PORT ANGELES — The challenges of measuring snow in the remote Olympic wilderness will be the topic of this Tuesday’s presentation in the Olympic National Parks’ Perspectives Winter Speaker Series.
The free talks take place at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month through April. All programs are offered at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center at 3002 Mount Angeles Road in Port Angeles.
January’s topic will be “Snowpack Across the Olympics.”
Ryan Currier, a doctoral student at the University of Washington, will talk about different technologies that researchers are testing to measure snowpack across the landscape and to provide better information to downstream water users.
On Feb. 14, the park will premiere a film on the Elwha River restoration.
“The Elwha Undammed: What’s a River For?” — filmed by Jeff Gersh of Narrative Labs — will focus on the dam removal that was completed in 2014.
“The movie chronicles the voices of the many partners that contributed to this historic restoration project and is a saga of competing ideas about the purpose and meaning of a river,” the park said in a news release.
On March 14, fire in the park will be the topic.
Todd Rankin, a federal Department of the Interior fire management officer for Olympic National Park, will present “Fire in the Olympics.”
He will discuss fires in the rain forest as well as unusually early and active fire seasons.
Audience members will hear about the history of fire on the Olympic landscape, its ecological benefits and the park service’s options for managing fire.
On April 11, park biologist Patti Happe, Ph.D., will talk about “Mountain Goats in Olympic National Park.”
She will present information on the current trends and distribution of mountain goats on the Olympic Peninsula and provide an update on mountain goat management planning.
The series is sponsored by Olympic National Park and the Friends of Olympic National Park.
