Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park

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Ginkgo Petrified Forest /
Wanapum Recreational Area
Petrified trees at the Interpretive Center

Petrified trees at the Interpretive Center

location Kittitas County , Washington , USA
surface 28.83 km²
Geographical location 46 ° 57 ′  N , 120 ° 0 ′  W Coordinates: 46 ° 56 ′ 56 "  N , 120 ° 0 ′ 10"  W
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park (Washington)
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park
Setup date 1935
administration Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
particularities 1965 as National Natural Landmark reported
f6
Petrified trees are presented at the park entrance

The Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park / Wanapum Recreational Area is a geological reserve and recreational area with an area of ​​7,124 acres (2,883 hectares) on the west bank of Lake Wanapum , a reservoir in the Columbia River near Vantage , Washington . Petrified wood was discovered in the area in the early 1930s, leading to the creation of the state park as a protected area of ​​national importance. More than 50 species have been found among the petrified trees, including ginkgo , sweetgum , coastal redwood , Douglas fir , walnut , spruce , elm , maple , horse chestnut , poplar , magnolias , strawberry trees , sassafras , yew and witch hazel .

history

origin

The rock strata in which the park is embedded have been identified as Miocene within the Neogene and are around 15.5 million years old. During the Miocene the region was overgrown with many plant species that are now extinct, and the climate is humid. A large number of these trees were covered with volcanic ash and the organic matter in the trunks was gradually replaced by mineral matter from the groundwater; the resulting petrified wood was conserved for thousands of years by basalt rivers. Towards the end of the last Ice Age , the catastrophic Missoula Floods (around 15,000 years ago) brought the petrified wood to the surface through erosion of the basalt.

Original residents

In prehistoric times, the Wanapum Indians inhabited the region along the Columbia River from the Beverly Gap to the Snake River. The Wanapum were the first to welcome the white strangers of the Lewis and Clark expedition .

They made their living from fishing and farming, dug more than 300  petroglyphs into the basalt cliffs, and may have used the petrified wood exposed by erosion for arrowheads and other tools. According to the documentation in the park, the Wanapum never fought the white settlers, did not sign a contract with them and, in the end, did not receive any recognition of ownership claims over the land.

First museum

Around 1927, construction workers on the highway noticed the petrified wood, which led geologist George F. Beck to organize excavations. The Civilian Conservation Corps completed these excavations, built a small museum, and opened the park to the public in 1938.

The individual fossilized logs in the museum were collected by Frank Walter Bobo, who was from California, where he was born on March 4, 1894. He moved to Cle Elum in Kittitas County. There he became a "desert rat" when he began digging the petrified wood from the dry hills of the counties of Kittitas and Yakima.

Bobo was authorized to collect, saw, and polish the finds for the museum. He was paid in part by allowing him to keep half of the wood collected. His son, Don J. Bobo of Teanaway Valley, Washington, inherited his father's collection from about a ton of petrified wood.

Flooding

The Wanapum Dam was completed in 1963; it is about 4 mi (6 km) downstream and raised the water level of the Columbia River. A new Interpretive Center was built and about 60 petroglyphs were saved from the rising water; many of them are on display in the center.

confirmation

In October 1965, the National Park Service proposed the Ginkgo Petrified Forest as a National Natural Landmark . Petrified wood was made the state gemstone landmark by the Washington State Legislature in 1975 .

tourism

The museum in the park displays both petrified wood and Wanapum petroglyphs. There is a Trees of Stone Interpretive Trail, an educational trail that leads through an exposed part of prehistoric Lake Vantage and presents petrified wood from 22 tree species that remained at their location from the 1930s. The trail also includes a 1.5 mi (2.4 km) circular route through the shrub-covered hills and another 2.5 mi (4 km) circular route. The park also includes 27,000 ft (8,230 m) from the banks of the Columbia River, which can be used for swimming and boating; Campsites are also available.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ginkgo Petrified Forest / Wanapum Recreational Area . Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  2. ^ Mark J. Orsen, Stephen P. Reidel: Biostratigraphy of Columbia Basalt Group Petrified Forests . Geological Society of America. 2003. Retrieved December 2, 2006.
  3. ^ Wanapum Indians . National Geographic. Archived from the original on March 25, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  4. ^ Ginkgo Petrified Forest . In: National Natural Landmarks Program . National Park Service. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  5. ↑ State Symbols . Washington State Legislature. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  6. ^ Dori O'Neal: Hard facts on Ginkgo Petrified State Forest . In: The Seattle Times , September 7, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2012. 

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