SNACCMS

This page lists activities for kids in Clallam County which promote healthy brain building. SNACCMS expands the idea of "extracurricular activities" by identifying Sports, Nature, Arts, Culture, Clubs, Music, and Spirituality. Research shows these types of activities involving positive adults focusing on helping kids learn to build skills and think for themselves, builds stronger neural connections to the frontal lobes of the brain. Please send us your local SNACCMS ideas.

How many species of wild blueberries in Olympic National Park?

August 25, 2025

6, 8, 9, or 12 (?) kinds of wild blueberries in the Olympics?

There are quite a few species of blueberries in the Olympic Mountains. A number of plant identification books describe them, but somewhat confusingly they don’t all describe the same list. So how many are there? Most importantly, which species is the tastiest, that’s what we really want to know?

First of all, scientists organize blueberries into the Vaccinium genus, a member of the heath family (Ericaceae). Red huckleberries are part of this family, so even though they are red, they in the blueberry, or Vaccinium family. (There’s a black one too.)

Red and black huckleberries. Two species, two different bushes growing intertwined together. The black huckleberries have slightly larger leaves which have a somewhat more pointed tip and grow to 5 feet tall. Red Huckleberries can grow to 13 feet tall and have bright green branches, the black ones have greenish-yellowish branches.

6 are specifically identified by Doug Benoliel, author of Northwest Foraging: A guide to edible plants of the Pacific Northwest (1974). He identifies red and blue huckleberries (Vaccinium parvifolium and Vaccinium membranaceum, respectively). Other authors call Vaccinium membranaceum a black huckleberry. A third one is bog cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos), although others say this is a cranberry, not a blueberry. The fourth is evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium Ovatum) which lives in the coastal forests, and makes a lovely ornamental plant, as it never loses its leaves. The sixth one Doug identifies is Grouseberry (Vaccinium scoparium), or whortleberry, as being in the blueberry family, but its probably only in the Cascade mountains, not the Olympics. He says that in total, there are 12 species of blueberries in the northwest.

Two varieties of Olympic Mountain blueberries, intertwined in what appears to be one bush — In this picture there are two bushes growing into each other. The dark berries are black huckleberries. Their leaves are a bit more pointy. The lighter colored berries, which have a white-ish waxy covering are Oval-leaved blueberries. If you look closely, you can see their leaves are more rounded, or oval-shaped, and also you can see their bark has reddish-yellowish tinge to it.

8 according Douglas Deur, in his book Pacific Northwest Foraging (2014). He identifies the lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) as a type of cranberry, but within the blueberry family. He thinks the bog huckleberry (Vaccinium uliginosum) is one of the sweetest blueberries.

9 according to Mark Turner and Phyllis Gustafson, authors of Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest (2006). Turner and Gustafson claim there is a Cascades blueberry which has two variants, Vaccinium caespitosum, and the larger variety as Vaccinium deliciosum. Deliciosum is Latin for delicious! (Is that one the best?)

One of the best books to identify Olympic Flowers, and to take hiking (it’s easy to carry), is Charles Stewart’s Wildflowers of the Olympics and Cascades (1988). It’s out of print, but you can still find it on Amazon.com. While he does a nice job with plant descriptions, pictures, and a brief historical note about most plants, and kept his book small for easy carrying, he doesn’t identify every flower or berry. He does identify two Vacciniums. He describes the oval-leaf huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum). And also what he calls a blue-leaf huckleberry (Vaccinium Deliciosum), his personal favorite.

Known as blue-leaf huckleberry, or dwarf blueberry, *(Vaccinium deliciosum*), these little fellers are good for growing brains, and yummy!

So how many species are there?

8species (and two subspecies with the same common name), according to Pojar and MacKinnon, who seem to have the most technical and comprehensive book. At a hefty 528 pages, their book is Plants of the Pacific Northwest, revised (2014) (10 total authors). It covers Washington, Oregon, Alaska and British Columbia. Here’s their list:

Vaccinium alaskaense, Alaskan blueberry
Vaccinium caespitosum, dwarf blueberry
Vaccinium deliciosum, , blue-leaved blueberry, or Cascade huckleberry, which is very similar to dwarf blueberry
Vaccinium membranaceum, black huckleberry
Vaccinium ovalifolium, oval-leaved blueberry
Vaccinium Ovatum, evergreen huckleberry
Vaccinium parvifolium, red huckleberry
Vaccinium uliginosum, bog blueberry, and two subspecies Vaccinium occidentale and Vaccinium pubescens, also called bog blueberry
(Oxycoccos oxycoccos (sometimes called Vaccinium oxycoccos), bog cranberry, actually a cranberry so it doesn’t make the list for the total number of blueberry species)

And the best blueberry of all?

Pojar and MacKinnon claim dwarf blueberry (vaccinium caespitosum) was the preferred blueberry by indigenous people. It also goes by the common names of Blue-leaved and Cascade huckleberry (and the scientific name Vaccinium deliciosum). The other authors above use one of these names, and they all seem to agree it’s best tasting blueberry. Dwarf blueberry is a good name, in my opinion, because they only grow to a maximum height of about 12 inches tall.

For me, the blueberries on the very short dwarf blueberry plants, 2-6 inches tall (in the picture above), are the best of the best. I’m going with the scientific name Vaccinium deliciosum because they are deliciousis, the sweetest of all! Maybe this is because they have been “pruned”, or eaten down, by the deer and bear, and perhaps their root systems are much larger than the plant. If so, it could be that these shorty plants can concentrate a lot of energy from their root systems into a few berries packed with a lot of fruit sugar.

The second runner up might be the black huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum). This tasty berry is not only sweet when fully ripe, it’s very juicy and one of the largest wild blueberries.

However you count them, there’s a lot of wild blue-black-red-orange Vaccinium berries up in them there hills. Most become ripe in July, August, and September (depending on variety and elevation). Finding, identifying, and eating wild blueberries is a great nature experience for kids, and an excellent SNACCMS activity for building moral fiber.

Cautionary notes:
Ripe berries are pretty easy to identify as being in the blueberry family once you get a sense of what a blueberry bush is like. All the blue and black berry varieties taste like a blueberry. To be certain, the best way to identify edible plants is usually by the flower description, using a good guide book. Charles Stewart’s and Doug Benoliel’s books are easy to slip into a day pack.

On the dwarf blueberries, especially the 2-6″ shorties, you’ll often notice deer and bear scat near these plants, so there may be a risk these berries have been exposed to other animal excrements. Washing before eating might be advisable.

Bears love them too

When ripe, black bears of the Olympics seem to eat nothing but blueberries. At least according to their scat.

When these “blueberry poops” dry out, there’s nothing much left.

Be mindful of the black bears when you go to hunt for blueberries. Black bears are afraid of humans so they tend to run away if they see you. There are no grizzly or brown bears in the Olympics, which are definitely dangerous bears. We only have black bears.

What do you think? How many species can you find? Which one do you think is the sweetest. Drop us a note with your thoughts.

Law is an important service to the health of our community. Parenting is even more important.

By Mark Baumann
This article is a ClallamCountyBar.com local feature article.

Jellyfish swarm in Port Angeles Harbor

November 17, 2024

A jellyfish swarm, also known as a bloom, smack or mass aggregation, occurred in Port Angeles Harbor on Friday, November 15, 2024. Several jellyfish species, and similar jelly-like but not jellyfish species called salps, were sighted pouring into the harbor alongside the inner tip of Ediz Hook. Jellyfish are also known as sea jellies. The number of jellies in this smack is unknown, but likely ranged from hundreds of thousands to over a million.

Jellies and salps are both simple and amazing creatures. They appear in large groups and as solitary animals. Jellies only have one body hole (for mouth, anus, and reproduction). Jellies swim and salps have jet propulsion. They navigate. They hunt. Jellies have spring loaded and poison tipped barbed darts. They eat anything that will fit in their hole. They have a unique life cycle and reproduce through multiple methods. They are sensitive to climate change and they have replaced whole fisheries in some parts of the world.

Adult and juvenile cross jellyfish in Port Angeles Harbor November 15, 2024 — Cross jellyfish, juvenile and adult

Jelly swarms (blooms, smacks or aggregations)

Jellyfish swarms are increasingly common in the Puget Sound, and have recently been the subject of study by the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) in 2014-2015. It’s hard to count the total number so aggregations are measured by “mass category,” which ranges from a mass size of 1 to 5, where 5 is the largest. Mass size tends to be larger in late summer-fall. In November, mass sizes counted have ranged from about 2.2-3.8. A jellyfish smack can “easily exceed hundreds of millions of individual” animals in an individual Puget Sound finger inlet, such as Budd Inlet.

Jelly and other species observed in the PA smack

Several observers predominately saw cross jellies, both younger and older adults and juveniles. Also seen were crystal jellies, moon jellies, egg yolk jellies, box jellies, water jellies, and beautiful and stinging pacific sea nettles. Salps and sea lice were also seen.

Water jelly and cross jellies both adult and juvenile — Pacific sea nettle

Some jellies were hard to identify. I don’t know what the string critter is (picture below left), do you? It definitely had propulsion and was able to move against the current in the marina. An observer from New Zealand said they called them sea lice and that they sting as they wrap around you. The Feiro Marine Life Center thought it might be Siphonophore, which is a subgroup of Hydrozoans, which is a subgroup of the Cnidaria phylum. Cnidarian’s includes corals, true jellyfish (Scyphozoa) and Hydrozoans. The critters in the Cnidaria phylum all share in common a decentralized nervous system (no spinal chord) and stingers (described below).

A jelly like critter but in a string shape — What is this critter? A type of Siphonophore?

Unidentified jellyfish in Port Angeles marina — What is this critter? A type of Siphonophore?

175 species of Siphonophores have been identified. They are not a single critter, but a complex colony of organisms each contributing uniquely to the colony’s survival and reproduction.

There were quite a number of deceased jellies washed up on shore after the morning high tide on Friday, November 15, 2024, such as the moon jelly (below left) with the C-shaped purple sex organs. The crystal jelly’s ridges (below right) under the outer bell are rigid like a washboard.

Moon jelly, dead on shore, with C-shaped purple sexual organs — Moon Jelly, ashore, with C-shaped purple sexual organs

Crystal jelly washed ashore on Ediz Hook, Port Angeles — Moon Jelly, ashore, with C-shaped purple sexual organs

The next day, Saturday, November 16, 2024, a few jellies were seen in all parts of the harbor. They were also seen inside the Port Angeles Boat Haven (marina), but not in mass quantities. One small exception was the collection of crystal jellies in the pictures below. Interestingly, these were hovering at the tail of a freshwater outlet pipe. The water flow from the pipe was substantial, and clear, and the jellies were fighting successfully to stay close to the pipe outlet. But why?

Crystal jellyfish in the Port Angeles Boat Haven congregated at the mouth of a freshwater outlet pipe — Crystal jellies

Salps

Salps were seen in abundance in the November 15, 2024 Port Angeles Harbor smack. Salps are not jellyfish and not even related. They have a spinal chord, which makes them related to humans and all vertebrates.

This is a salp, not a jellyfish. It shares the characteristic of a clear body, but is barrel shaped and has a dorsal nerve chord so it is related to vertebrates. — Salp, not a jellyfish

Unknown type of gelatinous sea creature, may be a colony of smaller critters — Salp, not a jellyfish

Salps live in two phases. The first is as a single organism (picture above left), and the second is in a colony (picture, above right). Can you see a second single salp in the picture on the left? (Hint, the second yellow dot is part another single salp lower in the water.) According to the Feiro Marine Life Center, the animal on the right is likely a colonial salp of a Cyclosalpa species. Salps are best known in the colony phase. If you search the internet, or read the Wikipedia page for salps, you’ll see lots of pictures of salp colonies. One such picture in the Wikipedia article is a circular ring cluster of pelagic salps in New Zealand, which looks very much like the salp colony in the picture above.

Salps do not have tentacles nor a stinging mechanism. The white filament, or ribbon, is a stolon which only appears on the aggregate-colony form of a salp, and it’s function is to clone babies. They collect and eat phytoplankton with a mucous net inside their jet propulsion tube. You can just barely make out the tube structure in the picture of the single salp, above left. Very small fish can swim into and hide inside the salp tube, effectively cloaking themselves with an invisibility shield. (I’m not sure if that tickles the salp, what do you think?)

What is a jellyfish?

They are surprisingly interesting animals, both extremely simple and complex. The have no blood, no heart, no lungs, and of course no bones. They have no brain, although they have a nervous system which senses and responds to the environment.

Jellyfish eye

Some species have a more evolved nervous system and a rudimentary eye. In some species the “eye” is very simple and only senses for light. In other species, particularly the box jellies, they have a more evolved structure clearly identifiable as an eye which they use to move toward or away from light and also to navigate around obstacles. Depending on the box jelly species, they have 1-4 eyes, and at least one species has 24 eyes.

One body hole

A jelly has one hole: the mouth is also it’s anus and entry/exit way for the sexual organ. Yes, it eats and poops and delivers and receives sperm and eggs from the same hole.

By Mariana Ruiz Villarreal (LadyofHats), public domain copyright, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish#Anatomy

Some jellyfish facts

Map of the Salish Sea, which includes the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound in the USA, and the Strait of Georgia and Desolation Sound in Canada — The Salish Sea, ranges from the mouth of Strait of Juan de Fuca, south to Olympia, WA, and north to Desolation Sound, BC.

There over 2,000 jelly species. The bell height and diameter ranges by species from 0.5 millimeters (1/32 inch) to 2 meters (6.5 feet). Their tentacles can range from 1 inch long to 119 feet long. The lion’s mane jelly is the longest, longer than any whale, and may be the longest animal on the planet. Lion’s mane jellies live in the Salish Sea, although they are not reported as growing that large here.

They can release as many as 45,000 eggs daily.

Their diet is varied and includes plants and animals tiny to small: protozoa, phytoplankton (plant), plankton (animal), zooplankton, rotifers, eggs, crustacean larvae and grown crustaceans, larval fish and small fish, and other jellies. Each species eats different things, but most or all are carnivorous. Some eat whatever attaches to their tentacles and fits in their mouth, so any kind of small creature.

Jellies swim, and navigate

Jellyfish are considered by most as planktonic, in that they float with the currents. But, they are not simply passive creatures subject to the whims of currents, they have the power of locomotion. Typically they move about 1.5 meters (5 feet) per minute, and some can travel up to 4 meters (12 feet) per minute. They can move in any direction including against the current. Some species, like the pacific sea nettle can move up and down the ocean’s water column 1100 meters (3,600 feet) per day. Yes, per day!

Since they never stop swimming, even at a leisurely 1.5 meters per minute, they can travel 2,200 meters (7200 feet, or 1.36 miles) per day. Presumably, that can be extended or offset depending on how they navigate currents and whether or not they choose to stay in one location for a while.

I watched this pacific sea nettle in the gallery below swim around in the Port Angeles Boat Haven on November 16, 2024. I first saw it swim (west) past the wood pier, which was up-current. It then turned 90 degrees and swam to the left (south), bumped into a wooden bulkhead, turned around 180 degrees and swam north past that pier post, and then again west, where it bumped into a cement pier. Despite the current wanting to push it east, it stayed in a very small area for at least 15 minutes.

Two types of tentacles

The long stringy tentacles are the true tentacles and contain all or almost all the stingers. The other kind are called oral arms, which assist with collecting food and bringing it to the mouth inside the bottom of the bell. The oral arms can also hold a brood of baby jellies (called planula). For the pacific sea nettle jelly (above), the red strings growing out sides of the bell are the tentacles and the lighter colored mass that flow from the middle of the bell are the oral arms.

Sometimes the tentacles are hard to see. For many of the cross jellies, pictures above, it was hard to see if they had tentacles. Crystal jellies don’t appear to have tentacles, because they don’t. They aren’t actually jellyfish, although they are closely related. Crystal jellies are in the Hydrozoa class of the Cnidaria phylum, and jellies are in the scyphozoa class of Cnidarians.

Sometimes the tentacles are translucent or fine like a hair, and difficult or impossible to see.

Jellies hunt with poison tipped spearguns

Jellies can sense their prey and move towards it. They hunt!

Jellyfish are voracious hunters. Their vortex-creating swimming action can also draw in food to the tentacles and they never stop swimming or eating.

The barb system is called a nematocyst. Upon contact, many poison filled barbs shoot out like a bank of harpoons piercing the skin where neurotoxins are injected. From the Wikipedia article on jellyfish, the original uploader was Spaully at English Wikipedia. – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2909974

Jelly tentacles have an amazing weapon. Each tentacle is loaded with many, sometimes millions of spring loaded barbed harpoons filled with a neurotoxin. These weapons hide in a tiny cyst cavity just beneath the surfaces of their skin. The lion’s mane jelly can have 1,200 tentacles, some up to 119 feet long, covered in cysts containing the barbed hooks. These weapons are scientifically called cnidocytes.

Jellyfish are in the Cnidaria family (the C is silent, it’s pronounced ny-dar-ee-uh), which includes jellies, corals, anemones and hydroids (tube forming polyps with tentacles). All species in the cnidaria family have these attack cells, although the level of toxin varies by species. This attack cell, has a small hair like structure on the outside that is triggered by contact or chemical presence. Inside the cell there is a chemical which facilitates water rushing quickly in once triggered, and the cell “door” opens and water jets back out carrying the barbed hook. The cell is triggered and the barb is released in a split second with an explosive amount of pressure.

Different members of the cnidaria family have different types of attack tools, which may not have a barb at the end of the attack string. Instead, the launched string can either wrap around the prey, or stick to it. Some anemones, like the starlet sea anemone on the U.S. east coast, has all three kinds of attack methods. The sticky-Velcro feeling you get when put your finger in a Salish Sea anemone may be from the sticky attack strings, or from barbs ripping off the top layer of your skin.

Cnidarians, including jellyfish, have the intelligence to know if something they touch is potentially prey or not, which is why they don’t sting themselves. Although they can’t tell if a human is prey or not, which is why they sting us.

Most Cnidarians in the Salish Sea have very mild poison in their barbs. When these creatures don’t need to eat larger prey, they don’t need strong poison. According to the Feiro Marine Life Center in Port Angeles, moon jellies toxic sting is so mild humans don’t notice it, unless their skin is sensitive or they are allergic.

Lion’s mane and pacific sea nettle, Salish Sea jellies, carry enough neurotoxins to cause pain, but not death, to humans.

The Portuguese man o’ war is renowned for it’s painful sting (although it’s not technically a jellyfish, it’s a hydrozoan, like the string critter above), but the Australian box jelly is the most deadly jelly. It’s one of the most poisonous creatures on earth and can kill a human in a matter of minutes if medical help isn’t received. It’s poison was analyzed to include an amazing cocktail of 170 toxic proteins. (The application of diluted vinegar can ease the pain from the stings of some jellies, including the Australian box jelly. Some Australian beaches stock emergency beach kiosks with vinegar.)

Some fish are immune to the poison of some jellyfish, and they’ll swim around and within the tentacles and oral arms for protection. (Some fish do the same with corals, which are in the same family tree as jellies.) Sea turtles, which each jellies, are immune to the barbs because of their armor which is made of the same material as our fingernails, keratin.

Jelly fish are hunted, a little bit

It can be hard for scientists to determine which animals eat jellies because even if they look in their stomachs for what they ate it’s hard to identify jellies from all the other goo in the stomach. A few animals are known to eat jellyfish, including sea turtles, sunfish, sea cucumbers, crabs, shrimp, seagulls, penguins, sea lions and seals. Some jellies are considered a delicacy by some humans.

Jellies are 96% water so they are not a calorie-dense food. However, the inner parts like the stomach pouch, sexual organs and tentacles are nutrient rich so predators often target these parts. Unless immune to the poisonous barbs, an effective strategy is to eat the innards from the top, through the bell material. In the Port Angeles Harbor swarm I saw a number of dead jellies with parts or the middle of their bell missing.

Some websites claim that salmon will eat jellyfish. However, in one incident in Ireland a smack of poisonous jellies were swept into salmon farming pens and quickly killed all the salmon. (See the David Suzuki video referenced below for video footage.)

Unique life cycle of a jellyfish

Jessica Schaub, a PhD candidate in oceanography at the University of British Columbia, researches jellyfish, and the moon jelly in particular.

She describes how moon jellies start as a planula larva, a tiny critter .2 millimeters in size, with 8 tentacles. They are so small their growth and eating behavior can only be studied under a microscope. The planula are raised on the underside of the bell or within the oral arms. Eventually they release from their mother and swim around until they find something to attach to, which is usually a rock and can be the underwater portion of a dock structure. The larva grows into a small polyp which lives for many years in a colony.

Jelly lifecycle. First, larva are born and raised in the jellyfish underbelly or oral arms. Then, in 1-3 the larva searches for a site. 4-8, the polyp grows. 9-11, the polyp begins to shed baby jellies. 12-14, the medusa grows in order to make new larva. (Note, modern research by Jessica Schaub shows the original polyp has obvious tentacles used for gathering food. From Wikipedia, by Matthias Jacob Schleiden (1804-1881) – Schleiden M. J. “Die Entwicklung der Meduse”. In: “Das Meer”. Verlag und Druck A. Sacco Nachf., Berlin, 1869.NOAA photo librarySchleiden-meduse.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=816317

When the polyps get old enough, they start shedding new jellies, about 10 per year for moon jellies. That process is sort of like growing a flower which eventually wiggles off the main stem. The polyp is cloning itself.

The little clone is a baby jelly, about the size of a quarter (2.5 centimeters, or 1 inch in diameter) called an ephyra. The ephyra grows into a full size jellyfish in about 2 months, super fast. The adult is scientifically called a medusa, because of the bell-shaped body with tentacles.

Jessica considers the polyp to be the main animal. The medusa’s purpose is to mate and produce more larva. The medusa usually dies shortly after producing babies, but the polyp lives on for years, creating new clones.

Jessica describes in her video the amazing process of how the polyp can also clone itself two other ways. The polyp can create a whole new polyp. Also, it can deposit a podocyst which is a seed like critter that can attach to a surface to grow into a new polyp. Podocysts can hibernate if growing conditions are not favorable. As if that’s not enough, the polyp itself moves around. As it “walks” along the thing it’s living on it deposits a podocyst, and those are often found in a line that tracks the polyp’s movement.

Polyps can attach to rocks, but also plastic, wood, common dock building materials. Human activity thus creates more living environments for jellyfish communities.

So if I understand this right, a polyp reproduces three ways. It can make little podocyst’s which can make a new polyp, it can make a whole new polyp, and when it sheds an ephyra it’s basically making a clone of itself whose primary job is to eat, grow, sexually reproduce new babies from sperm and eggs, and then die. Wow.

Jessica’s YouTube video on her research is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAvTd4Lf1Ik.

Jellyfish and climate change

Jelly smacks are common in the summer, and may be increasing in Puget sound. There is enough concern that the Washington State Department of Ecology conducted a study published in 2016. They are increasing in some parts of the world, sometimes with severe economic and environmental impact.

The Nature of Things documentary on jellyfish by David Suzuki provides a nice overview of their complex nature and harm to world fisheries.

Jellyfish appear to be capable of quickly and massively colonizing regions that are damaged from overfishing or suffering environments detrimental for fish. Fish and jellies compete for resources. In places where jellies have taken over it is hard for fisheries to re-establish themselves.

Preventing jellyfish from overtaking a distressed ecosystem has proven hard to accomplish, so keeping fishery environments healthy is important.

World Jellyfish Day

November 3rd is World Jellyfish Day. Thus, the November 15 2024 Port Angeles smack missed celebrating in Port Angeles by 12 days. If they travel about a mile a day, maybe they celebrated at Salt Creek?

A quick technical note

When I use the word jellyfish and describe a unique feature of the animal I am specifically referencing true jellies which are in the scientific class Scyphozoa. Not everything that applies to jellyfish described above applies to other cnidarians like anemones and hydrozoas. For example, crystal jellies are not true jellyfish, they are in the hydrozoan class and as such don’t have oral arms. Like everything else in the cosmos, there’s always exceptions even for the true jellies and I haven’t gotten into that level of detail here.

Video resources for more information about jellyfish

How does a jellyfish sting? A TED-Ed talk, 4:17 minutes
Jellyfish predate dinosaurs. How have they survived so long? A TED-Ed talk, 5:26 minutes
The one thing stopping jellyfish from taking over. A TED-Ed talk, 5:35 minutes
15 incredible jellyfish species. 18:31 minutes
Vicious beauties – The secret world of jellyfish. Nature, 44:04 minutes
Jellyfish rule. The Nature of Things, David Suzuki, 44:44 minutes

Reading resources

Wikipedia, Jellyfish, overview article
Wikipedia, Cnidaria (pronounced ny-dar-eea), article describing the related group of jellies, corals, anemones and hydrazoids
Wikipedia, Cnidocyte, article describing the stinging cell
Colin, Sean P., John H. Costello, and Eric Klos. “In situ swimming and feeding behavior of eight co-occurring hydromedusae.” Marine Ecology Progress Series 253 (2003): 305-309.
Berwald, Juli. Spineless: the science of jellyfish and the art of growing a backbone. Penguin, 2017.
Gershwin, Lisa-Ann. Stung!: On jellyfish blooms and the future of the ocean. University of Chicago Press, 2013.

I hope you enjoyed this story of another set of amazing and elusive creatures on the Olympic Peninsula and it’s waters. If you have some pictures of the Port Angeles smack and want to share them in this article, contact us at the link above.

I thank the guys down at the Port Angeles Boat Haven Harbormasters office, the couple from New Zealand (via Canada) who shared the joy on the boat launch dock, and photographer and writer (and Port Angeles Farmer’s Market vendor) Nirvan Hope who first spotted the smack at sunrise on Ediz Hook.

I give a special thanks to Tamara Galvan of the Feiro Marine Life Center in Port Angeles for scientific feedback on the article, species identification and reading materials. And also to Jessica Schaub for feedback and clarification on the jellyfish life cycle, for help with species identification and reading materials. Jessica is a PhD Candidate in Oceanography, Pelagic Ecosystems Laboratory, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF), University of British Columbia. Her work is excellent and I wish her all the best in a long career in oceanography.

I spoke to one local sport fisherman who said he caught an unusual amount of jellyfish in his lines last year, 2023. If you have any similar experience, noticing either an increase or decrease, please let us know, or contact the Feiro Marine Life Center.

This article is part of a ClallamCountyBar.com series for families and children on nature on the Olympic Peninsula. Please consider contributing to the series.

Mark Baumann

Hurricane Ridge is closed due to rare cougar attack

July 30, 2023

Sunday, July 30 2023. Hurricane Ridge and parts of Olympic National Park are closed due to a rare cougar attack on an 8 year old boy at Lake Angeles on Saturday night July 29 2023. ONP is closed in an area approximately 10 miles in diameter around Lake Angeles. On the Hurricane Ridge Road, the closure starts at the Hurricane Ridge Road park entrance station, which necessarily closes access to the Hurricane Ridge parking lot.

Closed trails include the Lake Angeles and Heather Park trails (top-to-bottom from the entrance station area), and in the high country the Switchback and Klahane Ridge trails,.

The Hurricane Ridge Road entrance station is five miles up the mountain from the ONP visitor center, and about 7 miles from Highway 101 and Race street in Port Angeles. It is not known at this time if the Heart of the Hills campground is closed.

According to an ONP press release, the boy and his family were camping at Lake Angeles, which is 3.5 miles up the trail from the trailhead near the entrance station. The cougar casually abandoned its attack after the boy’s mother yelled and screamed at the cat. Park Rangers were immediately dispatched and stabilized the boys condition, and then provided safe escort back to the trailhead. The boy suffered minor physical injuries which treated at a local hospital.

At 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning, ONP law enforcement and wildlife personnel specializing in cougar tracking, with dogs, were dispatched to locate the cougar. If found, the cougar will be euthenized and a necropsy performed to see if the cause of the attack can be determined.

Cougar attacks, especially in Olympic National Park are extremely rare. It’s even rare to see a cougar in the park. The last attack documented in local news reports was approximately 33 years ago. In recent years there have been cougar attacks on Vancouver Island and in foothills east of Seattle. Those attacks are usually by adolescent cougars. A person in Oregon was dragged off their bike and killed by a cougar in mountains in Oregon.

No bear attacks on humans have ever been reported in Olympic National Park, according to local news sources. ONP only has black bears. Brown bears and grizzly bears attack people every year, however, neither of these types of bears exist in ONP. In other parts of the United States and Canada, there have been a few reports of black bear attacks. A food-conditioned black bear on Vancouver Island, Canada, attacked an elderly sheep and ripped into four tents (which presumably had food in them) two days ago. On June 17 2023, a black bear in Arizona attacked and killed Steven Jackson, a 66 year old man. He was camping at his rural property while he was building a home.

Bear spray may be effective to prevent cougar attacks, as seen in several videos on YouTube. Cougars are normally extremely reclusive animals and tend to avoid humans. However, cougar scat is regularly seen throughout the Hurricane Ridge area, including on dirt and paved trails.

Cougars are the only North American lion. They are also known as mountain lions, pumas, and panthers such as the Florida black panther.

Approximately 33 years ago, a teenager was attacked by a cougar in Olympic National Park. He was riding his bike down the old hurricane ridge road, now known as the Wolf Creek trail which ends at the Whiskey Bend trailhead. He was was taking a break when he was attacked. The teenager happened to be a wrestler on the Port Angeles High School team, and he wrestled the cougar, eventually putting the cat into a full Nelson hold. A full Nelson involves the wrestler getting behind the opponents body and wrapping both arms under the armpits (front “arms” in this case) and interlocking the fingers on the opponents neck. This move immobilized wrestling opponents, and it worked on the cat. Once immobilized, the teenage wrestler and the cat sat for a few moments in stillness, listening to each other’s breath. When the wrestler finally let go, the cat took off running and the wrestler continued home safely with only minor injuries. (If you were that teenager, please contact ClallamCountyBar.) This story was published in the Peninsula Daily News paper (long before the internet was a thing).

ClallamCountyBar.com wishes the boy and his mother a full recovery from the trauma of this experience.

This article will be updated as new information is available. At the time of publication, ONP has released a press release but has not posted any news announcements but presumably will at their news page.

Clallam Resilience Project: Trauma support through Little Free Pantries

November 15, 2021

The Clallam Resilience Project holds monthly Community Meetings on topics connected to toxic stress, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and trauma-informed care. The intention is to learn together as a community, from one another, and from a variety of perspectives. These meetings take place on zoom, the first Tuesday of the month, from 10:00 – 11:30am. Everyone is welcome. The zoom link is always available on the website here, as well as the recording of the past presentations. Details of these meetings can also be found on our Facebook page.

Giving through free pantries to ease trauma

At our next meeting on December 7^th at 10am, we will have a presentation by Benji Astrachan from WSU Extension on The Little Free Pantries in Clallam County, and how they offer trauma-informed support for the community.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 899 2819 4489 Passcode: HOPE
Dial in by phone: +1 253 215 8782 Phone Passcode: 706561

Parents might consider teaching their children about empathy and giving by creating a family SNACCMS project to support Little Free Pantries.

Contact Kaelan Gilman for more information.
[email protected]
Learning & Outreach Coordinator
Clallam Resilience Project
United Way of Clallam County

Positive discipline techniques – The Peace Discipline model is based on quality research

April 19, 2021

How do you discipline children without spanking or even yelling at them? The trick is to take a broad-based approach that incorporates several techniques. One of the problems to finding the right techniques has been that low quality research studies have led to suggestions which don’t work, or even backfire. Karen Quail, a teacher, school counselor, and researcher in South Africa dug into the problem and after figuring it out over a 5-year study, she developed a list of easy to implement techniques, and has made them available on her Peace Discipline website.

One example of a misunderstanding of parenting techniques is time-out and time-in. Highly respected researcher Dan Siegel promoted the idea of time-in (not isolating children because that can be a harsh rejection). Many people immediately assumed he meant that time-out was a bad idea. However, research shows that both methods are effective, if used in the right way, and at the right times.

South Africa has had a long history of harsh parenting, and Karen Quail was working on helping her country learn to take a new approach. As she was teaching, parents kept asking her, “Well, what do I do if I can’t hit them or yell at them?” She had some instinctual ideas, but she wanted to know what research recommended so she could give good advice. After she looked at lots of research studies and their recommendations, she realized that many of them contradicted each other, and often recommended techniques which seemed instinctively wrong to her. When she looked further, she realized many of the studies were not done properly and didn’t qualify as reliable science.

Massive research study on effective parenting discipline techniques

So to address the problem of poor science, she set out to do some good research science. She started by reading the abstracts (research summary) of over 35,000 research studies. (Yeah, that’s a lot.) From there, she tossed out studies that used ineffective research methods, and focused on meta-studies, which are research studies which look at many other studies. She eventually selected over 200 meta-studies to examine, and she compared all their findings, and organized what she was seeing. This took her five years! The result of her work is amazing. She was able to sort out a fairly small list of what she calls nonviolent parenting techniques which are all solidly supported by research. She calls the list a Peace Discipline Toolkit.

When she was done, she started to work on a book. But then she realized the purpose of her life’s work is to help parents, so she decided to make her Toolkit available for free on the internet. In addition, she offers free and quick YouTube videos. For parents who want a little more guidance, she offers online parenting classes at a very reasonable price. While South Africa is in a different Time zone, she offers them in the warm South African evenings so people in the U.S. can join them in the morning on the west coast and middle America, and around the lunch hour on the east coast.

Resources

You can find a summary of her research in the Child Discipline article on Wikipedia.

You can find her Toolkit on Peace Discipline.

Karen has a YouTube channel with a series of brief and pointed talks about how to implement Peace Discipline.

You can read her research study (advanced level reading), and a summary of her findings on each nonviolent discipline tool, which is freely available at Research (peacediscipline.com).

Peace Discipline techniques are consistent with the SNACCMS activities concept for helping children develop optimal neural growth, and with attachment informed parenting techniques.

ClallamCountyBar.com highly recommends Peace Discipline to all parents.

Karen Quail

Karen lives in Cape Town, South Africa, and has a background as a school counsellor and teacher. She now works independently, coaching and running workshops on non-violent discipline and related topics.

Karen’s research on non-violent discipline skills was a part of her psychology masters at the University of Cape Town.

Quail, K. R., & Ward, C. L. (2020). Nonviolent Discipline Options for Caregivers and Teachers: A Systematic Overview of the Evidence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, Copyright © 2020. DOI: 10.1177/1524838020967340. It is available (at a cost) at sagepub.com/journals, and Karen has made it available at no cost at https://www.peacediscipline.com/research.html.

SNACCMS: build “moral fiber” with enhanced extracurricular activities

September 20, 2020

SNACCMS stands for Sports, Nature, Arts, Culture, Clubs, Music, and Spirituality. These are activities for children which help them build neural networks with strong connections to the brain’s frontal lobes.

SNACCMS is an expanded version of “extracurricular activities”, and is intended to help parents thing more creatively about activities for their kids. Baseball, basketball, and soccer are all excellent activities, but so is any kind of art, music, organized clubs, spiritual or religious activities, birding, and tracking down wild blueberries in the Olympic mountains.

Staying out of trouble and avoiding drugs are well-known outcomes from SNACCMS type activities. Even better, there is a wide body of research confirming that kids who are involved with SNACCMS can learn to:

Regulate their emotions,
Enhance their cognitive thinking skills (critical thinking),
Develop more attuned empathy and perspective taking,
Improve their communication skills,
Learn to make connections between things (such as nature and food sources),
Become comfortable with taking on challenges, and
Engage in self-directed learning.

(All of these skills are described by Ellen Galinsky in her book Mind in the Making: The seven essential skills every child needs.)

But there’s a trick to making SNACCMS work well for kids: the activities must be positive focused, promote skill building, allow children to learn to make decisions for themselves and experience the consequences in a safe and supportive environment, support positive interactions between peers, and involve adults modeling healthy behaviors.

Some of the relevant research studies include:

Protective factors for youth considered at risk of criminal behaviour: Does participation in extracurricular activities help?, Burton, J. M., & Marshal, L. A. (2005), Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 15, 46-64.
A systematic review of the impact of physical activity programmes on social and emotional well-being in at-risk youth, Lubans, D., Plotnikoff, R., Lubans N. (2012), Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 17:1, 2-13.
The Sports Challenge International Programme for identified ‘at risk’ children and adolescents: A Singapore study, Tester, G., Watins, G., Rouse, I, (1999), Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 11:1, 34-38.
Effects of participation in a martial arts–based antibullying program in elementary schools, Twemlow, S.W., Biggs, B.K., Nelson, T.D., Vernberg, E.M., Fonagy, P., Twemlow S.W. (2008), Psychology in the Schools, 45:10, 947-959.
Executive functions predict the success of top-soccer players, Vestberg, T., Gustafson, R., Maurex, L., Ingvar, M., Petrovic, P. (2012), PloS ONE, 7:4, 1-4.

SNACCMS was developed by Mark Baumann, J.D., to help his clients, particularly those involved in high conflict family law cases. Often, those cases involve one or more adults causing attachment-harm, and the courts are not well organized to help. Thus, it is up to the parents to cause attachment-healing, and SNACCMS are one of the most powerful ways to help. Clallam County SNACCMS opportunities are available at CCBA.com’s SNACCMS page. More information about SNACCMS from Mark Baumann is available here.

First Teacher Zoom activity October 19 2020: The amazing lives of owls

September 20, 2020

On October 19, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., Powell Jones from the Dungeness River Audubon Center will explore with children and parents the amazing lives of owls. He will teach everyone how to hoot like an owl.

For more parenting activities and skill building programs in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and the rest of Clallam County, visit the ClallamCountyBar.com Parenting Info page.

Barred owl on lower Hurricane Ridge road

The owl pictured above is a barred owl, whose Latin name is strix varia. Did you know the barred owl is native to eastern North America, and is an invasive species in western North America and the Olympic Peninsula. It competes for resources with the northern spotted owl which is native to the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges up into British Columbia a little bit.

There are two other types of spotted owl, the Mexican Spotted owl is native to Mexico and the U.S. four corner states. The California spotted owl is native to the southern Cascade mountains, and the Sierra Nevada mountains. The barred owl differs from the spotted owl by having a yellow beak, lighter coloring, and strong dark and light bands in the tail, wing, and neck.

Bird watching and identification, in the Olympics, on the coast, or in your yard, are great nature, and SNACCM, experiences. More Clallam County SNACCMS opportunities are available at CCBA.com’s SNACCMS page.

First teacher online activities

Please join and share your questions and experiences, and invite your children to ask questions and get involved). A Zoom link will be available at First Teacher’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/FirstTeacherPMF.

First Teacher online parent-child Zoom activities are free to parents and children in Port Angeles, Sequim, Clallam Bay, Neah Bay, Forks, and anywhere in Clallam County. These activities will offered weekly during the coronavirus times. Check back for upcoming sessions. Contact First Teacher if you would like to host a Zoom activity.

First Teacher is a service of the nonprofit Parenting Matters Foundation.

Law is an important service to the health of our community. Parenting is even more important.

First Teacher Zoom activity October 5 2020: story book sharing

September 20, 2020

On October 5, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., Franklin Elementary first grade teacher Eric Pickens will read stories on Zoom for kids aged 1-6.

For more parenting activities and skill building programs, visit the ClallamCountyBar.com Parenting Info page.

Did you know Kindergarten was first practiced in Germany and the word is German for children’s garden? Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th century in Bavaria and Alsace to serve children whose parents both worked outside home. The term was coined by the German Friedrich Fröbel, whose approach globally influenced early-years education. Today, the term is used in many countries to describe a variety of educational institutions and learning spaces for children ranging from 2 to 6 or 7 years of age, based on a variety of teaching methods. (From Wikipedia.)

First Teacher Zoom activities are free to parents and children in Port Angeles, Sequim, Clallam Bay, Neah Bay, Forks, and anywhere in Clallam County. These activities will offered weekly during the coronavirus times. Check back for upcoming sessions. Contact First Teacher if you would like to host a Zoom activity.

First Teacher is a service of the nonprofit Parenting Matters Foundation.

Law is an important service to the health of our community. Parenting is even more important.

Homebound parenting activities list by Prevention Works

September 3, 2020

Prevention Works! of Clallam County has posted a list of homebound parenting activities to support families during the pandemic. You can find the list here:

https://www.preventionworkscc.org/resources/home-bound-activities.html

Please contribute to the list by emailing your ideas to [email protected]

In addition to general parenting and toddler activities, they have started a list of things to do promote skills that all children benefit from. These include reading, math, language, culture, history, animals and the natural world, virtual tours to travel the world, science, chemistry, biology, technology, music, writing, and college preparation.

Ellen Galinsky provides a simple list of 7 essential life skills to teach kids. Ellen describes them in her book Mind in the Making: The seven essential life skills every child needs. Those skills are:

Focus and Self Control
Perspective Taking
Communicating
Making Connections (between things)
Critical Thinking
Taking on Challenges
Self Directed Engaged Learning

Dr. Darlene Clemmons, a Clallam County treasure, has created a series of Mind in the Making mini-messages, easy to digest emails for parents. You can find more information about Mind in the Making and the mini messages at https://markbaumann.com/client-resources/mitm-mini-messages/.

Block Fest 2016

October 20, 2016

BLOCK Fest, where young children learn math and science through block play, is coming to the Elwha Heritage Center, October 26-29. The event is open to all families with children from 8 months – 8 years. Drop-in any time!

Volunteers are also needed to help run the event. If you are interested in helping, please contact Parenting Matters Foundation at 360-681-2250 or email [email protected] for more information.