There are some 70 locations throughout the park from near sea level to exposed ridges at 1900m. Herbertus aduncus - Rare throughout the Pacific Northwest, this liverwort, along with a suite of associated rare and sensitive species, is found in a few remaining coastal bogs. Many of these areas on the Olympic Peninsula are on private, state, or tribal land, and have been adversely impacted by logging. How the Information Will Be Used Information from this project will benefit ONP and the National Park Service in many ways. It will attend to a group of organisms, some of which are rare, that has largely been ignored.
Cryptogams are also subject to illegal harvest.
This project will help the park evaluate damage caused by this practice. Finally, it will help ONP fulfill its obligation to aid regionally-based forest management mandated by the Northwest Forest Plan. These data are also being used by the US Forest Service to justify modifications to the list of species covered by the Northwest Forest Plan. The park also serves as a training site for US Forest Service survey crews where they can see and learn the specific habitat requirements for particular cryptogam species. Finally, these data are being used by the US Forest Service to develop a habitat model for selected Northwest Forest Plan species.