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Animals
Crater Lake National Park is a harsh landscape buried by snow
eight months of the year. Despite this, more than fifty types
of mammals make their home for at least part of the year at the
park, ranging in size from the little brown bat to the Roosevelt
elk.
 It
is tempting to feed animals in the park, but no matter how cute
they are, or how much they may beg, feeding animals is very dangerous
both for them and for you.
Animals that depend on human handouts lose their natural abilities
to find food for themselves. Even a single potato chip is bad
for wild animals; potato chips do not naturally occur in their
diet. When winter comes, the easy food supply they've come to
depend upon disappears. They may starve because they have lost
their self-sufficiency.
Wild animals that are fed by humans are also soon no longer
"wild." They lose their natural fear of humans and
become vulnerable to other animals that would hurt them. Increased
territorial behavior and fighting may occur when many animals
are crowded into small areas competing for the same food.
 Without
our snacks, animals collect natural seeds to eat and store for
the winter. Many of the stored seeds have in a sense been "planted."
Birds called "Clark's nutcrackers" plant most of the
whitebark pines along the caldera rim. When these birds rely
on us for food and stop gathering pine seeds, whitebark pines
cease to be planted. Whitebark pine roots, in turn, play a role
in stabilizing the caldera rim. An important ecological chain
is quickly broken with just a few careless handouts.
Bear
in mind...
A few dozen black bears live within Crater Lake National Park.
Most bear sightings are near the campgrounds, but they have also
been spotted near North Junction and in the backcountry.
Black bears have poor vision, but their keen sense of smell
helps them find food such as berries, leaves, seeds and small
mammals. They can weigh from 200 to 500 pounds (90 to 230 kg)
and stand up to 10 feet (3 meters) tall standing on their hind
legs. In the winter they "hibernate" in caves or hollow
trees. Their deep winter slumber, however, isn't hibernation
in the same sense as that of smaller animals, as their body temperature
only drops a few degrees. They can easily be awakened.
During the long winters, bears live off a layer of stored
fat accumulated during the summer and fall. In the spring, female
bears usually emerge from their dens with 1 or 2 cubs. They amble
through berry patches, turn over logs or stones in search of
insects, and wade into streams looking for fish.
Visitors to the park may find more signs of bear activity
than bears themselves. Claw marks and slashes 10-12 feet (3½
meters) high on trees are good indicators of bear territory.
Their tracks, 3½ inches (9 cm) wide with five distinguishable
toes and claw marks, are also very recognizable. If you encounter
a bear, keep your distance. They are generally shy and will go
their own way when left alone. Either cinnamon-colored or all
black, they are beautiful animals to enjoy from a distance.
Major
Trees
Crater Lake was established as a National Park in 1902, before
commercial logging reached the High Cascades. Because of this,
Crater Lake National Park's forests are almost entirely old growth.
Due to the short growing season and the volcanic soils, however,
few trees grow more than 150 feet (45 meters) in height. There
are four major forest zones in the park, each named after its
dominant tree species.
Starting in lower elevations (about 4,500 feet or 1,370 meters),
the ponderosa pine forest is the first zone seen by visitors
on the east side of the park. Ponderosa pine is a drought-tolerant
tree with orange bark when mature. It has long needles in bundles
of three.
The ponderosa zone gives way to the lodgepole pine forest
at about 5,000 feet (1,520 meters). This zone covers vast areas.
Lodgepole pines grow in dense stands of very thin trees sometimes
called "dog's hair forests." They are the only pine
in the park with bundles of two needles.
Mountain hemlocks become dominant at about 6,000 feet (1,830
meters). Hemlocks are easily recognized by their droopy tops
which often point back down at the ground. They have thin branches
and small needles, and are perfectly at home with the huge amount
of snow received at Crater Lake.
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| Whitebark pine |
The next zone is almost purely whitebark pines and extends
from about 7,500 feet (2,290 meters) to the top of Mt. Scott,
the highest point in the park (8,929 feet or 2,721 meters). Whitebark
pines tolerate the most severe weather conditions. They are often
gnarled and twisted, looking more like thick shrubs than trees.
Often seen around the rim of the caldera or on the tip of Wizard
Island, these trees are the heartiest of them all.
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| Shasta red fir |
Other conifers are scattered throughout the park as well.
The Shasta red fir, for example, is an abundant tree in the mountain
hemlock zone. Its short needles point straight up from the branch,
giving the tree a bristly appearance.
Douglas-fir, Oregon's state tree, is a common tree on the
lower western slope near the park's boundary. The Douglas-fir
cone is the most easily recognized cone in the Northwest. Between
each cone scale, a three-pointed bract sticks out like a little
tongue. West of the Cascade crest, you could guess that any needle-leaved
tree in the forest was a Douglas-fir and be right 8 out of 10
times.
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Inside
This student study guide was created by Lihann Jones and Kevin
Bacher, and published by the Crater Lake Natural History Association,
P.O. Box 157, Crater Lake, OR 97604. |
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