NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



169 



The Pacific Ocean borders the state on 

 the west, forming in many places, long, 

 straight beaches of sand behind which 

 sand dunes are often extensive. Such 

 dune areas are found in the vicinity of 

 Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. These 

 dune regions may be reached from Aber- 

 deen, Hoquiam, South Bend or Ilwaco. 

 The mouth of the Columbia River 

 forms a broad navigable indentation 

 between Washington and Oregon. A 

 little north of this river is Willapa Bay 

 which forms an extensive harbor, largely 

 enclosed by a long peninsula of sand 

 extending north from the rocks at the 

 north side of the mouth of the Columbia 

 River. There are extensive sand dunes 

 on this peninsula. Grays Harbor, also 

 enclosed partially by sandy peninsulas, 

 lies to the north of Willapa Bay. 



In some places, notably toward the 

 north the coast of this state is rocky. 

 There is a considerable extent of rocky 

 coast in the vicinity of Cape Flattery. 



The most extensive indentation of the 

 coast is that formed by Puget Sound and 

 the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This 

 indentation begins with the Strait, which 

 forms the northern boundary of the state 

 for about 100 mi. and is extended by the 

 Sound, which continues south about 80 

 mi. The shores of Puget Sound as well 

 as those of the numerous islands that it 

 contains are very irregular. High bluffs 

 of glacial till and of rock are common 

 along these shores, though in some places 

 there are sandy beaches and in others 

 salt marshes are common. 



The Olympic peninsula lies between 

 Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. It 

 is largely mountainous. Mount Olym- 

 pus (8150 ft.) has extensive glaciers. 

 The peninsula contains several large 

 lakes. 



The San Juan Islands lying between 

 the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Gulf 

 of Georgia are so attractive from the 

 standpoint of their natural features as 

 to deserve special mention. The rain 

 fall in these islands is scanty— usually 

 about 20 inches— contrasting with an 

 average of about 34 inches in Seattle and 



over 100 at Cape Flattery and other points 

 on the west coast of the state. There 

 are considerable exposures of bare rock 

 on these islands, and the soil where 

 present is usually thin. There is glacial 

 till in some depressions and on some 

 slopes, especially on north slopes. Lime 

 is abundant at several places on San 

 Juan Island. Some of the smaller 

 islands of the group are flat topped and 

 extremely dry. Mount Constitution 

 (2500 ft.) is situated on Orcas Island and 

 is the highest point in the islands. It 

 commands a view of the whole group of 

 the San Juan Islands as well as of some 

 of the mainland and Vancouver 

 Island. 



B. LAND AND FRESHWATER PLANT AND 

 ANIMAL COMMUNITIES 



The plant communities of the state, 

 considered in the larger sense, may be 

 grouped under seven heads. In prepar- 

 ing the following account of them free 

 use has been made of the chapter on 

 Zonal Distribution of Washington Plants 

 in Piper's Flora of Washington. The 

 names of the Merriam life zones are 

 used in parentheses. (The section on 

 sagebrush vegetation was written by 

 Ellis B. Harris.) 



1. Northwestern moist coniferous forest 



{see also British Columbia, page 



153, and Oregon, -page 181) 



A. Plants.^ The great luxuriant for- 

 ests of Douglas fir (Humid Transition 

 zone), are continuous over all of western 

 Washington that is not included in the 

 following belts. Characteristic trees in 

 addition to the Douglas fir, which often 

 forms 90% of the forest, are giant cedar 

 western hemlock {Tsuga heterophylla), 

 red alder {Alnus oregona), broadleaf 

 maple {Acer macrophylhtm) , and vine 

 maple {A. circinatum). Large areas of 

 virgin forest are still found in this belt. 

 They are extremely damp and their 



1 Scientific names of plants and animals men- 

 tioned in the British Columbia account do not 

 occur here. (See page 150.) 



