by Cheryl Lowe
Dungeness Spit, a narrow 5-mile arc of sand, gravel, and cobble jutting out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is the central feature of the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. The spit, sometimes only 100 ft wide at the highest tides, protects a complex of lagoons and tide flats that shelter migrating shorebirds in spring and fall, a bay for wintering waterfowl, and expanses of eelgrass meadows rich in marine life. Rising above the base of the spit on the west side is a quiet forest of Douglas fir, western hemlock, western redcedar, Pacific madrone, and red alder.
The spit, fed by a regular influx of sediment from nearby bluffs in a process known as longshore drift, continues to grow lengthwise approximately 15 feet per year. The accumulating sands and gravels are reinforced by a complex, woven spine of driftwood and adorned with a rich variety of coastal dune plant species.
The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1915 as a refuge, preserve, and breeding ground for native birds. Over 100 species of plants have been recorded here, along with 244 species of birds, 29 species of mammals, 8 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 26 species of fish. For more info, go to https://www.fws.gov/
