OUR ICE AGE HERITAGE
Issue 11, Spring 2021
Photo by Sara Noland
OUR ICE AGE HERITAGE
Issue 11, Spring 2021
WELCOME TO THE SPRING 2021
ISSUE OF SALISH MAGAZINE!
[Table of Contents is below this editorial]
by Sara Noland, Guest Managing Editor
When I was a kid, my parents used to go on rockhounding trips during the summer. They’d pack up the camper and my sister and I would go to stay with neighbors across the street while they were away. Usually Mom and Dad would meet up with some of my aunts and uncles and they’d drive to Idaho or Montana to look for sapphires or garnets or geodes for a week or two. One summer my sister and I each got a bag of “sapphire gravel” from their trip, and we spent hours sifting through it to find the uncut gemstones.
So I guess that’s where I get my fascination with rocks and geology — that and the fact that Washington state’s geologic character looms, shakes, and shines all around us. On a clear day I can see two massive volcanic peaks, Baker and Glacier, from the I-5 bridge in Everett, along with the Cascades and Olympics. I’m dating myself, but when I was a teenager my best friend’s Dad flew us in his Cessna over Mount Saint Helens not long after the eruption. So there’s a little rock dust in my blood (and a jar of Saint Helens ash still on my shelf).
All around the Salish Sea we’ve got ready evidence of volcanism, plate tectonics, erosion, tsunamis, and giant floods. On top of all these other geologic forces, the Salish Sea region was carved and sculpted by ice sheets that covered our lowland areas several times, most recently from roughlt 20,000 to 10,000 years ago known as the Fraser Glaciation (or Vashon Glaciation in the Puget Sound area where the ice came and went over a much shorter period). We’re not talking your average mountainside glacier; these were ice sheets thousands of feet thick and miles wide that left tracks across the landscape that can still be seen.
Far from being just an interesting historical blip, our ice age heritage is alive in the unique combination of soils, landforms, plants, and animals we see all around us today. We hope this issue of Salish magazine will help you explore some aspects of this heritage. Go find a giant erratic, or visit a prairie or a kettle, or walk along a beach where glacial sands and gravels are sifting from the bluff, and try to imagine the ice.
Sara Noland grew up in the wilds outside Renton, attended UW and Western, and has lived in Everett for the past quarter century. She was fortunate to spend a quarter of her undergraduate life at UW Friday Harbor labs. She shares a tiny house with her husband and a herd of cats and dogs. Sara works and volunteers as a biologist and writer; her favorite topics are Washington beaches and lowland forests.
Table of Contents
Huge Ice Flood
by John J. Clague and Nicholas J. Robert
Spring 2021
Near the end of the Ice Ages, a weakened glacier dam failed. A megaflood of water from Glacial Lake Fraser traveled 330 km to Hope and from there west into the Salish Sea.
WA Megafauna
by Thomas Noland
Spring 2021
Here are stories of some of the really big creatures known as the megafauna that lived in the Salish Sea region thousands of years ago — including the saber-tooth salmon.
Whidbey Island Kettles
by Sadie Bailey
Spring 2021
One of Whidbey Island’s kettles, Lake Pondilla is a readily accessible kettle lake located in the northwest corner of Fort Ebey State Park, a short walk from a parking lot.
Poetry-11
by Assorted
Spring 2021
Remember the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle? We have added a new poetry section which puts some glacial impacts into verse, and the viaduct puts in appearance.
Our Icy Past
by Nancy Sefton
Spring 2021
Ferries are integral to today’s Salish Sea region. But thousands of years ago, you could have simply walked across the Salish Sea if you were a skilled ice climber!
Riches of the Prairies
by Sarah Hamman
Spring 2021
Glaciers left behind well-drained, low-nutrient soils throughout much of the Puget Lowlands. These soils fostered the growth of Puget Sound prairies and oak woodlands.
Language of Glaciers
by Chrys Bertolotto
Spring 2021
Glaciers shape landscapes in their path to such a degree that new words needed to be created to describe their aftermath. This essay introduces the language of glaciers.
Videos-11
by (assorted)
Spring 2021
Here are four short videos illustrating some ideas about our glacial heritage discussed in the articles and poems in Salish Magazine issue number 11, Spring 2021.
Salish Magazine
Publisher: John F. Williams
Guest Managing Editor: Sara Noland
This magazine is a nonprofit project of:
SEA-Media
P.O. Box 1407 Suquamish WA 98392
info@sea-media.org www.salishmagazine.org
Copyright SEA-Media, 2021
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without consent of copyright owner is strictly prohibited.
SEA-Media is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation
Extra special thanks to:
Sara & Tom Noland, Adelia Ritchie, Grant Blackinton, Susan W. Merrill, Greg Geehan, Sheila Kelley, Phillip Rosaaen, and all of the credited authors and image contributors.
Sincere thanks also to our Patreon patrons:
Judy Atkins, Wendy McClure, Robyn Johnson, Bob Johnston, Babara Wilhite, Carolyn E Hart, John A Wiles PhD, Barbara Brooking, Melissa Fleming, Sara Wade, Beverly Parsons, Phillis Carey, Tena Doan and Earl Doan, John Willett
And sincere thanks to our other 2021 donors:
Sharyn Woerz, James DeRoy, Marie Sprandel, Andrea Jessoe, Kevin Jackman, Kim Greenwood, Judith Duncan, Stephen Rubin, Elisabet O. Orville, Ron & Nancy Sefton, Clay Wilson, Elizabeth Bamber, Kitsap Audubon Society
And thanks again to our 2020 donors:
Amy Lawrence, Andrea Jessoe, Barbara Brooking, Barbara Snead, Barbara Wilhite, Beth Bergland, Beverly Parsons, Brooke Thompson, Carolyn E Hart, Catherine Whalen, Craig Jacobrown, Donna Bunten, Evan Stoll, Fris Campbell, Gregory W Geehan, Holly O. Austin, James Haney, Jeffrey Duda, Joan Gardner and Sandy Shor, John Wiles, John Willett, Kay Oh, Margaret Cole, Melissa Fleming, Nancy Taylor, Paul & Sharon Pegany, Phillis Carey, Sandra Bullock, Sara Wade, Tena Doan and Earl Doan, Sherry Cordiner, Diane Moser, John Willett, Judy Willott, Albert Gunby, Diane and Steve Landry, Elisabet Orville, Janine Moss, Marie Sprandel, Michelle Humphrey, Mike Lauver, Philene Viavods, Regina Spoor, Wendy McClure, Grant Blackinton, Dick & Nancy D’Archangel, David Mitchell, Jayne Larson, Jeffrey Adams, Judith Duncan, Ken Clason, Mike Freeman
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We also don't advertise Salish Magazine, so please spread the word of this online resource to your friends and colleagues.
Thanks so much for your interest and your support.