OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — This season’s Perspectives series will address topics ranging from bees to river restoration to sea star wasting syndrome to the state of Blue Glacier.
Olympic National Park and Friends of Olympic National Park schedule all but one of the free Perspectives programs on the second Tuesday of each month through May.
The first program, “A Little Bit About Bees,” will be the third Tuesday of the month, Nov. 18, because of the Veterans Day holiday next Tuesday.
All programs are at 7 p.m. at the park visitor center at 3002 Mount Angeles Road in Port Angeles.
Seating is limited, so attendees are urged to arrive early.
Park bees
About 4,000 species of native bees exist in North America, and there may be 800 species in the park, according to Jerry Freilich, the park’s research coordinator and director of the North Coast and Cascades Science Learning Network, who holds a doctorate in aquatic ecology.
Most bees are tiny, do not bother people and are vital to the ecosystem as pollinators, Freilich said.
He will discuss the haunts and habits of some of the lesser known species.
‘Free at Last’
Andrew Ritchie, park geomorphologist, will present “Free at Last: Elwha River Through Three Years of Dam Removal” on Dec. 9.
The past three years have seen dramatic changes in the Elwha Valley as millions of tons of sediment are released from behind the dams, Ritchie said.
He will discuss how the river has responded to the shift from a sediment-starved to a sediment-rich system.
The disappearance of the Mills and Aldwell reservoirs and the sediment wave moving downstream, the growth of logjams and river bars, and the growing beach at the mouth of the Elwha River will be illustrated through time-lapse videos and fly-throughs.
Demolition of the last dam on the Elwha River, the Glines Canyon, was finished in August. Elwha Dam was demolished by March 2012.
Lakebed restoration
Joshua Chenoweth, park restoration ecologist, will present “Jump Starting Recovery” on Jan. 13.
He will tell the continuing story of revegetation and restoration of the former lakebeds of the Elwha Valley.
Fish in the park
Sam Brenkman, park fisheries biologist, will discuss studies of fish in the park Feb. 10 in “Perspectives on the Role of Science and Technology in Managing Pacific Salmonids in Olympic National Park.”
The presentation will explore some of the technologies being used to unveil the distribution, abundance and migration patterns of salmonids.
Some featured techniques include radiotelemetry, genetics, environmental DNA and ear bone chemistry.
The presentation also will reveal findings from headwaters to sea snorkel surveys and thermal imaging in major Olympic Peninsula rivers.
Sea star wasting
The impacts of sea star wasting syndrome, as documented by long-term surveys and citizen science monitoring, will be presented March 10.
Melissa Miner, a researcher with the University of California, Santa Cruz, will present “Sea Star Wasting Syndrome: Losing a Keystone Predator.”
Sea stars are dying by the millions on the West Coast of the syndrome in which they seem to be sick and “deflated” and then “melt” into a white substance.
Blue Glacier
Howard Conway of the University of Washington will present “Blue Glacier: Past, Present and Future” on April 14.
Like other alpine glaciers worldwide, Blue Glacier in the Olympic Mountains has shrunk.
The University of Washington has conducted research on Blue Glacier since 1957, creating a record of change that is among the longest for any glacier in North America.
Conway has a doctorate in chemical and process engineering.
