Swalalahos: Where Rarity is Common
Mike Patterson
When: 6-8 pm
Where: Community Room
Seaside Public Library
1131 Broadway
Michelle Patterson explores the Swalalahos Floristic Province
“Swala-what?” you might reasonably be asking. “Swala-lahos” is how early English-speaking explorers interpreted the local name for Saddle Mountain. Lately, the word has been used by botanists to refer to the Swalalahos Floristic Province, where a combination of geology, climate and isolation along the northern Oregon and southern Washington coasts evolved into a unique refuge for plant and animal species, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth.
At this month’s Listening to the Land program, local ecologist Mike Patterson will share stories and images of the rare plants and animals that inhabit the rare ecosystem known as the Swalalahos Floristic Province-your north coast back yard.
