PORT ANGELES — Olympic National Park will begin its Perspectives Winter Speaker Series with a presentation on canopy research Tuesday.
The free talks will be at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month from November through April.
This season’s series will be at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St., while the Olympic National Park Visitor Center is closed for renovation.
“We invite our neighbors and visitors to see Olympic National Park through new perspectives,” said Olympic National Park Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum.
“Science, research and collaboration provide new windows on the park and are all featured in this year’s series.”
Topics for the series sponsored by Olympic National Park and the Friends of Olympic National Park are:
• Tuesday — “Roots in the Sky: Canopy Research in Olympic National Park” by Korena Mafune, Ph.D. candidate, University of Washington.
Mafune has climbed high into the tops of rainforest maples to study the role of adventitious roots growing in canopy soils. What role do they play, and can these roots help trees survive in a changing climate?
• Dec. 12 — “Ozette Archeology — A Retrospective” by Paul Gleeson, retired chief of cultural resources for the park.
Over 300 years ago, a mudslide at the Ozette village crushed buildings and encapsulated a moment of village life and Makah tradition. Evidence of the tragedy surfaced in 1966. Gleeson, who worked on the excavation, will tell about the dig.
• Jan. 9 — “Geology and Earthquakes on the Olympic Peninsula” by Dann May of Peninsula College.
Evidence reveals a history of a massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the local region in 1700. May will discuss how geological forces have shaped the area’s landscape.
• Feb. 13 — “Fishers in Olympic National Park” by Patricia Happe, Ph.D., wildlife biologist for Olympic National Park.
Fishers were reintroduced to Olympic National Park in 2008-10 and quickly spread throughout the Olympic Peninsula. Happe will share the latest results from the multi-agency monitoring of the forest carnivore.
• March 13 — “A Final Assessment of Elwha Revegetation” by Josh Chenoweth, restoration ecologist with Olympic National Park.
Chenoweth will tell of the results of six years of revegetation efforts in the Elwha River reservoirs and share predictions on future vegetation changes. He will talk of what worked and what didn’t as active revegetation winds down and nature takes over.
• April 10 — “Whale Rescue” by John Calambokidis, research biologist for Cascadia Research.
A dramatic response by multiple agencies led to the successful rescue of a stranded gray whale from the beach near Kalaloch in Olympic National Park in August. Calambokidis will tell of those whose efforts helped rescue the whale and give an update on the latest gray whale research.
