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Subathers enjoy a summer day at South Beach on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Mike Vouri photo |
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Classic beaches with fine, white sand are nonexistent at San Juan Island National Historical Park. However, the park has some of the finest beaches in the San Juan archipelago and they belong to everyone. Besides being enjoyable places for people to explore, stroll, and picnic, beaches are geologically and biologically significant. Biologically, a beach represents a complicated transition zone (ecotone) between terrestrial and marine environments. Species found in these two environments as well as species unique to the beach zone contribute to the beach and near-shore zone’s biologically diverse and highly productive qualities. Three main factors control the types of organisms that inhabit the intertidal and the complexity of the beach community: the composition of the beach (rock, gravel, sand, mud, or clay); the effect of wind, waves and currents on the beach; and the amount of time the beach is out of the water at low tide and exposed to sun, heat, drying, freezing, and predation from animals, including humans. The beaches of American Camp vary from open and windswept to narrow and protected. Pocket beaches and rocky headlands complete the varied coastlines of this unit of the park. Terraces denoting former marine wave cut beaches reflect changing sea levels and isostatic rebound following the most recent glaciation. Although sea levels actually rose after glacial retreat (melting), the rate of isotropic rebound (the rising [rebound] of land as it recovers from the extreme weight of glacial ice) was greater, thus forming a succession of beaches which today are viewed as terraces above South Beach. These features are best viewed from the redoubt. English Camp features a narrow stretch of mud/gravel beach fronting a low bank along which historic and prehistoric sites existing, including the Royal Marine camp, the Crook farmstead, and an ancient winter village. This narrow beach continues along Garrison Bay and around Belle Point, backed by a forest and hiking trail.
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