Location: Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Mason counties, WA Map
Area: 922,650 acres (373,380 ha)
Olympic National Park is an American national park located near
the city of Seattle, Washington, in the northwestern United States.
Covering an area of 3,733.8 km2, this park is famous for its
rainforests, mountain landscapes and coastal areas. The park,
located on the Olympic Peninsula, encompasses much of the Olympic
Mountain Range. The beginning of the formation of these mountains,
caused by the collision of tectonic plates, dates back only about
twenty million years. The toponym comes from Mount Olympus, the
highest point in the region, whose name was given to it in 1788 by
sea captain John Meares during a voyage of exploration.
Human
occupation of the area dates back more than 10,000 years, when
Paleoamericans roamed it to hunt and gather. Over the centuries,
they improved their techniques to finally specialize in fishing
until the arrival of the first explorers of European origin. While
the first settlers began to settle in the region around the middle
of the 19th century, the local Native American tribes, following
treaties signed in 1855, were placed on reservations.
Since
its creation on June 29, 1938, the National Park Service has been
responsible for protecting its natural and cultural riches, which
attract more than three million visitors each year. In 1976, the
park obtained from UNESCO the title of biosphere reserve3 and in
1981 it was promoted as world heritage4. With the nearby National
Marine Sanctuary of the Olympic Coast (Olympic Coast National Marine
Sanctuary), it forms a vast marine and terrestrial ecosystem where
many animal and plant species can enjoy enhanced protection.
In the area of the park individual finds from the Paleo-Indian era
about 12,000 years before present were made. Only the culture of the
Makah is really tangible in the region.
The Olympic National Park
is named after Mount Olympus, which was named by Captain John Meares in
1788 as a worthy abode of the gods. At the end of the 19th century, when
the forest cover on the Olympic Peninsula decreased due to logging,
President Cleveland declared the majority of the forests to the Olympic
Forest Reserve in 1897. This protective measure regulated the logging,
but not the hunting of the elk. By 1900 their population had dropped to
fewer than 20,000 animals. Therefore, in 1909, President Theodore
Roosevelt designated part of the Forest Reserve as Mount Olympus
National Monument to protect the elk population. The removal of such
large tracts of forest for forestry was controversial, and the area of
the reserve was halved within a year, allowing much of the lower-lying
areas of the Olympic Peninsula to be cleared. To protect the magnificent
rainforests from deforestation, Stephen Mather, Director of the National
Parks Service, and his successor, Horace Albright, waged a 23-year
struggle to create a national park on the Olympic Peninsula. After
visiting the area, President Franklin Roosevelt pledged his support and
signed the Olympic National Park Act into law in 1938.
In 1953, the
national park was expanded to include a strip along the Pacific coast.
In 1988, the US Congress put 3,547 square kilometers, or about 95%
of the park area, under additional protection as a wilderness area. This
also includes 77 kilometers of coastline on the Pacific as the
Wilderness Coast. The resulting wilderness is the largest of its kind in
Washington State.
The national park is also partially surrounded
by the 2564 square kilometer Olympic National Forest, which was formed
in 1907 from the part of the Olympic Forest Reserve that does not belong
to Mount Olympus National Monument. In 1984, five Wilderness Areas were
established in it, which border on the Olympic Wilderness and, with an
area of 357 km², cover around 15% of the area of the National Forest.
The Olympic Wilderness is bordered by Buckhorn Wilderness to the
northeast, The Brothers Wilderness to the east, Mount Skokomish
Wilderness to the southeast, Wonder Mountain Wilderness to the south,
and Colonel Bob Wilderness to the east and south.
The scientific
and scenic importance of the national park is internationally
recognized. In 1976, UNESCO classified the national park as a biosphere
reserve, and in 1981 it declared it a World Heritage Site.
The
Elwha River in the north of the park has been the site of the largest
restoration program in the United States since September 2011. Two dams
are to be demolished over a period of three years, as a result of which
more than 70 km of the river have been inaccessible for natural fish
migration since 1910 and thus before the park was established. After
restoring the original water regime, around 400,000 salmon of all five
species occurring in the area are expected in the long term instead of
the current around 3,000 Pacific salmon. In August 2012, just five
months after the demolition of the first dam, adult Pacific salmon were
observed moving up the river much faster than previously thought.
The main visitor center (English Olympic National Park Visitor Center) of the park is located near Port Angeles. From there, a road leads to the up to 1585 meter high subalpine Hurricane Ridge, on which there is a smaller visitor center and partly paved nature trails and numerous hiking trails. A narrow, unpaved road leads from here to Obstruction Peak, 14 kilometers away and 1965 meters high. Other roads in the northern park area lead to Deer Park and the valleys of Boulder Creek and Sol Duc River, from which numerous, sometimes longer hiking routes start. There is another visitor center in the Hoh Rainforest, here too there are several nature trails, some of them paved, and numerous hiking trails. A total of almost 1000 kilometers of hiking trails are available to visitors in all parts of the park. There are small primitive campsites and some shelters along the extensive hiking routes. On the Pacific coast of the national park, long walks on the beach are possible at sandy bays such as La Push, Rialto Beach or Ruby Beach. The water of the Pacific is too cold for swimming, even in summer. The visitor center for the beaches and for the west part of the park is in Forks. Unpaved roads lead to Queets, North Fork, Graves Creek, Staircase and Dosewallips in the south-western part of the park, some of which are starting points for hikes lasting several days. Lakes such as Lake Crescent and Ozette Lake and numerous rivers offer opportunities for fishing and boating. In the winter, you can ski or snowboard at Hurricane Ridge. There are 17 medium to larger campgrounds in the park that are accessible by vehicle, in addition to the primitive campgrounds along the trails. Lake Crescent Lodge and Kalaloch Lodge are two historic mountain hotels in the park.
Since the national park is located on a remote peninsula, some animal and plant species have been able to develop here that only occur here in the park (endemic species). Because of this, the park is a popular research area for biologists and zoologists. The best known of these endemic species is the Roosevelt's elk (Cervus canadiensis roosvelti), the largest subspecies of elk. These can weigh up to 450 kg. The national park was established as a national monument in 1909 to protect these elk. Among the smallest mammal species native to Olympic National Park are several species of red-toothed shrew (Sorex), which weigh only a few grams (S. trowbridgii, S. vagrans and S. monticolus).
The park partly protects more than a dozen major watersheds connected
to the Pacific Ocean for a total of approximately 5,600 km of waterways.
The main basins are those of the Elwha and Dungeness streams to the
north, Dosewallips to the east, Queets and Quinault to the south,
Ozette, Sol Duc, Hoh to the west. In 2012, after more than 100 years of
hydroelectricity production, two dams were demolished on the Elwha in
order to restore its original bed and promote the return of salmon.
The park also hosts more than 300 mountain lakes. The largest lake
in the park, located in the coastal area of the park, is Lake Ozette.
With an area of 29.5 km2, it is the third largest lake in Washington
State14.
Mount Olympus is home to nine glaciers and in total the
park has more than sixty15,16. These are for instance positioned on
Mount Carrie and Mount Anderson. The park is also home to several
glacial cirques that indicate the past presence of other glaciers.
Mild temperatures and copious amounts of rain are causing a dense
forest to grow on the Olympic Peninsula coast. Head-high bushes huddle
under the canopy of Sitka spruce, western hemlock and thujas. Ferns and
mosses form a spongy carpet. In some areas, the forest gives way to the
wet, coastal prairies. Acid-loving marsh plants such as bearberry,
crowberry, pennyroyal laurel, narrow-leaved marsh tea, sundew and peat
moss live there.
On the beaches, the dense forest reaches to the
ocean. Due to the prevailing westerly winds, there are often huge trees
or branches as driftwood on the leeward side. Bald eagles and ospreys
are common perched atop the treetops. Tumbled driftwood lies on the
beach washed up by the meandering rivers from the forest here.
On
the rugged shores of Olympic National Park, you might be lucky enough to
spot marine-only sea otters and seals. Sea otters became extinct off the
coast of Washington by the early 20th century. In 1969 and 1970,
reintroduction programs began, so that today the number of sea otters is
again estimated at around 800 animals. From March to May, gray whales
pass the coast of the national park on their way south. A number of
loons and a number of members of the auk family can be observed along
the coast, including the critically endangered Marbled Auk, a seabird
that breeds up to 60 km inland.
North America's more northerly
living pelican species, the rhinoceros pelican, is more common here than
its southern relative, the brown pelican. Also on the coast you can find
three species of cormorants, the shag, the common cormorant and the
common shag.
At about 1,200 meters you reach the subalpine mountain region. On the
western side of the park, purple firs predominate alongside western
hemlock. On the drier east side, purple fir is found only on the
north-facing slopes, while Douglas fir and western hemlock dominate on
the south-facing slopes. Forest fires play an active role, creating a
mosaic of forests of different ages.
In the mountains, the tree
line is between 1,500 and 1,800 meters. The alpine zone extends above
it. A variety of wildflowers grow here, such as Campanula piperi, a
species of bluebell native only to the mountains of Olympic. Above this
one encounters various grasses and sedges.
Golden eagles, horned
larks, common ravens and the Olympic chipmunk (Tamias amoenus caurinus),
a species of chipmunk also only found in the Olympic mountains, and the
Olympic marmot are also at home here. The gray jay, a close relative of
the Scandinavian Siberian jay, is often found in the subalpine
coniferous forest, as is the blue jay.
The lush forests in the valleys of the Quinault, Queets, Hoh and
Bogachiel Rivers are typical examples of the pristine temperate rain
forest. It stretches from southern Oregon to southeast Alaska. However,
little of it survives outside of the protected areas. Up to 4,000 mm of
precipitation falls here every year, with a moderate temperature, which
does not exceed 27 degrees Celsius even in summer. Here epiphytes,
mosses, ferns and lichens grow on the tree trunks and branches, giving
the forest a jungle-like appearance.
The large, mature trees are
mostly Sitka spruce and western hemlock. Many of these are over 100
years old and can grow up to 80 meters in height and up to 20 meters in
circumference. Because of the densely forested ground, many sprouts grow
on fallen trees. If these rot over time, the stilt-like roots remain.
This process can take centuries and provides an important habitat for
mosses, fungi, small mammals, amphibians and insects.
The
Roosevelt wapiti inhabits the rainforest of the national park. In
addition to the elk, the much smaller mule deer are also found in the
park. Of the predators represented here are cougar, bobcat, black bear
and coyote. The once native wolf has been considered extinct since the
1920s. The fisher marten was also considered to be extinct or almost
extinct in the Olympic National Park. Due to heavy overhunting and loss
of the natural habitat, the fisher marten has become a highly endangered
species. The marten, which is about the size of a house cat and thus the
largest representative of its genus, was reintroduced to its original
habitat between January 2008 and February 2010. A reintroduction program
for the wolf has also been discussed since 2007 following the great
successes in Yellowstone National Park.
There are around 300
different bird species in Olympic National Park. One of the best known
is the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), a subspecies
of spotted owl. Because it places high demands on its habitat and
prefers the now rare old forests, it has become a kind of landmark of
the Olympic National Park. Besides her, you can also meet a whole range
of owls: western screech owl, great horned owl, snowy owl, gnome pygmy
owl, burrowing owl, barred owl, saw owl and the barn owl, long-eared owl
and short-eared owl.
Of the 23 different North American
woodpecker species, seven are found in the national park. Downy
woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, golden woodpeckers, firehead saplickers
and the largest North American woodpecker, the relative of our black
woodpecker, the helmeted woodpecker, can be observed relatively
frequently. On the other hand, the blood-faced woodpecker, spruce
woodpecker, black-backed woodpecker and red-necked woodpecker are seen
less frequently.
Five species of the heron family are represented
in Olympic National Park: the Great Blue Heron found throughout North
America, which is not only closely related to our gray heron but also
looks very similar to it, the green heron found only in America, the
North American Bittern, which is in turn a close relative of our bittern
and the two species that also occur in Europe, the great egret and
cattle egret.
The duck family is represented with over 30 species
in this national park. The largest swan species, the trumpeter swan,
occurs here as well as the slightly smaller miniature swan. Both types
of swans are mainly found in the northern part of the continent and,
apart from their size, they only differ from each other visually in that
the miniature swan has a small yellow spot in front of its eye.
Otherwise, both have a black beak and white plumage.
The grebe,
which only occurs in America, can be found there on lakes and rivers.
You can also meet the horned grebes, red-necked grebes and black-necked
grebes, which are also native to Europe.
With zero minimum elevation and maximum heights exceeding 2,000m, the
climate varies greatly depending on location within the national park.
The region is nevertheless considered to have a temperate oceanic
climate of type Cbf according to the Köppen classification.
The
position of Olympic National Park strongly influences its climate. To
the east of the park, the Cascades chain acts as a barrier against the
polar currents coming from the north of the American continent. Thanks
to this, the temperatures remain milder, especially since the Pacific
Ocean is located right next to the park. In addition to its mildness,
the Pacific carries very humid air masses into the region, resulting in
huge amounts of precipitation as the air cools as it hits the park's
mountains. The park is thus one of the wettest areas in the contiguous
United States. The annual rainfall in the Hoh rainforest is around 3,500
mm, while the summit of Mount Olympus can receive more than 15,240 mm.
The highest peaks receive a good part of this precipitation in snowy
form. The eastern part of the park, on the other side of the mountains,
is drier because much of the precipitation has already fallen further
west. The amounts of annual precipitation can go down there between 400
and 600 mm.
The summer period is drier than the rest of the year
and several weeks can pass without precipitation. The trees in the
region, which need a lot of humidity to survive, are content with the
humidity present in the regular fogs.