanthoria parietina. Apparently if you ferment this lichen it can make a blue dye for fibers!

 

I'm guessing this is Sitka willow?

Now for some sketches!

First Encounters

Date: 4/8/14
Temperature: approx. 60 degrees
Weather: Overcast

My Observation Spot

Within the Union Bay Natural Area, I am choosing to observe the circled spot on the map:

Here is a photograph of my site, orientated South towards Union Bay:

The pond is very marshy, and their is a copse of primarily Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and Red Alder (Alnus rubra) encircling the pond. This makes sense, as the Union Bay Natural Area is a young forest and alder and cottonwoods usually develop before coniferous forests. Additionally, both species thrive in marshy environments. Here is another photo of the pond, oriented southwest:

Here you can see shoots of Cattails (Typha latifolia) coming up in the shallower parts of the pond. It seems like the cottonwoods around the UBNA are at different stages of leafing out, but here is a photo of what most of the buds look like on the trees: 

Check out those baby leaves! Its amazing how fast trees start opening their leaves once you start paying attention. During finals week last quarter, I went to a park in Issaquah to collect cottonwood buds- you can make something called "balm of gilead" with the sap of cottonwood buds. You infuse the buds in into oil and beeswax and it makes an antiseptic healing salve. What is amazing is that when you infuse the buds they all open up and exude this amazing smell that fills your whole kitchen. One of my favorite smells is the smell of cottonwood buds in the early spring, and I was able to smell them just walking around the UBNA!

The Native and Natural History of the UBNA:

The Union Bay Natural Area has a long and interesting history. Since time immemorial, Native peoples have lived in the area now know as Seattle, but was long before known as "Little Crossing Place" or sdZéédZul7aleecH (according to orthographic land maps of the area, compiled by Coll Thrush in "Native Seattle"). "Little Crossing Place" was a small portage with up to eight longhouses. Up until WWII, Whulshootseed speakers used this name to refer to the modern city of Seattle. There is a lot more here I could tell, but lets focus on the history of the particular grounds of the Union Bay Natural Area. If I walked to what we know as the Union Bay Natural Area about 150 years ago, I would of seen why it was called sHab7altxW or "Drying House." Similar to today, the winds off the bay and the undeterred sunlight hit this area so well that it was an ideal spot for drying salmon. Native peoples probably erected large, open frame structures which would suspend and spread the salmon.  Realistically, my particular pond would have been underwater- the development of urban Seattle has entirely changed the Lake Washington watershed. The construction of the Hiram M Chittenden Locks in Ballard in 1917 vastly changed the Lake Washington Watershed; rather than flowing out South out of the Black River as it always had, the water began to flow North through the locks, and Lake Washington subsequently became 10-20 feet lower. If I had looked east towards the Montlake cut, I would have seen just a trail over land.Before the Montlake Cut, Lake Union was a separate body of water from Lake Washington, and only emptied into the Puget Sound through a small waterway called Ross Creek. Ross Creek used to be a passageway for several runs of salmon; chum, pink, chinook and coho. Now, Ross Creek has been enveloped by the vast Salmon Bay. 

Why does this pertain to our Natural History class? Well, the UBNA was once part of a drastically different watershed. Its land formation and shoreline was once completely different. We don't quite know what this site once looked like- it could have been a cultivated marshland of camas and wapato, or a prairie that was managed through burning, or neither. But this is just the beginning of the recent history of the UBNA. We have not cared for this site as its fore-bearers did. Here's a photo (Kern Ewing, 2014) of the UBNA from the 1950's, when it was known as the Montlake Landfill:

This is pretty bleak. But trust me, it gets better. Around 1998, large scale restoration efforts began: 

Trees! 

This is from 2007:

And now it is its modern-day self. This seems to me like a very effective restoration project. Its important to remember than this ecosystem is less than two decades old, and that most of the older species here were hand-planted by people. 

My Inspiration:

Since I have introduced the history of my site, I should also introduce myself and give my personal history. What I want to share with you most is my first encounters with nature. I grew up on a small farm in Oregon, halfway between the Coastal Range and the Cascade Mountains. My earliest childhood memories are running around the pastures of our land, climbing into my favorite bigleaf maple and cedar trees, and forging our little creek. I loved the unexamined hours in the woods, smelling the stench of skunk cabbage, finding a solo trillum within the ferns, and seeing the birds fly above me as I lay in the tall grass of a field, lost to the world. Now I love to spend time in nature, whether its through rock climbing, mountaineering, hiking, biking, or just sitting outside. I moved to Washington three years ago, and have gotten to see just a few of its high and low points- last summer I climbed Mt Adams and saw the sulphuric clouds at the summit, as well as the lush forests of Mt Baker on my second ascent. 

As a student at the University of Washington, I am pursuing Interdisciplinary Visual Arts (IVA) and Comparative History of Ideas (CHID). Maybe I just like acronyms, but I am pursuing these fields to find an interdisciplinary juncture of what I love most: creative expression and our local environment. I am especially interested in the ethnobiology of the area; where the environment  intersects with the people and culture who live within it. 

Here are some images of my sketchbook: 

I want to come back and watercolor my site next week, but here is a sketch from the general area: 

Additionally, some sketches of Black Cottonwood trees- a comparison between two trees, side by side that were at different maturation stages of the leaves. I'm making a couple guesses, either genetic difference or unequal sunlight access. 

Thats all for the introduction. Whew, what a long one! 

-Cassie