Wildflowers of Washington’s Olympic Mountains – Feb. 21 – WLS 2021

The Olympic Mountains are a coastal range in the northwest corner of Washington state. Early in his career Mark Garland, a Cape May-based naturalist, worked as a naturalist in Olympic National Park. The mountain range’s unusual geology and high annual precipitation combine to nurture exceptional subalpine meadow wildflower displays in summer, and these mountains’ isolation has resulted in the evolution of several endemic species. Experience spectacular floral displays and meet many of the flowers found in these meadows during this illustrated program. Some may seem familiar — there are several genera found here that are represented by related species in Pennsylvania and surrounding states.

Mark S. Garland is a naturalist who has professionally shared his enthusiasm for nature with others for over 40 years. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Maryland’s College of Agriculture. His work experience includes six years as a ranger/naturalist with the National Park Service, 17 years with the Audubon Naturalist Society (based in the Washington, D.C., area), and four years with New Jersey Audubon Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory. He is the author of the book “Watching Nature: A Mid-Atlantic Natural History” (Smithsonian Press, 1997), and of the “Canal Walk” chapter in the “Anthology of City Birding” (Stackpole Books, 2003). He founded the Cape Charles, Virginia, monarch butterfly research project in 1995, and in 2015 became the director of the New Jersey Audubon Cape May Bird Observatory’s monarch monitoring project. He has co-authored three scientific papers on the Cape Charles monarch migration project.