• Olympic: Three Parks in One

    Olympic

    National Park Washington

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  • Olympic Hot Springs Road Closed

    The Elwha Valley's Olympic Hot Springs Road is closed to public entry beyond the Altair Campground during removal of the Glines Canyon Dam. Olympic Hot Springs is not accessible from the Elwha.

  • Elwha River Closures

    Boating is prohibited on the Elwha River from Upper Lake Mills Trail downstream to the Highway 112 bridge, except for the stretch between Altair Campground and the Highway 101 bridge.

  • Changes to Visitor Services Due to Sequestration

    Due to mandatory, across the board budget cuts, some visitor services at Olympic National Park have changed. See the Plan Your Visit section for more information.

Endemic Animals of the Olympic Peninsula

An Olympic marmot in a meadow

The Olympic marmot is one of the Olympic Peninsula's endemic species that resulted from ice age isolation.

Ken and Mary Campbell

Endemic species are those that are native and exclusive to a particular area. The following species are endemic to the Olympic Peninsula.

Mammals
Olympic marmot - Marmota olympus
Olympic yellow-pine chipmunk - Tamias amoenus caurinus
Olympic snow mole - Scapanus townsedii olympicus
Olympic Masama pocket gopher - Thomomys mazama melanops
Olympic ermine - Mustela erminea olympica

Amphibians
Olympic torrent salamander - Rhyacotriton olympicus

Fish
Olympic mudminnow - Novumbra hubbsi

Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
Hulbirt's skipper - Hesperia comma olympica

Orthoptera (grasshoppers)
Olympic grasshopper - Nisquallia olympica

Coleoptera (beetles)
Mann's gazzelle beetle - Nebria danmanni
Quileute gazelle beetle - Nebri acuta quileute
Tiger beetle - Cicindela bellissima frechini

Mollusks
Arionid slug - Hemphllia dromedarius
Arionid jumping slug - Hemphillia burringtoni

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Did You Know?

Mossy downed log in dense forest

The old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest produce three times the biomass (living or once living material) of tropical rain forests. More...