Lecture Series: Title: Why Here? Legacies of a Cultural Tsunami

Lecture series by:

Dave Peter PhD—Retired US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Ecologist  AND  Stan Graham—Retired US Forest Service, Olympic National Forest, Assistant Fire Management Officer

The Olympic Peninsula is generally characterized as a land of forests. But while there are many forests and while forest potential exists nearly everywhere else, what settlers found when they arrived was a richer landscape of forests, open woodlands, savannas and prairies. What was not appreciated was that these openings were the work of native people managing the landscape to better serve their needs. What greeted settlers eyes suggested great promise. But the Olympic Peninsula challenged the settlers toolbox in ways they hadn’t expected and often they were discouraged as their efforts to farm went unrewarded. We will explore the native landscape that greeted the settlers. Why the forests and prairies were where they were and why most are now gone. And, why farms, towns and managed forests are where they are. How did nature interact with Native management and later with settler management to create their respective landscapes?