Department of Biological Sciences, Fort Hays State University Instructor: Mark Eberle                  Course Homepage

Course Description and Itinerary

Independent Readings: May-June 2009
Pre-trip Meeting: Evening of 17 July 2009 (Friday)
Fieldtrip: 18 July (Saturday) to 29 July (Wednesday) 2009 (12 days)

For additional information and permission to enroll, contact:
Mark Eberle, Department of Biological Sciences
Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas 67601
785-628-5264 -- meberle@fhsu.edu

Heceta Head Lighthouse on the Central Oregon Coast
Photographs by Mark Eberle, August 1998, and Eric Hoch, July 2002

COURSE OVERVIEW: This fieldcourse emphasizes the study of ecological processes through firsthand observations of forests, coastal dunes, an estuary, and tidepools that occur along the Pacific Coast of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. En route to and from the coast, we stop at sites in the Rocky Mountains, Cascade Mountains, Sierra Nevada, and Great Basin. We explore ecological features of each community, such as community organization, succession, productivity, and nutrient cycling. Although we identify species that characterize the various communities, the emphasis is on the processes associated with these organisms and their environment. We also consider the geological forces that continue to shape the landscape.

BOOK: The content of this course is largely based on the book The Northwest Coast: A Natural History by Stewart Schultz, which is no longer in print. Thus, the natural history information associated with this course is summarized on this website. Two references strongly recommended that would be useful for students unfamiliar with the biota of the northwestern United States are:

• Chris Beatty and John Ledges.  1999.  The Ecopress Complete Guide to Native Conifers of the Pacific Northwest.  Ecopress, Minneapolis, Minnesota. $4.95.  This is a laminated, bifold card with good color pictures and brief descriptions of diagnostic features of 33 species of conifers, which we will use to characterize the various forest communities in relation to their general ecological relationships.
• J. Duane Sept.  1999.  The Beachcomber's Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest.  Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, British Columbia.  235 pages.  $24.95 (paperback).  This book has good color photographs and brief descriptions of virtually all of the animals and algae we will see in the tidepools, plus brief explanations of tides and habitats. This book would be useful to each student as we spread out across the tidepools on the several trips we will take along the rocky shoreline in Oregon.

PREREQUISITES AND ENROLLMENT: This class is intended for biology students and science teachers who have some background in biology (>10 semester hours of college biology courses recommended) and a broad interest in natural history. Students must have an appropriate attitude about camping in tents for several nights and the ~4500 miles to be traveled in the van. FHSU students should register during the spring semester. Other students will need to apply for admission to the university before enrolling in the course.

DATES: Reading and writing assignments must be completed during June, and there is a pre-trip meeting at FHSU on the day prior to our departure. The trip is made in late July and early August to coincide with the brief summer season at high elevations and the best available low tides (associated with a new moon or full moon). An itinerary for the next trip is at the bottom of this webpage.

INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS ABOUT ORGANIZING THIS EXTENDED FIELDTRIP: Details on preparation by the instructor for this fieldtrip (Instructor's Guide) are summarized for their use by other instructors considering similar fieldtrips of their own. Use of any information or images from this website is welcome, but should be acknowledged.

A virtual fieldtrip is provided elsewhere on this website, but a brief outline of the trip is provided here. The trips to and from the coast are largely spent driving, but they also include several interesting sites. As we begin our trip across northwestern Kansas and southwestern Nebraska, we are traveling across the High Plains, a relatively flat expanse of material eroded from the Rocky Mountains and deposited by water and wind over layers of sedimentary rocks (e.g., sandstones and limestones). Along their eastern boundary, the High Plains are sometimes referred to as the "dissected plains", because streams have cut relatively deep channels through the the upper deposits.

After traveling west into Wyoming, we leave the High Plains and take a detour from I-80 on WY-130 southwest of Laramie. This highway has been designated as the Snowy Range Scenic Byway, which passes through coniferous forests to treeline in one of the northernmost ranges of what are referred to as the Southern Rocky Mountains. We then return to I-80 and cross the Wyoming Basin to Evanston, near the Wyoming-Utah border. On our second day, we drive along the suburban eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah and follow the Snake River Plain across southern Idaho. The Snake River Plain marks the path of a large volcanic caldera created as the continental plate moved to the west; the caldera is now in Yellowstone National Park. We also stop briefly in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon to identify a few species of conifers, and then we cross the Columbia River into Washington for our second overnight stop at Yakima.

WASHINGTON: Early on the third day, we arrive at Mount Rainier National Park, a volcanic peak within the Cascade Mountains. Mount Rainier (14,411 feet) has the most extensive system of glaciers in the 48 contiguous United States, and the park encompasses a variety of forest communities. We make several stops in the park to explore the forest communities, brilliant displays of wildflowers, glaciers, a waterfall, and a thermal area. On earlier trips, we spent 1-2 days in Olympic National Park. To shorten the trip and reduce the cost, we now explore features of coastal temperate rain forests at stops in Oregon and northern California.

OREGON: When we leave Washington, we recross the Columbia River and drive down the scenic coast highway (US-101), where we come to our first campground with an ocean beach (Beverly Beach State Park), just north of Newport. The next morning in Newport, we get an introduction to marine ecosystems at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. The aquarium is a 2.5-acre complex of indoor tanks filled with plants, invertebrates, and fishes from various marine environments, plus outdoor exhibits, including a walk-through aviary, 3 walk-through deep-water tanks, and pools for sea otters, sea lions, and seals.

From Newport, we continue south on US-101 to Coos Bay and spend the afternoon exploring the extensive coastal dunes of the Oregon Coast Dunes National Recreation Area (administered by the US Forest Service) between Heceta Head and Cape Arago. In the dunes, we visit a bog of cobra lilies (carnivorous plants), stop at a dune overlook to view a dune restoration project, and hike through the dune ecosystems.

From the dunes, we continue on to our second campsite with an ocean beach (Sunset Bay State Park). During our 2-night stay at Sunset Bay, we visit the rocky tidepools at Sunset Bay early in the mornings and in the evenings, seeing many of the organisms in nature that we had seen at the aquarium in Newport. We also stop at the Simpson Reef viewpoint, where it is possible to observe as many as 4 species of seals and sea lions, as well as various seabirds.

During our stay at Sunset Bay, we spend part of a morning at the Coos Bay estuary, the largest estuary between San Francisco Bay and the Columbia River, with a visit to the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, the first to be established in the nation. The reserve includes nature trails through coastal forests along Hidden Creek and onto a boardwalk across the wetlands of the slough. At this midpoint of the trip, we also do laundry and relax at Shore Acres State Park, which includes English and Japanese gardens and rose beds landscaped on bluffs overlooking the ocean.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: Following our 2 nights near Coos Bay, we continue south along the coast (with incredibly scenic views of the ocean and coast) into northern California to visit Redwood National and State Parks. The redwood forest is the southern end of the temperate rain forest that extends northward along the coast into Alaska. Our campground is home to some of the tallest trees in the world, and the nearby meadows are good places to observe elk in the morning or evening. We also take a short hike through Fern Canyon, with vertical rock walls covered with ferns.

From the coast, we travel inland across the southern Klamath Mountains and the Central Valley of California to visit forests of the southern Cascade Mountains and Sierra Nevada. In 2009, we may make our first visit to Lassen Volcanic National Park at the southern end of the Cascade Mountains. Being part of the Cascades, the area is still an active volcanic area, and we will drive among several volcanic peaks and hike through hydrothermal areas. Next, we spend a night in the Sierra Nevada near Arnold, California, at Calaveras Big Tree State Park, which includes 2 groves of giant sequoias (also known as Sierra redwoods or "big trees"). We hike through one of the groves in the park. The following day, we wind our way a relatively short distance to the north over the crest of the Sierra Nevada to Lake Tahoe before heading east across the Nevada desert.

THE ROAD HOME: Our last overnight stop on the trip is Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada, where we observe changes in the vegetation from the big sagebrush community on the desert floor to a grove of ancient bristlecone pines at treeline on Wheeler Peak (13,061 feet). The next day, we make the long drive back along I-70 through the Canyonlands of Utah and over the Colorado Plateau before crossing the Southern Rocky Mountains west of Denver and returning to the Great Plains.

The cost of the university van is paid through the Department of Biological Sciences. We camp in developed national and state parks. All but 2 campgrounds have hot showers, although you will need quarters to operate the showers in California. Tents, a campstove, cooking utensils, and ice chests are provided by the Department of Biological Sciences. Students must provide their own sleeping bag and other personal gear (a checklist is provided below). During the long drive to the coast, motel accommodations are made for the first 2 nights at Evanston, Wyoming and Yakima, Washington in the interest of safety and time. Students share the costs of campground fees and motels; food costs are the responsibility of individual students, although group meals are likely while camping. If you have special dietary requirements, please notify the instructor (contact information is at the top of this webpage). Students enroll in Topics in Biology: Pacific NW -- BIOL 607 (3 credit hours).

Estimated total costs per person for Kansas residents in 2007 were:

• Tuition: $319 for undergraduate students and $441 for graduate students;
• Motels/campgrounds (10 nights): ~$75;
• Food (11 days): ~$100;
• Recommended books: $30;
• Souvenirs, etc.: ?

Although the outstanding scenery is an asset of this trip, students should keep in mind that the primary purpose of this excursion is education rather than vacation, and grades are assigned at the end of the course. On-site commentary is provided by the instructor and occasionally by local interpreters; however, the educational portion of this trip is not limited to only those periods when we are stopped at each of the sites. While riding in the van, students are involved in observing, discussing, or reading about the natural history of the areas that we visit. The following components of the course are used to determine grades:

Undergraduate Students	Graduate Students
class participation	class participation
written answers to study guide	written answers to study guide
post-trip written summary	post-trip written summary
	leading a trip activity

Cape Blanco Lighthouse, Southern Oregon
Photograph by Eric Hoch, July 2002

POSSIBLE ITINERARY -- 2009

DATE	DAY	ROUTE	OVERNIGHT (Campsite numbers)	SITES
July 17	F	FHSU: Evening meeting
July 18	Sa	Hays to Evanston, WY (MDT)	Motel 6	Snowy Mountains (S Rockies), WY
July 19	Su	to Yakima, WA (PDT)	Motel 6	1000 Springs, ID; Blue Mountains, OR
July 20	M	to Mt Rainier NP, WA	Cougar Rock Campground (D21)	Cascade Mountain Forests
July 21	Tu	to Newport, OR	Beverly Beach SP (F21)	Oregon Coast
July 22	W	to Coos Bay, OR (new moon)	Sunset Bay SP (C14)	Oregon Coast Aquarium; Oregon Dunes
July 23	Th		Sunset Bay SP (C14)	Tidepools; South Slough Estuary
July 24	F	to Prairie Creek SP, CA	Elk Prairie Campground (41)	Redwood Forest, Fern Canyon
July 25	Sa	to Lassen Volcanic NP, CA	Campground	Hydrothermal Features
July 26	Su	to Arnold, CA	Calaveras Big Trees SP Oak Hollow Campground	Sequoia Grove
July 27	M	to Fallon, NV	Super 8	Sierra Nevada Forests; Lake Tahoe
July 28	Tu	to Baker, NV	Wheeler Peak Campground	Great Basin NP (Wheeler Peak)
July 29	W	to Hays (MDT / CDT)		Utah Canyonlands; Colorado Rockies

 

CDT, MDT, PDT -- days on which we cross into the indicated time zones.

NP = National Park; NRA = National Recreation Area; SP = State Park.

Except for NP campgrounds, showers will be available each day.

All campgrounds have flush toilets, except Great Basin NP.

Laundry facilities will be available near Sunset Bay SP, midway through the trip.

STUDENT CHECKLIST

STUDENT GEAR

sleeping bag  sleeping pad pillow 1 backpack or similarly sized suitcase/dufflebag 1 daypack/fannypack with water bottle(s) clothing for 6 days (we will do laundry) sweatshirt or sweater; evenings and mornings will be cool light raincoat hat (for protection from sun and rain) comfortable walking shoes -- break in new shoes BEFORE the trip 1 extra pair of shoes or boots with good soles that you can get wet in the tidepools "shower sandals" toiletries/medicines bath towel sunglasses sunscreen insect repellent pen (Recommended: Uni-ball Vision Micro (waterproof ink) available at Wal-Mart) camera flashlight binoculars driver's license proof of health insurance credit card/cash (for food, plus souvenirs, books, etc. that you want to purchase) notebook (a laptop PC is welcome, but our campsites will not have electricity) class materials provided by instructor

ITEMS PROVIDED BY THE UNIVERSITY

van camp stove, cooking utensils, plates, etc. tents ice chest and drink coolers admission fee to aquarium

OTHER ITEMS

field guides -- This is a link to a list (pdf file) of field guides and other references provided by the instructor; you may bring field guides to organisms of specific interest.

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