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RodF
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PostThu Dec 12, 2013 1:57 am 
Gunnar Fagerlund served as Olympic National Park's first Chief Naturalist from 1947 to '57. He initiated an interpretive program of talks, guided walks, nature trails, museum exhibits and publications relating to the park. In 1954, NPS initiated it's Natural History Handbook series with the publication of his 67-page "Olympic National Park" natural history booklet. It provides a brief but excellent overview of the Park's diverse ecosystems, their geology, glaciers, forests, plants, wildlife and history. For sale for 30 cents in Park visitors centers, it was very popular; revised editions issued in 1957 and 1965.
The last edition is now available as a free, downloadable e-book, or can be read online, at this link provided by Clemson University. (A slower online version of the 1954 edition is also available online at nps.gov). (Those who want more, I recommend Daniel Mathews' Cascade-Olympic Natural History : A Trailside Reference). After a varied career with NPS, Gunnar and Francis Fagerlund retired to Dungeness WA in 1966, and founded the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society. Both have now passed away; Gunnar in 2011 at age 102 and Francis two years earlier at 100. obituary

"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir "the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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gb
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PostMon Dec 23, 2013 12:14 pm 
That still remains a good read.

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RodF
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PostWed Jan 15, 2014 7:27 am 
gb wrote:
That still remains a good read.
Indeed, it does! For more on Gunnar Fagerlund's legacy, see Hal Rothman's "American Eden - The Administrative History of Olympic National Park" (NPS, 2006) pages 251-4:
in American Eden, Rothman wrote:
The Fagerlund Era The impetus behind a more comprehensive interpretation program came from the park’s first naturalist, Gunnar Fagerlund. He arrived at Olympic National Park in 1947, transferring from Hawaii National Park. During most of his tenure at Olympic, he served as the park’s only permanent naturalist, overseeing the daily interpretive activities inside the park and acting as outreach coordinator... Leopold’s concept of an intertwined relationship between people and their park inspired Fagerlund. The park naturalist’s communication program conveyed this complicated vision to visitors. As very little ethnography or archaeology had yet been conducted at Olympic, Fagerlund necessarily focused on the park’s natural history and features. In the early 1950s, assisted by seasonal rangers, Fagerlund led weekly scheduled talks at different locations, including Heart O’Hills, Rosemary Inn, Sol Duc Hot Springs, Staircase, and Hurricane Ridge. Natural history – “Roundtrip of a Raindrop,” “Rain Forest,” “Animals in Olympic,” “Wilderness Coast,” and “What’s Flowering Now” – dominated the topics, along with a “Where to Go” introduction to the park. These talks supplemented the nature leaflets intended for self-guiding trails, including Hurricane Ridge, Storm King, and the Hoh rain forest. Fagerlund and his seasonal staff developed and led free educational activities for visitors, which included exhibits and slide lectures at Lake Crescent and illustrated campfire talks at La Poel campground. Fagerlund also supervised field trips for school groups and associations on various topics, including tree identification. Small information stations at Lake Crescent, Storm King, and Big Meadows aided visitors’ orientation to the park’s features...
This is particularly relevant today, as the interpretive program is taking deep "sequestration" budget cuts... following many rounds of prior cuts over past decades. So fewer and fewer Park visitors now encounter and are enriched by chats with interpretive rangers.

"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir "the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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