Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U. S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties its main population centers include the San Francisco Bay Area, the Greater Sacramento area, the Metropolitan Fresno area. Northern California contains redwood forests, along with the Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite Valley and part of Lake Tahoe, Mount Shasta, most of the Central Valley, one of the world's most productive agricultural regions; the 48-county definition is not used for the Northern California Megaregion, one of the 11 megaregions of the United States. The megaregion's area is instead defined from Metropolitan Fresno north to Greater Sacramento, from the Bay Area east across Nevada state line to encompass the entire Lake Tahoe-Reno area. Native Americans arrived in northern California at least as early as 8,000 to 5,000 BC and even much earlier, successive waves of arrivals led to one of the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America; the arrival of European explorers from the early 16th to the mid-18th centuries did not establish European settlements in northern California.
In 1770, the Spanish mission at Monterey was the first European settlement in the area, followed by other missions along the coast—eventually extending as far north as Sonoma County. Northern California is not a formal geographic designation. California's north-south midway division is around 37° latitude, near the level of San Francisco. Popularly, though, "Northern California" refers to the state's northernmost 48 counties; because of California's large size and diverse geography, the state can be subdivided in other ways as well. For example, the Central Valley is a region, distinct both culturally and topographically from coastal California, though in northern versus southern California divisions, the Sacramento Valley and most of the San Joaquin Valley are placed in northern California; the state is considered as having an additional division north of the urban areas of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan areas. Extreme northern residents have felt under-represented in state government and in 1941 attempted to form a new state with southwestern Oregon to be called Jefferson, or more to introduce legislation to split California into two or three states.
The coastal area north of the Bay Area is referred to as the North Coast, while the interior region north of Sacramento is referred by locals as the Northstate. Northern California is the name of a proposed new state on the 2018 California ballot created by splitting the existing state into three parts. Since the events of the California Gold Rush, Northern California has been a leader on the world's economic and cultural stages. From the development of gold mining techniques and logging practices in the 19th century that were adopted around the world, to the development of world-famous and online business models, northern California has been at the forefront of new ways of doing business. In science, advances range from being the first to isolate and name fourteen transuranic chemical elements, to breakthroughs in microchip technology. Cultural contributions include the works of Ansel Adams, George Lucas, Clint Eastwood, as well as beatniks, the Summer of Love, the cradle of the international environmental movement, the open, casual workplace first popularized in the Silicon Valley dot-com boom and now in use around the world.
Other examples of innovation across diverse fields range from Genentech to CrossFit as a pioneer in extreme human fitness and training. It is home to one of the largest Air Force Bases on the West Coast, the largest of California, Travis Air Force Base. Northern California's largest metropolitan area is the San Francisco Bay Area which includes the cities of San Francisco, San Jose and their many suburbs. In recent years the Bay Area has drawn more commuters from as far as Central Valley cities such as Sacramento, Fresno and Modesto. With expanding development in all these areas, the San Francisco Bay Area, Monterey Bay Area, central part of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills may now be viewed as part of a single megalopolis; the 2010 U. S. Census showed that the Bay Area grew at a faster rate than the Greater Los Angeles Area while Greater Sacramento had the largest growth rate of any metropolitan area in California; the state's larger inland cities are considered part of Northern California in cases when the state is divided into two parts.
Important cities in the region not in major metropolitan areas include Eureka on the far North Coast, Redding, at the northern end of the Central Valley and Yuba City in the mid-north of the Valley, as well as Fresno and Visalia on the southern end. Though smaller in every case except for Fresno than the larger cities of the vast region, these smaller regional centers are of historical, inflated economic importance for their respective size, due to their locations, which are rural or otherwise isolated. Inhabited for millennia by Native Americans, from the Shasta tribe in the north, to the Miwoks in the central coast and Sierra Nevada, to the Yokuts of the southern Central Valley, northern California was among the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America; the first European to explore the coast was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing for the Spanish
Even-toed ungulate
The even-toed ungulates are ungulates - hoofed animals - which bear weight on two of the five toes: their third and fourth toes. The other three toes are either present, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, odd-toed ungulates bear weight on one of the five toes: the third toe. Another difference between the two is that even-toed ungulates digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine as the odd-toed ungulates do; the aquatic cetaceans evolved from even-toed ungulates, so modern taxonomic classification sometimes combines the Artiodactyla and Cetacea into the Cetartiodactyla. The 220 land-based even-toed ungulate species include pigs, hippopotamuses, llamas, mouse deer, giraffes, sheep and cattle. Many of these are of great dietary and cultural importance to humans; the oldest fossils of even-toed ungulates date back to the early Eocene. Since these findings simultaneously appeared in Europe and North America, it is difficult to determine the origin of artiodactyls.
The fossils are classified as belonging to the family Dichobunidae. These were small animals, some as small as a hare, with a slim build, lanky legs, a long tail, their hind legs were much longer than their front legs. The early to middle Eocene saw the emergence of the ancestors of most of today's mammals. Two widespread, but now extinct, families of even-toed ungulates were Enteledontidae and Anthracotheriidae. Entelodonts existed from the middle Eocene to the early Miocene in North America, they had a stocky body with short legs and a massive head, characterized by two humps on the lower jaw bone. Anthracotheres had a large, porcine build, with an elongated muzzle; this group appeared in the middle Eocene up until the Pliocene, spread throughout Eurasia and North America. Anthracothereres are thought to be the ancestors of hippos, probably led a similar aquatic lifestyle. Hippopotamuses appeared in the late Miocene and occupied Africa and Asia – they never got to the Americas; the camels were, during large parts of the Cenozoic, limited to North America.
Among the North American camels were groups like the short-legged Merycoidodontidae. They first developed a great diversity of species in North America. Only in the late Miocene or early Pliocene did they migrate from North America into Eurasia; the North American varieties became extinct around 10,000 years ago. Suina have been around since the Eocene. In the late Eocene or the Oligocene, two families stayed in Africa. South America was settled by even-toed ungulates only in the Pliocene, after the land bridge at the Isthmus of Panama formed some three million years ago. With only the peccaries and various species of capreoline deer, South America has comparatively fewer artiodactyl families than other continents, except Australia, which has no native species; the classification of artiodactyls was hotly debated because the ocean-dwelling cetaceans evolved from the land-dwelling even-toed ungulates. Some semiaquatic even-toed ungulates are more related to the ocean-dwelling cetaceans than to the other even-toed ungulates.
This makes the Artiodactyla as traditionally defined a paraphyletic taxon, since it includes animals descended from a common ancestor, but does not include all of its descendants. Phylogenetic classification only recognizes monophyletic taxa. To address this problem, the traditional order Artiodactyla and infraorder Cetacea are sometimes subsumed into the more inclusive Cetartiodactyla taxon. An alternative approach is to include both land-dwelling even-toed ungulates and ocean-dwelling cetaceans in a revised Artiodactyla taxon. Order Artiodactyla/Clade CetartiodactylaSuborder Tylopoda Family †Anoplotheriidae? Family †Cainotheriidae Family †Merycoidodontidae Family †Agriochoeridae Family Camelidae: camels and lamoids or llamas Family †Oromerycidae Family †Xiphodontidae Clade Artiofabula Suborder Suina Family Suidae: pigs Family Tayassuidae: peccaries Family †Sanitheriidae Clade Cetruminantia Clade CetancodontamorphaGenus †Andrewsarchus? Family †Entelodontidae Suborder Whippomorpha Family †Raoellidae Superfamily Dichobunoidea – paraphyletic to Cetacea and Raoellidae Family †Dichobunidae Family †Helohyidae Family †Choeropotamidae Family †Cebochoeridae Family †Mixtotheriidae Infraorder Ancodonta Family †Anthracotheriidae – paraphyletic to Hippopotamidae Family Hippopotamidae: hippos Infraorder Cetacea: whales Parvorder †Archaeoceti Family †Pakicetidae Family †Ambulocetidae Family †Remingtonocetidae Family †Basilosauridae Parvorder Mysticeti: baleen whales Superfamily Balaenoidea: right whales Family Balaenidae: greater right whales Family Cetotheriidae: pygmy right whale Superfamily Balaenopteroidea: large baleen whales Family Balaenopteridae: slender-back rorquals and humpback whale Family Eschrichtiidae: gray whale Parvorder Odontoceti: toothed whales Superfamily Delphinoidea: oceanic dolphins and others Family Delphinidae: oceanic t
Game (hunting)
Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food, the meat of those animals. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport; the term game arises in medieval hunting terminology by the late 13th century and is particular to English, the word derived from the generic Old English gamen "joy, sport, merriment". Quarry in the generic meaning is early modern, in the more specific sense "bird targeted in falconry" late 14th and 15th centuries as quirre "entrails of deer placed on the hide and given to the hunting-dogs as a reward", from Old French cuiriee "spoil, quarry", but influenced by corée "viscera, entrails". Wild game meat is considered to be superior in nutrient density, has lower fat content, than meat procured through contemporary farming methods, while the cost in time and money to procure wild game is much higher. Small game includes small animals, such as rabbits, geese or ducks. Large game includes animals like deer and bear.
Big game is a term sometimes used interchangeably with large game although in other contexts it refers to large African, mammals which are hunted for trophies. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world; this is influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted views about what can or cannot be legitimately hunted. Sometimes a distinction is made between varieties and species of a particular animal, such as wild turkey and domestic turkey. Fish caught for sport are referred to as game fish; the flesh of the animal, when butchered for consumption is described as having a "gamey" flavour. This difference in taste can be attributed to the wild diet of the animal, which results in a lower fat content compared to domestic farm raised animals. In some countries, game is classified, including legal classification with respect to licences required, as either "small game" or "large game". A single small game licence may be subject to yearly bag limits.
Large game are subject to individual licensing where a separate licence is required for each individual animal taken. In some parts of Africa, wild animals hunted for their meat are called bushmeat. Animals hunted for bushmeat include, but are not limited to: Various species of antelope, including duikers Various species of primates like mandrills or gorillas Rodents like porcupines or cane ratsSome of these animals are endangered or otherwise protected, thus it is illegal to hunt them. In Africa, animals hunted for their pelts or ivory are sometimes referred to as the big game. See the legal definition of game in Swaziland. South Africa is a famous destination for game hunting, with its large biodiversity and therefore rather impressive variety of game species. Many creatures have returned to former areas from which they were once taken from as a result of being killed for big-game hunting. Species of creatures hunted include: South Africa has 62 species of gamebirds, including guineafowl, partridge, sandgrouse, geese, snipe and korhaan.
Some of these species are no longer hunted, of the 44 indigenous gamebirds that can be utilised in South Africa, only three, namely the yellow-throated sandgrouse, Delegorgue's pigeon and the African pygmy goose warrant special protection. Of the remaining 41 species, 24 have shown an increase in numbers and distribution range in the last 25 years or so; the status of 14 species appears unchanged, with insufficient information being available for the remaining three species. The gamebirds of South Africa where the population status in 2005 was secure or growing are listed below: In Australia, game includes: Game in New Zealand includes: Chamois Deer, multiple species Pig Tahr Duck, multiple species In the U. S. and Canada, white-tailed deer are the most hunted big game. Other game species include: In the PRC there is a special cuisine category called ye wei, which includes animals in the wild. In the UK game is defined in law by the Game Act 1831, it is illegal to shoot game at night. Other that are hunted for food in the UK are specified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
UK law defines game as including: Black grouse Red grouse Brown hare Ptarmigan Grey partridge and red-legged partridge Common pheasantDeer are not included in the definition, but similar controls provided to those in the Game Act apply to deer. Deer hunted in the UK are: Red deer Roe deer Fallow deer Sika deer Muntjac deer Chinese water deer and hybrids of these deerOther animals which are hunted in the UK include: Duck, including mallard, tufted duck, teal and pochard Goose, including greylag goose, Canada goose, pink-footed goose and in England and Wales white-fronted goose Woodpigeon Woodcock Snipe Rabbit Golden ploverCapercaillie are not hunted in the UK because of a recent decline in numbers and conservation projects towards their recovery; the ban is considered voluntary on private lands, few birds live away from RSPB or Forestry Commission land allegedly. In Iceland game includes: Reindeer Ptarmigan, a popular Christmas dish in Iceland Puffin Auk Goos
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is an agency of the US Federal Government within the US Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with others to conserve and enhance fish, wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people." Aurelia Skipwith is Trump's nominee. Among the responsibilities of the FWS are enforcing federal wildlife laws. Sub-units of the FWS include: National Wildlife Refuge System—560 National Wildlife Refuges and thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas covering over 150 million acres Division of Migratory Bird Management Federal Duck Stamp National Fish Hatchery System—70 National Fish Hatcheries and 65 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Offices Endangered Species program—86 Ecological Services Field Stations International Affairs Program National Conservation Training Center USFWS Office of Law Enforcement Clark R. Bavin National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory Landscape Conservation CooperativesThe vast majority of fish and wildlife habitat is on non-federal state or private land.
Therefore, the FWS works with private groups such as Partners in Flight and Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council to promote voluntary habitat conservation and restoration. The FWS employs 9,000 people and is organized into a central administrative office in Falls Church, eight regional offices, nearly 700 field offices distributed throughout the United States; the FWS originated in 1871 as the United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries, more referred to as the United States Fish Commission, created by the United States Congress with the purpose of studying and recommending solutions to a noted decline in the stocks of food fish. Spencer Fullerton Baird was appointed its first commissioner. In 1903, the Fish Commission was reorganized as the United States Bureau of Fisheries. In 1885–1886, the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy was established within the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1896 it became the Division of Biological Survey, its early work focused on the effect of birds in controlling agricultural pests and mapping the geographical distribution of plants and animals in the United States.
Clinton Hart Merriam headed the Bureau for 25 years and became a national figure for improving the scientific understanding of birds and mammals in the United States. Jay Norwood Darling was appointed Chief of the new Bureau of Biological Survey in 1934. Under Darling's guidance, the Bureau began an ongoing legacy of protecting vital natural habitat throughout the country; the FWS was created in 1940, when the Bureaus of Fisheries and Biological Survey were combined after being moved to the Department of the Interior. In 1959, the methods used by FWS's Animal Damage Control Program were featured in the Tom Lehrer song "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"; the FWS governs six US National Monuments: Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington state. Pursuant to the eagle feather law, Title 50, Part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the US Fish and Wildlife Service administers the National Eagle Repository and the permit system for Native American religious use of eagle feathers.
These exceptions only apply to Native Americans that are registered with the federal government and are enrolled with a federally recognized tribe. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the FWS began to incorporate the research of tribal scientists into conservation decisions; this came on the heels of Native American traditional ecological knowledge gaining acceptance in the scientific community as a reasonable and respectable way to gain knowledge of managing the natural world. Additionally, other natural resource agencies within the United States government, such as the USDA, have taken steps to be more inclusive of tribes, native people, tribal rights; this has marked a transition to a relationship of more co-operation rather than the tension between tribes and government agencies seen historically. Today, these agencies work with tribal governments to ensure the best conservation decisions are made and that tribes retain their sovereignty. Federal law enforcement in the United States Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admini
Hybrid (biology)
In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents, but can show hybrid vigour, sometimes growing larger or taller than either parent; the concept of a hybrid is interpreted differently in animal and plant breeding, where there is interest in the individual parentage. In genetics, attention is focused on the numbers of chromosomes. In taxonomy, a key question is how related the parent species are. Species are reproductively isolated by strong barriers to hybridisation, which include morphological differences, differing times of fertility, mating behaviors and cues, physiological rejection of sperm cells or the developing embryo; some act before fertilization and others after it. Similar barriers exist in plants, with differences in flowering times, pollen vectors, inhibition of pollen tube growth, somatoplastic sterility, cytoplasmic-genic male sterility and the structure of the chromosomes.
A few animal species and many plant species, are the result of hybrid speciation, including important crop plants such as wheat, where the number of chromosomes has been doubled. Human impact on the environment has resulted in an increase in the interbreeding between regional species, the proliferation of introduced species worldwide has resulted in an increase in hybridisation; this genetic mixing may threaten many species with extinction, while genetic erosion in crop plants may be damaging the gene pools of many species for future breeding. A form of intentional human-mediated hybridisation is the crossing of wild and domesticated species; this is common in modern agriculture. One such flower, Oenothera lamarckiana, was central to early genetics research into mutationism and polyploidy, it is more done in the livestock and pet trades. Human selective breeding of domesticated animals and plants has resulted is the development of distinct breeds. Hybrid humans existed in prehistory. For example and anatomically modern humans are thought to have interbred as as 40,000 years ago.
Mythological hybrids appear in human culture in forms as diverse as the Minotaur, blends of animals and mythical beasts such as centaurs and sphinxes, the Nephilim of the Biblical apocrypha described as the wicked sons of fallen angels and attractive women. The term hybrid is derived from Latin hybrida, used for crosses such as of a tame sow and a wild boar; the term came into popular use in English in the 19th century, though examples of its use have been found from the early 17th century. Conspicuous hybrids are popularly named with portmanteau words, starting in the 1920s with the breeding of tiger–lion hybrids. From the point of view of animal and plant breeders, there are several kinds of hybrid formed from crosses within a species, such as between different breeds. Single cross hybrids result from the cross between two true-breeding organisms which produces an F1 hybrid; the cross between two different homozygous lines produces an F1 hybrid, heterozygous. The F1 generation is phenotypically homogeneous, producing offspring that are all similar to each other.
Double cross hybrids result from the cross between two different F1 hybrids. Three-way cross hybrids result from the cross between an inbred line. Triple cross hybrids result from the crossing of two different three-way cross hybrids. Top cross hybrids result from the crossing of a top quality or pure-bred male and a lower quality female, intended to improve the quality of the offspring, on average. Population hybrids result from the crossing of plants or animals in one population with those of another population; these crosses between different breeds. In horticulture, the term stable hybrid is used to describe an annual plant that, if grown and bred in a small monoculture free of external pollen produces offspring that are "true to type" with respect to phenotype. Hybridisation can occur in the hybrid zones where the geographical ranges of species, subspecies, or distinct genetic lineages overlap. For example, the butterfly Limenitis arthemis has two major subspecies in North America, L. a. arthemis and L. a. astyanax.
The white admiral has a bright, white band on its wings, while the red-spotted purple has cooler blue-green shades. Hybridisation occurs between a narrow area across New England, southern Ontario, the Great Lakes, the "suture region", it is at these regions. Other hybrid zones have formed between described species of animals. From the point of view of genetics, several different kinds of hybrid can be distinguished. A genetic hybrid carries two different alleles of the same gene, where for instance one allele may code for a lighter coat colour than the other. A structural hybrid results from the fusion of gametes that have differing structure in at least one chromosome, as a result of structural abnormalities. A numerical hybrid results from the fusion of gamet
Southeast Alaska
Southeast Alaska, sometimes referred to as the Alaska Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U. S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The majority of Southeast Alaska's area is part of the Tongass National Forest, the United States' largest national forest. In many places, the international border runs along the crest of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains; the region is noted for mild rainy climate. The largest cities in the region are Juneau and Ketchikan. Southeast Alaska is the northern terminus of the Inside Passage, a protected waterway of convoluted passages between islands and fjords, beginning in Puget Sound in Washington state; this was an important travel corridor for Tlingit and Haida Native peoples, as well as gold-rush era steamships. In modern times it is an important route for Alaska Marine Highway ferries as well as cruise ships. Southeast Alaska has a land area of 35,138 square miles comprising seven entire boroughs and two census areas, in addition to the portion of the Yakutat Borough lying east of 141° West longitude.
Although it has only 6.14 percent of Alaska's land area, it is larger than the state of Maine, as large as the state of Indiana. The Southeast Alaskan coast is as long as the west coast of Canada; the 2010 census population of Southeast was 71,616 inhabitants, about 45 percent of whom were concentrated in the city of Juneau. Haines Borough Hoonah-Angoon Census Area Juneau Borough Ketchikan Gateway Borough Petersburg Borough Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area Sitka Borough Skagway Borough Wrangell Borough Yakutat Borough It includes the Tongass National Forest, Glacier Bay National Park, Sitka National Historical Park, Alaska's Inside Passage, myriad large and small islands; the largest islands are, from North to South, Chichagof Island, Admiralty Island, Baranof Island, Kupreanof Island, Revillagigedo Island and Prince of Wales Island. Major bodies of water of Southeast Alaska include Glacier Bay, Lynn Canal, Icy Strait, Chatham Strait, Stephens Passage, Frederick Sound, Sumner Strait, Clarence Strait.
On August 20, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve, which formed the heart of the Tongass National Forest that covers most of the region. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Sitka National Historical Park Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Admiralty Island National Monument Misty Fjords National Monument Southeast Alaska is a temperate rain forest within the Pacific temperate rain forest zone, as classified by the World Wildlife Fund's ecoregion system, which extends from northern California to Prince William Sound; the most common tree species are western hemlock. Wildlife includes brown bears, black bears, the endemic Alexander Archipelago wolf, Sitka black-tailed deer, humpback whales, five species of salmon, bald eagles, harlequin ducks and marbled murrelets; the Ecological Atlas of Southeast Alaska, published by Audubon Alaska in 2016, offers an overview of the region's landscape, wildlife, human uses, climate change, more, synthesizing data from agencies and a variety of other sources.
Major cities are Juneau and Sitka. Other towns are Petersburg, Metlakatla, Hoonah, Kake, Klawock, Thorne Bay, Yakutat and Gustavus. There are many towns and villages with around 100 people, such as Baranof Warm Springs, Edna Bay, Elfin Cove, Excursion Inlet, Funter Bay, Meyers Chuck, Port Alexander, Port Frederick, Port Protection, Tenakee Springs; this region is home to the easternmost town in Alaska, Hyder. This area is the traditional homeland of the Tlingit, home of a historic settling of Haida as well as a modern settlement of Tsimshian; the region is connected to Seattle and the American Pacific Northwest economically and culturally. Major industries in Southeast Alaska include commercial tourism. Logging has been an important industry in the past, but has been declining with competition from other areas and the closure of the region's major pulp mills, its members include Alcan Forest Products and Viking Lumber, founded in Maine. Debates over whether to expand logging in the federally owned Tongass are not uncommon.
Mining remains important in the northern area with the Juneau mining district and Admiralty mining district hosting active mines as of 2015. Gold played an important part in the early history of the region. In the 2010s, mines begun to be explored and completed in neighboring British Columbia, upstream of important rivers such as the Unuk and the Stikine, which became known as the transboundary mining issue. In 2014, the Mount Polley Mine disaster focused attention on the issue, an agreement between Canada and Alaska was drafted in 2015; the proposed Kerr Sulphurets Mitchell exploration is upstream of the Unuk. Mines upstream of the Stikine include the Red Chris, owned by the same company as the Mount Polley mine; the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and Alaska was the subject of the Alaska boundary dispute, where the United States and the United Kingdom and Brit
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is an American national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west side temperate rainforest and the forests of the drier east side. Within the park there are three distinct ecosystems which are subalpine forest and wildflower meadow, temperate forest, the rugged Pacific coast. President Theodore Roosevelt designated Mount Olympus National Monument on 2 March 1909; the monument was redesignated as a national park by Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt on June 29, 1938. In 1976, Olympic National Park was designated by UNESCO as an International Biosphere Reserve, in 1981 as a World Heritage Site. In 1988, Congress designated 95 percent of the park as the Olympic Wilderness; the coastal portion of the park is a sandy beach along with a strip of adjacent forest. It is just a few miles wide, with native communities at the mouths of two rivers; the Hoh River has the Hoh people and at the town of La Push at the mouth of the Quileute River live the Quileute.
The beach has unbroken stretches of wilderness ranging from 10 to 20 miles. While some beaches are sand, others are covered with heavy rock and large boulders. Bushy overgrowth, slippery footing and misty rain forest weather all hinder foot travel; the coastal strip is more accessible than the interior of the Olympics. The most popular piece of the coastal strip is the 9-mile Ozette Loop; the Park Service runs a reservation program to control usage levels of this area. From the trailhead at Ozette Lake, a 3-mile leg of the trail is a boardwalk-enhanced path through near primal coastal cedar swamp. Arriving at the ocean, it is a 3-mile walk supplemented by headland trails for high tides; this area has traditionally been favored by the Makah from Neah Bay. The third 3-mile leg is enabled by a boardwalk. There are thick groves of trees adjacent to the sand, which results in chunks of timber from fallen trees on the beach; the unaltered Hoh River, toward the south end of the park, discharges large amounts of eroded timber and other drift, which moves north, enriching the beaches.
The removal of driftwood – logs, dead-heads and root-wads from streams and beaches was a major domestication measure across North America. Today driftwood deposits form a commanding presence, biologically as well as visually, giving a taste of the original condition of the beach viewable to some extent in early photos. Drift-material comes from a considerable distance; the smaller coastal portion of the park is separated from the larger, inland portion. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had supported connecting them with a continuous strip of park land; the park is known for its unique turbidites. It has exposed turbidities with white calcite veins. Turbidites are rocks or sediments that travel into the ocean as suspended particles in the flow of water, causing a sedimentary layering effect on the ocean floor. Over time the sediments and rock compact and the process repeats as a constant cycle; the park is known for its tectonic mélanges that have been deemed'smell rocks' by the locals due to its strong petroleum odor.
Mélanges are large individual rocks that are large enough that they are accounted for in map drawings. The Olympic mélanges can be as large as a house. Within the center of Olympic National Park rise the Olympic Mountains whose sides and ridgelines are topped with massive, ancient glaciers; the mountains themselves are products of accretionary wedge uplifting related to the Juan De Fuca Plate subduction zone. The geologic composition is a curious mélange of oceanic sedimentary rock; the western half of the range is dominated by the peak of Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus receives a large amount of snow, has the greatest glaciation of any non-volcanic peak in the contiguous United States outside of the North Cascades, it has several glaciers, the largest of, Hoh Glacier at 3.06 miles in length. Looking to the east, the range becomes much drier due to the rain shadow of the western mountains. Here, there are craggy ridges; the tallest summit of this area is Mount Deception, at 7,788 feet. The western side of the park is mantled by temperate rainforests, including the Hoh Rainforest and Quinault Rainforest, which receive annual precipitation of about 150 inches, making this the wettest area in the continental United States.
As opposed to tropical rainforests and most other temperate rainforest regions, the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest are dominated by coniferous trees, including Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, Coast Douglas-fir and Western redcedar. Mosses coat the bark of these trees and drip down from their branches in green, moist tendrils. Valleys on the eastern side of the park have notable old-growth forest, but the climate is notably drier. Sitka Spruce is absent, trees on average are somewhat smaller, undergrowth is less dense and different in character. Northeast of the park is a rather small rainshadow area where annual precipitation averages about 16 inches; because the park sits on an isolated peninsula, with a high mountain range dividing it from the land to the south, it developed many endemic plant and animal species (like the Olympic Marmot
