Department of Environmental Sciences
Huxley College of the Environment
Western Washington University

Fall 2009
Wednesdays 2-3 pm BH 417
Fridays 1-4 pm by ES garage doors or in CF 231 as noted

Instructor: John McLaughlin	Teaching Assistant: Jody Gerdts
Office: ES 434	Office: ES 341
Phone: 650-7617	Phone: 650-6247
E-mail:	E-mail: gerdts[at]students.wwu.edu
( Please do not send attachments in proprietary formats.)
Office Hours: Tue 11-12, Wed 3-4, Thur 11-12	Office Hours: MW 10-11 and by appt.

Texts: Mathews, Daniel. 1999. Cascade-Olympic Natural History, 2^nd ed., Raven Ed., Portland, OR.
Kruckeberg, Arthur R. 1991. The Natural History of Puget Sound Country, Univ. Washington Press, Seattle, WA. (recommended)
Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A, eds. 1994. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Lone Pine Pub., Vancouver, BC. (recommended)
Additional readings as assigned: available in course binder in Huxley Library, ES 545.

Required Equipment: A sturdy field notebook with a waterproof cover
A pack suitable for carrying clothing, equipment, water, and food during field trips.

Prerequisites: BIOL 101 Introduction to Biology (or equivalent), AND CHEM 115 OR CHEM 121 General Chemistry
OR instructor permission.

In this course you will learn to recognize natural patterns in the Pacific Northwest. Each region on Earth is characterized by natural phenomena that form a unique set of patterns in space and time. These patterns range in scale from drought-tolerant traits on individual leaves to elevational gradients in plant biomass. The patterns can be organized by ecological, climatological, hydrological, and geological categories. Natural history is an attempt to recognize and describe those patterns, and it is a prerequisite to understanding their origins and likely futures. Studying natural history is essential to developing ecological literacy. To live ethically in a finite world, a person must know something about the organisms and processes maintaining that world and how our activities affect them. This course is an introduction to the fascinating patterns that characterize our region, with an emphasis on ecological examples. Because the scope of Pacific Northwest natural history far exceeds time available in this course, the primary course goal will be to inspire life-long study of natural history and to help you develop observational and deductive abilities to support that pursuit. Accordingly, most instruction will endeavor to help you observe nature directly and insightfully.

After successfully completing the course, you should be able to do the following in our region.

1. Recognize and identify important ecological, climatological, hydrological, and geological patterns.

2. Identify many organisms found in various Pacific Northwest environments.

3. Observe diverse organisms and deduce what structural or behavioral traits help them survive.

4. Articulate the basic ecological, climatological, hydrological, and geological principles that operate in the Pacific Northwest.

5. Develop observation skills sufficient to enter an unfamiliar area in the Pacific Northwest and determine what processes have shaped it.

6. Recognize anthropogenic impacts and describe effects of those impacts on organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems.

This is primarily a field course, complemented by some indoor presentations, discussions, and activities. If you would find hiking on rugged trails for eight hours to be an unreasonable physical challenge, please see the Instructor or Teaching Assistant before the second course meeting. Although the schedule may change according to the weather, you should come to class prepared to be outside regardless of weather conditions. There will be three weekend field trips, with attendance on at least one required for a passing grade. On the first weekend trip, we will camp at a drive-in campground on Friday and Saturday nights. The second weekend trip will include an overnight backpacking trip to a backcountry campsite without developed facilities. For the first and second weekend trips you will need to bring your own camping gear. The third weekend trip will be a day hike in snow-covered terrain, depending on late autum weather. For that trip you will need snowshoes or cross-country skis. Equipment can be rented at reasonable rates from the WWU Outdoor Center; see the following web site for details:

http://outdoor.as.wwu.edu/equipment.php

Assigned excerpts from the following sources are available online or on reserve in Wilson Library.

Acker SA, Beechie TJ, Shafroth PB. 2008. Effects of a natural dam-break flood on geomorphology and vegetation on the Elwha River, Washington, U.S.A. Northwest Science 82(sp1):210-223.
Halfpenny, James C. 1999. A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in Western America. NetLibrary, Inc., Boulder, CO. [electronic resource]
Fleischner, T. L. 2001. Natural history and the spiral of offering. Wild Earth 11(4)10-13.
URL: http://www.prescott.edu/faculty_staff/faculty/tfleischner/documents/NHandSpiralofOffering.pdf
Norse, E. A. 1990. Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest. Island Press, Washington, D.C.

Grades will be based on a field journal, two natural history reports, a practical exam, a natural history portfolio, presentation of the portfolio to the class, and informed participation on class discussions and field trips. Each item is due at the beginning of class on the assigned date, except the exam and the presentation, which will occur during class. Due to the difficulty of timely evaluation of weekly journals and other assignments, late work cannot be accepted. Assignments, weights, and due dates are listed below.

Course Schedule: (contingent upon weather conditions)

Professional portfolio of recent Huxley graduate, Logan Parsons