Author Archives: jltnatural-admin

August 2015 book selection

goldensprucephotoOn Monday, August 24, 2015 from 3:30-5:00, the JLT Natural History Society Book Club will discuss The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed by John Vaillant. We will meet at the Ilahee Preserve shelter.  Contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org to RSVP and for directions, if needed.

This is the tale of logger-turned-activist Grant Hadwin’s act of protest that resulted in the death of a rare golden spruce tree in the woods of Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands).   In addition to the details of this stranger-than-fiction story, the book presents a wealth of information on the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest.

Vaillant’s writing is often compared to that of Jon Krakauer.

Birding the Dungeness

347On August 26, 2015, naturalist and birder extraordinaire Ken Wilson led our trip to Dungeness, an area with a rich diversity of birds, some of which are scarce in the Port Townsend area.

This is a time of fall migration for numerous species of shorebirds. Recommended were clothing layers to accommodate our unpredictable weather, lunch, beverage, binoculars, and perhaps a bird field guide.

July 2015 book club selection

the-living

On Monday, July 27, 2015, the JLT Natural History Book Club will discuss The Living by Annie Dillard. We will meet at the Ilahee Preserve from 3:30 to 5:00. Contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org to RSVP and for directions, if needed.

The Living is a historical fiction novel of the first settlers in Bellingham Bay. Annie Dillard became acquainted with the area while living on Lummi Island for five years in the mid 1970s.

The book begins in 1855 with a group of white settlers watching the ship sail away as they stand on the beach at the edge of the dark Northwest forest.  Annie Dillard introduces us to various people in that area during the last half of the nineteenth century—pioneer farmers and loggers, native peoples of the Northwest, Chinese immigrants, railroad men, men seeking gold in Alaska, women from Eastern cities raising children in the newly settled Northwest.  The precariousness of life in the wilderness is revealed as we learn of the many hardships of pioneer life in the Northwest.

June 2015 Book Club Selection

sand county almanac3The Natural History Society Book Club will meet on Monday, June 22, 3:30-5:00, at the Ilahee Preserve shelter, to discuss  A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold.

In A Sand County Almanc, a classic of the conservation movement,  Aldo Leopold sets forth his idea of a “land ethic,” a responsible relationship between people and the land they inhabit.  His foreword begins, “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.  These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.”

This 1949 non-fiction book’s influence is comparable to that of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Thoreau’s Walden. 

RSVP to Jean for directions at jltnatural@saveland.org

Devils Lake and Forest

Join us on Tuesday, June 30 for an outing hosted by the Natural History Society, the Native Plant Society and the Northwest Watershed Institute.

655Meet at Quilcene Forest Service Center before 9 am. We will visit one of the rarest forest community types in Washington — mature Douglas fir, western hemlock, evergreen huckleberry and Pacific rhododendron are the featured species. Only eight significant examples of this forest type have been identified in Washington.

791We will also spend some time at the Devils Lake fen/bog to see wetland species including a rare sedge, sundew, bog bean, bog laurel, etc.  Devils Lake is a fascinating site which has been preserved as a Natural Resources Conservation Area by the Department of Natural Resources.

Peter Bahls, Director of Northwest Watershed Institute, will also update us on the current effort to expand the Devils Lake Natural Area to protect the entirety of the rare forest at this site as well as protect the most recently discovered site of this rare forest community at Lemonds Road on the Coyle Peninsula.  Because of the sensitive nature of the fen habitat the number of participants on this field trip will be limited. Rubber boots are advised.

Contact Fred Weinmann to sign up or for further information: fweinmann@cablespeed.com