National Parks – Just Another Nature Enthusiast

Weekly Photo Challenge: “Dialogue” Sea Stars
09/01/201409/14/2022
-Piaster ochraceus- Ochre Sea Star Keystone predator controls density of mussel population. Crucial in maintaining organization and diversity of intertidal zones. -Sea Star Wasting Syndrome- Largest mortality event for marine diseases yet seen. Warming waters? Bacterial? Viral? Scientists test theories. Meanwhile… Sea Stars perish up and down Pacific Coast. What next… Science behind this post: Scientists Close in on What’s Killing Sea Stars The Keystone Species Concept in Ecology and Conservation…

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“The Edge of the Sea”
05/28/201409/12/2022
“The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place. All through the long history of Earth it has been an area of unrest where waves have broken heavily against the land…” Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea And along the edge of the sea, in wondrous intertidal zones, live a multitude of organisms… as our Oregon Master Naturalist class discovered when we investigated the Rocky…

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“Monument” Weekly Photo Challenge
04/13/201412/20/2014
Fort Clatsop – Oregon Lewis & Clark Winter Shelter – 12/1805 to 3/1806 Although this fort is small, it represents an achievement of monumental proportion. Under orders made by President Thomas Jefferson, The Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, traveled 7,689 miles in two years, four months, and two days (May 14, 1804 – September 23, 1806). The expedition provided maps, reports, and data about geologic formations, peoples,…

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“Perspective” Weekly Photo Challenge- 2nd Take
03/08/201412/10/2020
Yaquina Head – Lighthouse Lens/ Lighthouse Standing 93 feet tall at the westernmost point of the basalt headland, the lighthouse has been a bright beacon of the night, guiding ships and their supplies along the west coast since the light was first lit on August 20, 1873. This week’s photo challenge is about perspective: post a photo which is not what it seems to be. Make sure you share what…

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Ft Clatsop/Maritime Museum
02/01/201408/31/2022
February 1, 2014- Human History in the Coast Range Ecoregion (North) Fort Clatsop Fort Clatsop provided an iconic location to begin a conversation about human history in the Coast Range Ecoregion. The fort represents a place where cultural, political, economic, and ecological ideologies engaged in ways that eventually set the stage for a course of events that would change the face of the Western frontier lands … forever. It was…

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Curious by nature?