text:
Oil shale

Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitutes inorganic substance and bitumens. Based on their deposition environment, oil shales are classified as marine, lacustrine and terrestrial oil shales. Oil shales differ from oil-bearing shales, shale deposits that contain petroleum (tight oil) that is sometimes produced from drilled wells. Examples of oil-bearing shales are the Bakken Formation, Pierre Shale, Niobrara Formation, and Eagle Ford Formation. Accordingly, shale oil produced from oil shale should not be confused with tight oil, which is also frequently called shale oil.

Deposits of oil shale occur around the world, including major deposits in the United States. A 2016 estimate of global deposits set the total world resources of oil shale equivalent of 6.05 Toilbbl of oil in place. Oil shale has gained attention as a potential abundant source of oil. However, the various attempts to develop oil shale deposits have had limited success. Only Estonia and China have well-established oil shale industries, and Brazil, Germany, and Russia utilize oil shale to some extent.

Oil shale can be burned directly in furnaces as a low-grade fuel for power generation and district heating or used as a raw material in chemical and construction-materials processing. Heating oil shale to a sufficiently high temperature causes the chemical process of pyrolysis to yield a vapor. Upon cooling the vapor, the liquid unconventional oil, called shale oil, is separated from combustible oil-shale gas. Shale oil is a substitute for conventional crude oil; however, extracting shale oil is costlier than the production of conventional crude oil both financially and in terms of its environmental impact. Oil-shale mining and processing raise a number of environmental concerns, such as land use, waste disposal, water use, waste-water management, greenhouse-gas emissions and air pollution.

Geology

Oil shale, an organic-rich sedimentary rock, belongs to the group of sapropel fuels. It does not have a definite geological definition nor a specific chemical formula, and its seams do not always have discrete boundaries. Oil shales vary considerably in their mineral content, chemical composition, age, type of kerogen, and depositional history, and not all oil shales would necessarily be classified as shales in the strict sense. According to the petrologist Adrian C. Hutton of the University of Wollongong, oil shales are not "geological nor geochemically distinctive rock but rather 'economic' term". Their common defining feature is low solubility in low-boiling organic solvents and generation of liquid organic products on thermal decomposition. Geologists can classify oil shales on the basis of their composition as carbonate-rich shales, siliceous shales, or cannel shales.

Oil shale differs from bitumen-impregnated rocks (other so-called unconventional resources such as oil sands and petroleum reservoir rocks), humic coals and carbonaceous shale. While oil sands do originate from the biodegradation of oil, heat and pressure have not (yet) transformed the kerogen in oil shale into petroleum, which means its maturation does not exceed early mesocatagenetic. Oil shales differ also from oil-bearing shales, shale deposits that contain tight oil that is sometimes produced from drilled wells. Examples of oil-bearing shales are the Bakken Formation, Pierre Shale, Niobrara Formation, and Eagle Ford Formation. Accordingly, shale oil produced from oil shale should not be confused with tight oil, which is called also frequently shale oil.

General composition of oil shales constitutes inorganic matrix, bitumens, and kerogen. While the bitumen portion of oil shales is soluble in carbon disulfide, the kerogen portion is insoluble in carbon disulfide and may contain iron, vanadium, nickel, molybdenum, and uranium. Oil shale contains a lower percentage of organic matter than coal. In commercial grades of oil shale the ratio of organic matter to mineral matter lies approximately between 0.75:5 and 1.5:5. At the same time, the organic matter in oil shale has an atomic ratio of hydrogen to carbon (H/C) approximately 1.2 to 1.8 times lower than for crude oil and about 1.5 to 3 times higher than for coals. The organic components of oil shale derive from a variety of organisms, such as the remains of algae, spores, pollen, plant cuticles and corky fragments of herbaceous and woody plants, and cellular debris from other aquatic and land plants. Some deposits contain significant fossils; Germany's Messel Pit has the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mineral matter in oil shale includes various fine-grained silicates and carbonates. Inorganic matrix can contain quartz, feldspar, clay (mainly illite and chlorite), carbonate (calcite and dolomite), pyrite and some other minerals.

Another classification, known as the van Krevelen diagram, assigns kerogen types, depending on the hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen content of oil shales' original organic matter. The most commonly used classification of oil shales, developed between 1987 and 1991 by Adrian C. Hutton, adapts petrographic terms from coal terminology. This classification designates oil shales as terrestrial, lacustrine (lake-bottom-deposited), or marine (ocean bottom-deposited), based on the environment of the initial biomass deposit. Known oil shales are predominantly of aquatic (marine, lacustrine) origin. Hutton's classification scheme has proven useful in estimating the yield and composition of the extracted oil.

Resource

As source rocks for most conventional oil reservoirs, oil shale deposits are found in all world oil provinces, although most of them are too deep to be exploited economically. As with all oil and gas resources, analysts distinguish between oil shale resources and oil shale reserves. "Resources" refer to all oil shale deposits, while "reserves" represent those deposits from which producers can extract oil shale economically using existing technology. Since extraction technologies develop continuously, planners can only estimate the amount of recoverable kerogen. Although resources of oil shale occur in many countries, only 33 countries possess known deposits of potential economic value. Well-explored deposits, potentially classifiable as reserves, include the Green River deposits in the western United States, the Tertiary deposits in Queensland, Australia, deposits in Sweden and Estonia, the El-Lajjun deposit in Jordan, and deposits in France, Germany, Brazil, China, southern Mongolia and Russia. These deposits have given rise to expectations of yielding at least 40 liters of shale oil per tonne of oil shale, using the Fischer Assay.

A 2016 estimate set the total world resources of oil shale equivalent to yield of 6.05 Toilbbl of shale oil, with the largest resource deposits in the United States accounting more than 80% of the world total resource. For comparison, at the same time the world's proven oil reserves are estimated to be 1.6976 Toilbbl. The largest deposits in the world occur in the United States in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; about 70% of this resource lies on land owned or managed by the United States federal government. Deposits in the United States constitute more than 80% of world resources; other significant resource holders being China, Russia, and Brazil. The amount of economically recoverable oil shale is unknown.

History
Humans have used oil shale as a fuel since prehistoric times, since it generally burns without any processing. Around 3000 BC, "rock oil" was used in Mesopotamia for road construction and making architectural adhesives. Britons of the Iron Age used tractable oil shales to fashion cists for burial, or just polish it to create ornaments.

In the 10th century, the Arab physician Masawaih al-Mardini (Mesue the Younger) described a method of extraction of oil from "some kind of bituminous shale". The first patent for extracting oil from oil shale was British Crown Patent 330 granted in 1694 to Martin Eele, Thomas Hancock and William Portlock, who had "found a way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tarr, and oyle out of a sort of stone".

Modern industrial mining of oil shale began in 1837 in Autun, France, followed by exploitation in Scotland, Germany, and several other countries. Operations during the 19th century focused on the production of kerosene, lamp oil, and paraffin; these products helped supply the growing demand for lighting that arose during the Industrial Revolution, supplied from Scottish oil shales. Fuel oil, lubricating oil and grease, and ammonium sulfate were also produced. Scottish production peaked in around 1913, operating 120 oil shale works, producing 3,332,000 tonnes of oil shale, generating around 2% of the global production of petroleum. The Scottish oil-shale industry expanded immediately before World War I partly because of limited access to conventional petroleum resources and the mass production of automobiles and trucks, which accompanied an increase in gasoline consumption; but mostly because the British Admiralty required a reliable fuel source for their fleet as war in Europe loomed.

Although the Estonian and Chinese oil-shale industries continued to grow after World War II, most other countries abandoned their projects because of high processing costs and the availability of cheaper petroleum. Following the 1973 oil crisis, world production of oil shale reached a peak of 46 million tonnes in 1980 before falling to about 16 million tonnes in 2000, because of competition from cheap conventional petroleum in the 1980s.

On 2 May 1982, known in some circles as "Black Sunday", Exxon canceled its US$5 billion Colony Shale Oil Project near Parachute, Colorado, because of low oil prices and increased expenses, laying off more than 2,000 workers and leaving a trail of home foreclosures and small business bankruptcies. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, which among other things abolished the United States' Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program.

The global oil-shale industry began to revive at the beginning of the 21st century. In 2003, an oil-shale development program restarted in the United States. Authorities introduced a commercial leasing program permitting the extraction of oil shale and oil sands on federal lands in 2005, in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Industry
, oil shale is utilized primarily in Brazil, China, Estonia and to some extent in Germany, and Russia. Several additional countries started assessing their reserves or had built experimental production plants, while others had phased out their oil shale industry. Oil shale serves for oil production in Estonia, Brazil, and China; for power generation in Estonia, China, and Germany; for cement production in Estonia, Germany, and China; and for use in chemical industries in China, Estonia, and Russia.

, 80% of oil shale used globally is extracted in Estonia, mainly because Estonia uses several oil-shale-fired power plants, which has an installed capacity of 2,967 megawatts (MW). By comparison, China's oil shale power plants have an installed capacity of 12 MW, and Germany's have 9.9 MW. A 470 MW oil shale power plant in Jordan is under construction as of 2020. Israel, Romania and Russia have in the past run power plants fired by oil shale but have shut them down or switched to other fuel sources such as natural gas. Other countries, such as Egypt, have had plans to construct power plants fired by oil shale, while Canada and Turkey had plans to burn oil shale along with coal for power generation. Oil shale serves as the main fuel for power generation only in Estonia, where 90.3% of country's electrical generation in 2016 was produced from oil shale.

According to the World Energy Council, in 2008 the total production of shale oil from oil shale was 930,000 tonnes, equal to 17700 oilbbl/d, of which China produced 375,000 tonnes, Estonia 355,000 tonnes, and Brazil 200,000 tonnes. In comparison, production of the conventional oil and natural gas liquids in 2008 amounted 3.95 billion tonnes or 82.1 Moilbbl/d.

Extraction and processing
Most exploitation of oil shale involves mining followed by shipping elsewhere, after which the shale is burned directly to generate electricity or undertakes further processing. The most common methods of mining involve open-pit mining and strip mining. These procedures remove most of the overlying material to expose the deposits of oil shale and become practical when the deposits occur near the surface. Underground mining of oil shale, which removes less of the overlying material, employs the room-and-pillar method.

The extraction of the useful components of oil shale usually takes place above ground (ex-situ processing), although several newer technologies perform this underground (on-site or in-situ processing). In either case, the chemical process of pyrolysis converts the kerogen in the oil shale to shale oil (synthetic crude oil) and oil shale gas. Most conversion technologies involve heating shale in the absence of oxygen to a temperature at which kerogen decomposes (pyrolyses) into gas, condensable oil, and a solid residue. This usually takes place between 450 °C and 500 °C. The process of decomposition begins at relatively low temperatures (300 °C) but proceeds more rapidly and more completely at higher temperatures.

In-situ processing involves heating the oil shale underground. Such technologies can potentially extract more oil from a given area of land than ex-situ processes, since they can access the material at greater depths than surface mines can. Several companies have patented methods for in-situ retorting. However, most of these methods remain in the experimental phase. Two in-situ processes could be used: true in-situ processing does not involve mining the oil shale, while modified in-situ processing involves removing part of the oil shale and bringing it to the surface for modified in-situ retorting in order to create permeability for gas flow in a rubble chimney. Explosives rubblize the oil-shale deposit.

Hundreds of patents for oil shale retorting technologies exist; however, only a few dozen have undergone testing. By 2006, only four technologies remained in commercial use: Kiviter, Galoter, Fushun, and Petrosix.

Applications and products
Oil shale is utilized as a fuel for thermal power-plants, burning it (like coal) to drive steam turbines; some of these plants employ the resulting heat for district heating of homes and businesses. In addition to its use as a fuel, oil shale may also serve in the production of specialty carbon fibers, adsorbent carbons, carbon black, phenols, resins, glues, tanning agents, mastic, road bitumen, cement, bricks, construction and decorative blocks, soil-additives, fertilizers, rock-wool insulation, glass, and pharmaceutical products. However, oil shale use for production of these items remains small or only in experimental development. Some oil shales yield sulfur, ammonia, alumina, soda ash, uranium, and nahcolite as shale-oil extraction byproducts. Between 1946 and 1952, a marine type of Dictyonema shale served for uranium production in Sillamäe, Estonia, and between 1950 and 1989 Sweden used alum shale for the same purposes. Oil shale gas has served as a substitute for natural gas, but, producing oil shale gas as a natural-gas substitute remained economically infeasible.

The shale oil derived from oil shale does not directly substitute for crude oil in all applications. It may contain higher concentrations of olefins, oxygen, and nitrogen than conventional crude oil. Some shale oils may have higher sulfur or arsenic content. By comparison with West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark standard for crude oil in the futures-contract market, the Green River shale oil sulfur content ranges from near 0% to 4.9% (in average 0.76%), where West Texas Intermediate's sulfur content has a maximum of 0.42%. The sulfur content in shale oil from Jordan's oil shales may be as high as 9.5%. The arsenic content, for example, becomes an issue for Green River formation oil shale. The higher concentrations of these materials means that the oil must undergo considerable upgrading (hydrotreating) before serving as oil-refinery feedstock. Above-ground retorting processes tended to yield a lower API gravity shale oil than the in situ processes. Shale oil serves best for producing middle-distillates such as kerosene, jet fuel, and diesel fuel. Worldwide demand for these middle distillates, particularly for diesel fuels, increased rapidly in the 1990s and 2000s. However, appropriate refining processes equivalent to hydrocracking can transform shale oil into a lighter-range hydrocarbon (gasoline).

Economics

The various attempts to develop oil shale deposits have succeeded only when the cost of shale-oil production in a given region comes in below the price of crude oil or its other substitutes (break-even price). According to a 2005 survey, conducted by the RAND Corporation, the cost of producing a barrel of oil at a surface retorting complex in the United States (comprising a mine, retorting plant, upgrading plant, supporting utilities, and spent shale reclamation), would range between US$70–95 ($440–600/m3, adjusted to 2005 values). This estimate considers varying levels of kerogen quality and extraction efficiency. In order to run a profitable operation, the price of crude oil would need to remain above these levels. The analysis also discussed the expectation that processing costs would drop after the establishment of the complex. The hypothetical unit would see a cost reduction of 35–70% after producing its first 500 Moilbbl. Assuming an increase in output of 25 koilbbl/d during each year after the start of commercial production, RAND predicted the costs would decline to $35–48 per barrel ($220–300/m3) within 12 years. After achieving the milestone of 1 Goilbbl, its costs would decline further to $30–40 per barrel ($190–250/m3). In 2010, the International Energy Agency estimated, based on the various pilot projects, that investment and operating costs would be similar to those of Canadian oil sands, that means would be economic at prices above $60 per barrel at current costs. This figure does not account carbon pricing, which will add additional cost. According to the New Policies Scenario introduced in its World Energy Outlook 2010, a price of $50 per tonne of emitted adds additional $7.50 cost per barrel of shale oil. As of November 2021, the price of tonne of exceeded $60.

A 1972 publication in the journal Pétrole Informations compared shale-based oil production unfavorably with coal liquefaction. The article portrayed coal liquefaction as less expensive, generating more oil, and creating fewer environmental impacts than extraction from oil shale. It cited a conversion ratio of 650 L of oil per one ton of coal, as against 150 L of shale oil per one ton of oil shale.

A critical measure of the viability of oil shale as an energy source lies in the ratio of the energy produced by the shale to the energy used in its mining and processing, a ratio known as "energy return on investment" (EROI). A 1984 study estimated the EROI of the various known oil-shale deposits as varying between 0.7–13.3, although known oil-shale extraction development projects assert an EROI between 3 and 10. According to the World Energy Outlook 2010, the EROI of ex-situ processing is typically 4 to 5 while of in-situ processing it may be even as low as 2. However, according to the IEA most of used energy can be provided by burning the spent shale or oil-shale gas. To increase efficiency when retorting oil shale, researchers have proposed and tested several co-pyrolysis processes.

Environmental considerations
Mining oil shale involves numerous environmental impacts, more pronounced in surface mining than in underground mining. These include acid drainage induced by the sudden rapid exposure and subsequent oxidation of formerly buried materials; the introduction of metals including mercury into surface-water and groundwater; increased erosion, sulfur-gas emissions; and air pollution caused by the production of particulates during processing, transport, and support activities.

Oil-shale extraction can damage the biological and recreational value of land and the ecosystem in the mining area. Combustion and thermal processing generate waste material. In addition, the atmospheric emissions from oil shale processing and combustion include carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Environmentalists oppose production and usage of oil shale, as it creates even more greenhouse gases than conventional fossil fuels. Experimental in situ conversion processes and carbon capture and storage technologies may reduce some of these concerns in the future, but at the same time they may cause other problems, including groundwater pollution. Among the water contaminants commonly associated with oil shale processing are oxygen and nitrogen heterocyclic hydrocarbons. Commonly detected examples include quinoline derivatives, pyridine, and various alkyl homologues of pyridine, such as picoline and lutidine.

Water concerns are sensitive issues in arid regions, such as the western U.S. and Israel's Negev Desert, where plans exist to expand oil-shale extraction despite a water shortage. Depending on technology, above-ground retorting uses between one and five barrels of water per barrel of produced shale-oil. A 2008 programmatic environmental impact statement issued by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management stated that surface mining and retort operations produce 2 to 10 USgal of waste water per 1 ST of processed oil shale. In situ processing, according to one estimate, uses about one-tenth as much water.

Environmental activists, including members of Greenpeace, have organized strong protests against the oil shale industry. In one result, Queensland Energy Resources put the proposed Stuart Oil Shale Project in Australia on hold in 2004.

Extraterrestrial oil shale
Some comets contain massive amounts of an organic material almost identical to high grade oil shale, the equivalent of cubic kilometers of such mixed with other material; for instance, corresponding hydrocarbons were detected in a probe fly-by through the tail of Halley's Comet in 1986.

title: Oil shale


text:
User:Eluga

Edgardo Lugaresi Biologist C.E.U. - Centre for Human Evolution Studies Rome - Italy e-mail: elugaresi@email.it

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User:Eluga


text:
North Cascades National Park

North Cascades National Park is an American national park in the state of Washington. At more than 500000 acres, it is the largest of the three National Park Service units that comprise the North Cascades National Park Complex. North Cascades National Park consists of a northern and southern section, bisected by the Skagit River that flows through the reservoirs of Ross Lake National Recreation Area. Lake Chelan National Recreation Area lies on the southern border of the south unit of the park. In addition to the two national recreation areas, other protected lands including several national forests and wilderness areas, as well as Canadian provincial parks in British Columbia, nearly surround the park. North Cascades National Park features the rugged mountain peaks of the North Cascades Range, the most expansive glacial system in the contiguous United States, the headwaters of numerous waterways, and vast forests with the highest degree of flora biodiversity of any American national park.

The region was first settled by Paleo-Indian Native Americans; by the time European American explorers arrived, it was inhabited by Skagit tribes. By the early 19th century, the region was visited by fur trappers and several British and American companies vied for control over the fur trade. After the Canada–United States border was set at the 49th parallel in 1846, explorers came to chart potential routes through the mountains for roads and railroads. Limited mining and logging occurred from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The first significant human impact in the region occurred in the 1920s when several dams were built in the Skagit River valley to generate hydroelectric power. Environmentalists then campaigned to preserve the remaining wilderness, culminating on October 2, 1968, with the designation of North Cascades National Park.

Heavy snows and a high risk of avalanches due to the steep terrain, especially on the western slopes, severely limit visitation in the winter. Most access to the park is from State Route 20, which follows the Skagit River, though even this road is closed for months at a time in the winter. Most of the plant and animal species native to the park region are still found there, though climate change and pollutants from industrialized regions to the west pose risks to the environment. The park has one of the earliest and longest lasting research programs dedicated to studying climate change, primarily through examining the effects of glacial retreat.

North Cascades National Park is almost entirely protected as wilderness, and so the park has few structures, roads or other improvements. Visitors wishing to drive to a campground must do so in the adjacent national forests or national recreation areas. Camping inside the park requires hiking in by trail, horseback or boat, and camping is regulated by a permit system to ensure the wilderness is not over-exploited. Mountaineering is popular in the park and only unobtrusive clean climbing is allowed.

Paleoindians and Native Americans
Human history in North Cascades National Park and the surrounding region begins 8–10,000 years ago, after the end of the last glacial period. Paleo-Indians slowly advanced from Puget Sound into the interior mountain region as the glacial ice retreated. Archaeological evidence from other sites hundreds of miles away from the park indicate that Hozomeen chert, a type of rock well-suited to the fabrication of implements, was mined from near Hozomeen Mountain, just east of the park border, for the last 8,400 years. Tools such as microblades made from Hozomeen chert are part of the archaeological record throughout the Skagit River Valley, west of the park and in regions to the east. Prehistoric micro blades 9,600 years old have been discovered at Cascade Pass, a mountain pass that connects the western lowlands to the interior regions of the park and the Stehekin River Valley. The microblades are part of an archaeological assemblage that includes five distinct cultural periods, indicating that people were traveling into the mountains nearly 10,000 years ago. As well as the archaeological excavation at Cascade Pass, there are another 260 prehistoric sites that have been identified in the park. When white explorers first entered the area in the late 18th century, an estimated thousand Native American Skagits lived in what is now North Cascades National Park as well as the surrounding area. Residing mainly to the west of the park near Puget Sound, the Skagits lived in settlements, culling their needs from the waterways and traveling by canoe. Skagits formed a loose confederation of tribes that united if threatened by outside tribes such as the Haidas, who lived to the north. They erected large houses or lodges that could house multiple families, each with their own partitioned area and entrance. The lodges were 100 ft in length and 20 to 40 ft in width, and the roofs were shed-styles, with a single pitch; structures built by other Puget Sound tribes usually had gable roofs with more than one pitch. The Skagits were generally lowlanders, who only ventured into the North Cascades during the summer months, and structures in the mountains were more modest, consisting mostly of temporary buildings erected with poles and covered with branches. The Skagits erected totem poles and participated in potlatch ceremonies, similar to the Haidas, but with less complexity and extravagance. By 1910, only about 56 Skagits remained in the region, but their numbers have since rebounded to several hundred.

Inland and residing to the north and east of the Skagit tribe, the Nlaka'pamux (also known as the "Thompson Indians", named after explorer David Thompson), Chelan, Okanogan and Wenatchi (Wenatchee) tribes lived partly or year-round in the eastern sections of the North Cascades. The Skagits and Nlaka'pamux often had disputes, and raided one another's camps in search of slaves or to exact retribution. Like the coastal-based Skagits, inland tribes also constructed long lodges which were occupied by numerous families, though the style of construction was slightly different as the lodges did not have partitions separating one family from another, and were frame constructed and covered with reed mats rather than from cedar planking. One Wenatchee tribal lodge was described by Thompson as being 240 ft long. Inland tribes were more likely to travel on foot or horseback than by canoe since the inland regions were less densely forested. Inland tribes also had less bountiful fisheries and greater weather extremes due to being further away from the moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean. Inland tribes rarely erected totem poles or participated in potlatch ceremonies. By the beginning of the 20th century, inland tribes, like their coastal neighbors, had experienced population decline from their first contact with white explorers a hundred years earlier, mostly due to smallpox and other diseases.

Anglo-European exploration
The first white explorer to enter the North Cascades was most likely a Scotsman named Alexander Ross, who was in the employ of the American-owned Pacific Fur Company. To the southeast of the modern park boundary, Ross and other members of the company constructed Fort Okanogan in 1811, as a base from which to operate during the early period of the Pacific Northwest fur trade. Fort Okanogan was the first American settlement in present-day Washington State, well north of the route followed by members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806, and also north of Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River. Fort Okanogan was later owned by the North West Company, and then the Hudson's Bay Company, both of which were British-owned.

Both Native American and white trappers conducted fur transactions at the trading post, which was staffed by representatives of the fur trading company. During one season, Ross traded 1,500 beaver pelts. In 1814, Ross became the first known white explorer to explore the valleys and high passes of the North Cascades, but he was less interested in exploration than discovering a route that would easily connect the fur trading posts of interior Washington with Puget Sound to the west. Ross was accompanied by three Indians, one of whom was a guide who led the party to a high pass in the North Cascades. Ross and the guide may have traveled as far west as the Skagit River, but failed to get to Puget Sound. Fur trading slowed considerably as demand for furs decreased in the 1840s, but a few residents continued to augment their income by trapping for furs in the area until 1968, when the park was established, rendering the activity illegal.

Aside from isolated trappers, the North Cascades saw no further explorations until the 1850s. In 1853, US Army Captain George B. McClellan led a party that explored the area for potential locations for the construction of a railroad through the region. McClellan determined the mountains were too numerous and precipitous, and that any railway would have to be constructed well to the south.

American and British disputes in the region centered on the fur trade, and the Treaty of 1818 allowed for joint administration of Oregon Country, as it was referred to in the United States – the British Empire referred to the region as the Columbia District. The treaty set the international border at the 49th parallel, but this was disputed west of the Rocky Mountains, since the rival fur trading outfits had their own ideas about where the border should be. The Oregon boundary dispute between Britain and the United States eventually led to the Oregon Treaty of 1846, and the 49th parallel forms both the current international border as well as the northern limit of the current park. During the late 1850s, members of the US North West Boundary Commission explored the border region, attempting to identify which mountains, rivers and lakes belonged to which country. One party of the commission was led by explorer Henry Custer, and they explored the northern district of the park, publishing their report in the 1860s. Custer's party crossed Whatcom Pass in 1858, and were the first whites to see Challenger Glacier and Hozomeen Mountain. Impressed with the scenic grandeur of the region, Custer stated, "must be seen, it cannot be described".

In 1882, US Army Lieutenant Henry Hubbard Pierce led a government-sponsored exploration that traversed the western boundary of the southern section of the current park, in search of transportation routes and natural resources. As with the party led by McClellan in the 1850s, Pierce failed to find a suitable route for a railway, and only marginally suitable routes for roads. However, the expedition discovered gold in a quartz vein on the slopes of Eldorado Peak. Further expeditions by the military in 1883 and 1887 also determined that the mountains were virtually impenetrable. Explorers continued to seek out routes for wagon roads and railways and by the end of the 19th century, much of the park had been explored, but it was not until 1972 that the North Cascades Highway bisected the mountains.

Mining, logging and dam construction
Mineral prospectors entered the North Cascades region, and by the 1850s were doing placer mining along the banks of the Skagit River in search of gold. In the 1870s, placer mining also commenced along Ruby Creek, and hundreds of miners came to the region even though it was difficult to access. Most mining activity along Ruby Creek had ended by the 1880s, but was soon replaced by hard rock mining for silver and other minerals. This second period of mining lasted from the 1890s to the 1940s, but was only marginally more lucrative. Miners were hampered by short working seasons, difficult terrain, low quantities of ore and a lack of financial investment. Miners built some of the first trails and roads into portions of the backcountry, some of which involved intricate engineering, including bridges over the numerous streams and dynamiting rock ledges above steep gorges during trail construction. One mining company built a series of flumes, the longest of which was over 3 mi, to transport lumber and to supply water for use in their hydraulic mining operation.

During the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, larger operations mined silver and lead in addition to gold, mostly with little or no profitability. The demand for metals was not constant, and so prices tended to fluctuate too greatly for mining to be viable. Once the region became a national park, some privately owned mining inholdings remained. One such inholding, the Thunder Creek mine, was still privately owned as of 1997.

Unlike in many other regions of the Pacific Northwest, logging had little impact on the future park. The ruggedness of the terrain and the existence of more economically viable timber resources that were closer to transportation routes largely dissuaded the timber industry from logging in the area. In 1897 the Washington Forest Reserve was set aside, preserving the forestland that would later become the park. By 1905, the management of the reserve was transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service was subsequently created to administer these forest reserves nationwide, which were redesignated as National Forests. Though the Department of Agriculture allowed commercial enterprises to log the forest with a permit, most of the timber taken from the region was used only locally for the construction of cabins and similar small-scale enterprises. Logging expanded when the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project was commenced by the public utility Seattle City Light in the 1920s. Almost 12000 acre of timber would have been left underwater by the completion of the Ross Dam. A contract to extract the timber was awarded in 1945 and the project was completed in 1958. None of the dams or areas that were extensively logged are within the current boundaries of the national park, but they are in the adjoining Ross Lake National Recreation Area.

Establishing the National Park
The establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, and Yosemite National Park in 1890, led preservationists to argue for similar protections for other areas. Even before the North Cascade region was designated as a Forest Reserve in 1897, activists argued the region should be afforded the greater protection accorded from a National Park designation. Washingtonians submitted a petition in 1892 to establish a national park to the north of Lake Chelan, as many who had visited the region believed it to have scenery "greater than Switzerland's". Further efforts took place in 1906, and again between 1916 and 1921, when artist Julian Itter and the Mazamas Alpine Club lobbied for a bill to designate "Mount Baker National Park". The proposals failed to gain approval from the US Congress and were shelved for decades.

Not all locals supported the idea of a national park, as they felt that such a designation would damage the economics of the region. The Forest Service was also not in favor of park designation, as they would have to relinquish control over the land to the Park Service, which was not uncommon, since many parks being established were originally managed by the Forest Service. In an effort to appease their detractors, the Forest Service designated Primitive Areas which would provide increased protection to some of the most pristine regions they managed.

By the mid-1930s, forester Bob Marshall argued that the region should be set aside as wilderness. Rival interests continued to argue over whether the lands should remain under the management of the Forest Service or the National Park Service, but by the 1960s the environmentalist argument advocating for a national park prevailed. President John F. Kennedy directed the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior to fund a joint study into a possible national park in the North Cascades region, which was completed in January 1966 and submitted to Congress. The size of the national park was subject to debate locally and in Congress, as well as its effect on the local logging industry. The North Cascades National Park Act designated the region as a national park on October 2, 1968, and the National Park Service commenced direct management on January 1, 1969. The North Cascades National Park Act also designated Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas. Redwood National Park in California was also signed into existence on the same day as the North Cascades. By 1988, much of Bob Marshall's original plan to set aside the future park as wilderness was achieved when almost all of North Cascades National Park was designated as the Stephen Mather Wilderness.

Park management
North Cascades National Park is managed by the National Park Service, and the park headquarters is in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. The park consists of a northern and a southern district or unit. These are separated by Ross Lake National Recreation Area. The southeast boundary of the southern district abuts Lake Chelan National Recreation Area; the park and two recreation areas are managed as the North Cascades National Park Complex. Most of the park complex was designated as the Stephen Mather Wilderness, preventing further human-induced alterations to 93 percent of the park. The mandate of the National Park Service is to "preserve and protect natural and cultural resources". In keeping with this mandate, hunting is illegal in the park, as is mining, logging, oil and gas extraction, and removal of natural or cultural resources.

In 2016, North Cascades National Park recorded 28,646 visitors, while adjoining Ross Lake National Recreation Area reported 905,418 visitors and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area had 45,514 visitors. Peak visitation is between June and September. Ross Lake NRA is easily accessible on State Route 20 (also called the North Cascades Highway), the only road which traverses the park complex; the highway lies entirely within the Ross Lake NRA. Only two primitive roadways enter the actual national park. The North Cascades National Park Complex had an operating base budget of $7,700,000 for fiscal year 2010, augmented by another $3,700,000 of non-base funding (which can fluctuate significantly on an annual basis), and additional funding from revenue generated from concessionaire contracts and user fees. Much of the budget is for staffing, with 83 percent covering the cost of 81 permanent employees, not all of whom are employed year-round, and the nearly 250 seasonal and term employees who work primarily in the summer months. In 2017, the fiscal year budget was approximately 7.5 million dollars, and budgets have been stagnant overall for all National Park Service sites for many years.

Access
Although there are some gravel roads open to the public that enter the park, such as the Cascade River Road beginning at Marblemount, and the Thornton Lakes Road near Newhalem, most automobile traffic travels on State Route 20, which passes through the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. The visitor center at Newhalem on the North Cascades Highway is open in the summer. Some of the best views of Mount Shuksan are from the Heather Meadows Visitor Center in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest well outside of the park. All backcountry access requires a permit, and most are obtained at the Wilderness Information Center near Marblemount. Full accessibility for all is not available in the park, but the adjacent National Recreation Areas have a few trails, and all visitor centers, campgrounds and restrooms are fully accessible.

The nearest large town on the west side of the park is Sedro-Woolley, and Winthrop lies to the east. Chelan is located at the southeastern end of Lake Chelan where access to the park from Stehekin serves eastern Washington communities. The closest international airport is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), which is 120 mi from North Cascades Visitor Center and 190 mi from Chelan. In Chelan, the Lady of the Lake is a passenger-only ferry that transports visitors to Stehekin, and the trailheads hikers can use to access the southern end of the park.

Geography
North Cascades National Park is located in portions of Whatcom, Skagit, and Chelan counties in the U.S. state of Washington. Bisected by Ross Lake National Recreation Area (NRA), the park consists of two districts; the northern and southern. The northern boundary of the north district is also the international border between the United States and Canada; the latter manages adjoining Chilliwack Lake and Skagit Valley Provincial Park. The entire eastern and southern boundary of the north district is bordered by Ross Lake NRA. The western side of the north district is bordered by Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, within which lies the Mount Baker and Noisy-Diobsud Wildernesses, both of which border the park. Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest also borders a portion of the southern district of the park, to the southwest. Along the southwest border is Wenatchee National Forest, within which lies the Glacier Peak Wilderness. The southern boundary of the park is shared with Lake Chelan NRA, and a small section of the eastern boundary is shared with the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest. The Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness lies in the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest along the southeastern park boundary.

North Cascades National Park has nearly 9000 ft of vertical relief, with the park's highest point atop Goode Mountain, and the western valleys situated at only around 400 ft above mean sea level, the park has a highly varied ecosystem, including eight life zones. Erosion from water and glacial ice have created some of the steepest mountain ranges in the contiguous US, rising between 4000 and 6000 ft above their bases. The park is home to over 300 glaciers as well as 300 lakes, and contains the headwaters for some streams that flow into the Skagit River, as well as the Stehekin and Nooksack Rivers. The ruggedness of the terrain was an obstacle to human encroachment and consequently, the park is almost entirely wilderness.

Geology
North Cascades National Park was named after the North Cascades mountains, which are a subsection of the Cascade Range that extends from northern California into British Columbia. The North Cascades are the northernmost section of the range and unlike their southern counterparts that consist of Tertiary to Holocene volcanic rocks, the North Cascades are composed primarily of Mesozoic crystalline and metamorphic rocks. Though most rocks in the park are from the more recent Mesozoic, the oldest rocks are 400 million years old, dating from the Devonian. A complex assemblage of various rock formations have repeatedly been eroded, reburied, subjected to fracturing and heat, creating a geological puzzle that is one of the most complicated and least understood geological records in North America. These forces are ongoing and the region continues to see uplift and faulting.

Evidence from the fossils and magnetism found in the rocks indicates that the terranes composing the North Cascades drifted thousands of miles north until they impacted the North American Plate 90 million years ago. The collision between the rocks caused fracturing and folding as well as uplift and the terranes were further fractured into north or south trending faults. The uplifted rocks mostly eroded away; 40 million years ago the heavier basaltic rocks of the ocean floor started to push the lighter granitic rocks that are the core of the mountains upward, a process that continues. Subjected to intense heat, rocks deep underground near the collision zone became recrystallized into granitic rocks, which comprise the backbone of the highest peaks. Continued uplift and erosion and finally the action of glacial ice on the landscape during the Holocene exposed the rocks visible today.

Much harder and more durable than the younger volcanic rocks of the southern Cascades, the North Cascades are consequently more rugged, with steep terrain being the norm due to heavy erosion from water and ice. Continued rising in conjunction with erosion from water and ice has created deep valleys and significant vertical relief that is comparable to much taller mountain ranges.

Mountains
The tallest mountain in North Cascades National Park is Goode Mountain at 9220 ft. It lies in a remote backcountry region of the southern section of the park. Nearby are several other peaks that exceed 9000 ft, including Buckner Mountain (9114 ft) and Mount Logan (9087 ft). At about 9000 ft, about 5 mi northeast of Goode Mountain, is Black Peak (8970 ft). Other prominent peaks in the southern section of the park include Boston Peak (8894 ft), Eldorado Peak (8868 ft) and Forbidden Peak (8815 ft).

The northern region of the park contains the Picket Range, a subrange of the Skagit Range, which is in turn a subrange of the North Cascades. The Picket Range has numerous spires with ominous names such as Mount Fury, Mount Challenger, Poltergeist Pinnacle, Mount Terror, Ghost Peak and Phantom Peak, all of which exceed 8000 ft. The Picket Range is only 6 mi long yet contains 21 peaks over 7500 ft. North of the Picket Range and near the border with Canada lie Mount Redoubt (8969 ft), Mount Spickard (8979 ft) and the spires of the Mox Peaks (8630 ft). Isolated and dominating the northwestern reaches of the park lies the oft photographed Mount Shuksan (9131 ft), which towers more than 8400 ft above Baker Lake only 6 mi to the south.

Water features
More than 500 lakes and ponds are located within North Cascades National Park. Many of these are devoid of fish, not uncommon in steep terrain where fish may not be able to access high altitude waterways. Around 240 of these lakes exist in the higher elevations and stocking of some of these lakes with fish has been ongoing since the late 19th century. Fishing in these lakes, which, without fish stocking, do not have native fish, is part of the area's economy and tourism. In 2008 an Environmental Impact Statement was produced that examined whether these lakes should continue to be stocked, and if so, what the impact would be on native species such as salamanders and other aquatic life. The North Cascades National Park Service Complex Fish Stocking Act, signed in 2014, directs the NPS to allow stocking of non-reproducing fish in no more than 42 lakes, making it the only national park to continue to stock non-native fish in park lakes. The prior decision not to continue to stock the lakes with fish was part of a larger debate about what "natural" means in reference to national parks. Hundreds of creeks and streams and several rivers originate within the park. The streams at higher elevation are often directly supplied by meltwater from glaciers, and they carry finely ground rock particles commonly referred to as glacial flour. Turning the water a turquoise hue at times, this finely ground powder remains suspended in lakes the creeks flow into, also causing some of them to appear turquoise. Thunder Creek is particularly well known for this attribute, as it is supplied melt water from dozens of glaciers and transports the suspended particles into Diablo Lake.

The Skagit River divides the park into the north and south districts; it lies within the Ross Lake NRA and outside of the national park boundaries, but some of the creeks and streams that supply it originate within the national park; the Baker River is the largest of these tributaries. The Skagit River is the largest river that flows into Puget Sound to the west, and the dams located in Ross Lake National Recreation Area and impounding other lakes adjacent to the park supply nearly 90 percent of the electricity used in Seattle. Other important rivers that originate in the park include the Chilliwack, Nooksack and the Stehekin rivers.

Glaciers
With approximately 312 glaciers, North Cascades National Park has the most glaciers of any US park outside Alaska, and a third of all the glaciers in the lower 48 states. Counting a few glaciers in the adjoining National Recreation Areas, the North Cascades National Park Complex glaciers covered an expanse totaling 27000 acre as of 2009. Boston Glacier, on the north slope of Boston Peak, is the largest glacier in the park, measured in 1971 to have an area of 1730 acre. Other glaciers that were measured in 1971 to be larger than 2 km2 include East Nooksack and Sulphide Glaciers on Mount Shuksan, McAllister and Inspiration Glaciers on Eldorado Peak, Redoubt Glacier on Mount Redoubt, Neve Glacier on Snowfield Peak, and Challenger Glacier on Mount Challenger.

The dense concentration and relative ease of access to the North Cascade glaciers brought about some of the earliest series of scientific studies regarding glaciology in the United States. Beginning in 1955, the University of Washington sponsored Richard C. Hubley to undertake annual aerial photography expeditions designed to capture images of the glaciers and to show any alterations that might be occurring. In 1960, Austin Post expanded the aerial coverage to include other regions and he also used ground-based imagery to augment the research. In 1971, based on the photographs and other data collected since 1955, Post and others wrote a report that documented the number and scale of glaciers in the North Cascades. At the time of Austin Post's inventory, their study concluded that some North Cascades glaciers had experienced a period of minor growth or equilibrium in the mid-20th century, after undergoing decades of retreat. The study concluded that annual glacial melt due to seasonal variations has a significant influence on river levels, accounting for about 30 percent of the late summer water flow, which directly impacted the supported ecosystems such as salmon fisheries.

The National Park Service, United States Geological Survey (USGS) and glaciologists such as Mauri S. Pelto, who has led the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project since 1984, have continued research on North Cascade glaciers. Since 1993, the National Park Service has conducted rigorous studies on four park glaciers: Noisy Creek, Silver, North Klawatti and Sandalee Glaciers. The National Park Service research indicated that these four glaciers experienced rapid decrease in volumes between 1993 and 2011. In 1998, a National Park Service and Portland State University aerial photographic inventory showed a 13 percent loss in park-wide glacial volume since Austin Post's inventory in 1971. The NPS stated that in the last 150 years since the end of the Little Ice Age, a period of several centuries in which the earth experienced a cooling phase, glacial ice volumes in the North Cascades have been reduced by 40 percent. This loss of glacial ice has contributed to decreased melt in the summer. In a paper published in 2016, it was reported that since 1959 the Skagit River watershed has seen a 25 percent reduction in the summertime streamflow.

Map
Geographical features in the area can be found in this clickable map:

Ecology

Eight distinctive life zones support thousands of different plant and animal species in the North Cascades National Park ecosystem. With an elevation gain of nearly 9000 ft, the park has one of the largest ranges of biodiversity found in any US national park.

Flora
The flora in North Cascades National Park is influenced by the great vertical relief, the amount of moisture an area receives, the slope and soil types as well as the fire ecology. This wide array of ecological niches has allowed a great biodiversity to evolve. Few other North American national parks have recorded as many vascular plant species as have been documented in North Cascades National Park. With 1,630 species documented, experts estimate adding non-vascular plants and fungi could more than double the number of known plant species. The park contains an estimated 236000 acre of old-growth forests. As little of the park was previously logged, significant stands of old growth forest can be found in the valleys and lower slopes up to the timberline at 7000 ft. From the lowest valley floors to about 2000 ft, virgin stands of western hemlock, red cedar and Douglas fir are common. These species are heavily dependent on deep soils, and red cedars 1,000 years old and over 200 ft tall can be found on Big Beaver Creek. These lowest elevation forests can be accessed by trails, such as the Happy Creek Forest Walk off State Route 20, the Shadows of the Sentinels at Baker Lake, Thunder Creek Trail at Diablo Lake and the Horseshoe Bend Trail from State Route 542. In openings in the forest canopy, red alder and bigleaf maple can be found but throughout this dense forest, ferns, shrubs and mosses abound.

Between 2000 and 5500 ft the forest is dominated by the pacific silver fir tree near State Route 20 at Rainy Pass. Also at this elevation, the western hemlock is replaced by the mountain hemlock as a dominant species. At elevations between 4000 and 7000 ft in the subalpine zone, the forest gives way to meadows dominated by grasses and flowering plants and shrubs. Above 7000 ft lies the alpine zone where few plant species survive aside from some sparse grasses, the occasional shrub and lichens. A warming climate has led to an altitude adjustment for many flora species, with the timberline reaching 415 ft further up the mountain slopes since the 1960s.

The biodiversity of the area is threatened by climate change and invasive exotic plant species. These plants have spread across the park through the inadvertent redistribution from human activities, attaching themselves to cars and hikers. Invasive plants include the diffuse knapweed and reed canary grass. True grass species number nearly 150 in the park; half of those are considered exotic and nonnative to the ecosystem.

Whitebark pine is native to the park and grows at elevations over 5000 ft in the drier eastern region of the park. Whitebark pine is a stabilizing species for other species of high altitude flora and provides a food source for birds such as the Clark's nutcracker and mammals including red and Douglas squirrels. Scientists believe that increasing temperatures will have a negative impact on the habitat necessary to support whitebark pine, and therefore impact a wide array of other species. White pine blister rust and mountain pine beetles have devastated whitebark pine populations in many regions; as of 2018, "28 percent of whitebark pine trees are dead, 30 percent are infected with blister rust, and 1 percent have died from mountain pine beetles."

Fauna
This park has a diversity of animal species including 75 mammal species. A total of 18 species of carnivores including coyote, bobcat, lynx, cougar, mink, river otter and black bear have been reported within this park. Several species of deer such as the elk and moose, several more species of bovids including the mountain goat and bighorn sheep, and more than two dozen species of rodents like the beaver, hoary marmot and pika are also present. Ten species of bats have been documented. The grey wolf is listed as an endangered species, while the grizzly bear is listed as threatened. North Cascade National Park has management plans in place to return grizzly bears to the park but not wolves, as the latter is seen as likely to reestablish themselves naturally over time.

The park is a prime habitat for grizzly bear, but the species was extirpated from the region by 1860. Only two grizzly bear sightings occurred in the decade before 2015, and these were outside the park boundary in Canada. In 1991, a decision was reached by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, a US Government land management agency committee, to make efforts to restore self-sustaining populations of grizzlies in the North Cascades region, which included the national park and surrounding national forests. In 1997, the North Cascades region was added to the National Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan; by 2017, the environmental impact statement for grizzly bear restoration was still in the public comment stage. Various action plans had been proposed to reestablish a self-sustaining population of 200 grizzlies in the region.

Wolverines are one of the rarest and most elusive mammals in North America. They are seldom sighted in the park, both due to the limited numbers of the species and the habitats they prefer, which are snowy high-altitude regions far removed from human encroachment. Approximately nine wolverines were captured in the national forest east of the park and fitted with transmitters that were tracked by Argos satellite telemetry. Four of the wolverines frequented the southern sections of North Cascades National Park, and of those, two spent the majority of their time there; researchers were unable to determine if these study animals had reproduced in the park. A warming climate may impact any wolverine recovery efforts implemented due to the loss of snow cover this species needs to reproduce. Research indicates that wolverines den in deep snow at least 5 ft deep that lasts well into May, and as climate warms, these regions are becoming less common, especially in the lower 48 states.

More than 200 species of birds that pass through or use the park as a breeding ground have been recorded. These bird species include both golden and bald eagle as well as northern spotted owl, harlequin duck, Clark's nutcracker, trumpeter swan and seasonal appearances of western tanager, Cassin's vireo, pine grosbeak, woodpeckers such as the pileated woodpecker and primarily ground-dwelling birds such as the sooty grouse. The peregrine falcon is the only species found in the park that is federally designated as an endangered species, while the marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl are listed as threatened.

There are at least 28 species of fish documented, including all five species of Pacific salmon: pink, chinook (king), sockeye, coho and chum. Various trout species including rainbow, lake and brook trout can be found as can the largemouth bass and longnose dace.

Seven species of reptiles and about a dozen species of amphibians have been documented. Reptiles such as the northern alligator lizard and the common garter snake and amphibians such as the western toad, Pacific giant salamander and rough-skinned newt reside in the park.

More than 500 species of insects have been recorded, including at least two dozen species of butterflies. Around 250 species of aquatic invertebrates can be found in the parks waterways.

Fire
In North Cascades National Park, fire was used by Native Americans in the region near present-day Ross Lake to clear out brush, to ease foot travel, and possibly to flush animals out of the foliage. Evidence found in the patterns of tree growth as well as from tree ring analysis indicates human-caused fires were created for many hundreds of years. Similar evidence is found in the Stehekin Valley, where both smaller low intensity fires and larger fires are suggested by the growth patterns and burn scars in tree ring evidence. The low-intensity fires that were likely human induced were only found in the easternmost regions of the park. In the subalpine regions such as the Thunder Creek area, the studies concluded fire occurs at frequencies ranging from 30 years to 400 years.

Across the entire North Cascades National Park Service Complex, between 1973 and 2003, there were 113 human-caused fires that burned 106 acre, and 264 lightning-caused fires that burned 11672 acre. During this period, the largest fire consumed 4118 acre, mostly in Ross Lake National Recreation Area. North Cascades National Park Complex has three different zones with varying ratings for fire potential and severity. The park is managed as the Skagit Fire Management Unit (FMU) and has a low frequency of large natural fires that occur on average only every 50 to 400 years.

North Cascades National Park has a condition type that shows "...natural (historical) range of variability of vegetation characteristics; fuel composition; fire frequency, severity and pattern; and other associated disturbances." This condition type, in keeping with the wilderness designation applied to most of the park, equates to a natural "let it burn" policy overall, so long as people and historical property are not threatened and the fire was lightning-caused. As part of the management plan, the few historic structures in the FMU are prioritized for fire protection including backcountry shelters like Beaver Pass Shelter, and fire lookouts such as Sourdough, Desolation and Copper lookout, all of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Climate
The Cascade Range is tall enough to cause a significant rain shadow on the eastern slopes. Annually, the western portions of the park receive 76 in more precipitation than the eastern sections. The higher precipitation in the west also correlates to increased snowfall with 400 in more measured in the west than the east annually. On the western slopes, snowfall depths range from 50 to 75 in in lower altitudes annually, increasing to 400 to 600 in at elevations between 4000 to 5500 ft above sea level. Snow depths peak in early March and range from 10 to 25 ft depending on altitude.

Snow covers the ground more than six months out of the year, even at lower elevations, and State Route 20, the only highway through the park, is generally closed from late November until late April. Numerous avalanche chutes, as many as traverse any state or federal highway, and including some over 2000 feet long, cross the highway and make snow removal during that period infeasible. Heavy snow and frequent avalanches are common, especially on the western slopes, from autumn to spring. The high elevation trails are generally open by mid-summer and the majority of tourism is between mid-June and late September. The east side of the park is generally warmer and drier, especially in the summer with highs reaching 90 °F. Since the 1950s, there has been a five-degree Fahrenheit (2.77°C) mean winter minimum temperature increase at elevations above 4000 ft. This has led to a reduced winter snowpack as the mean winter freezing level is now 650 ft higher.

Overall the relative proximity of the Pacific Ocean moderates temperatures in the park, and it is warmer than other regions at a similar latitude farther inland.

Air and water quality
While North Cascades National Park is in a remote region for the most part, the prevailing westerly winds bring various pollutants into the park from the industrialized region around Puget Sound and the Fraser River Valley of British Columbia. These pollutants deposit onto plants and glaciers and are then carried by rainfall or ice melt and dispersed into rivers and lakes. The industrialized regions around Puget Sound and the Fraser River Valley have had a more noticeable negative impact on water and air quality than at Mount Rainier National Park well to the south due to the prevailing winds. Lakes at higher elevations show a higher level of acidity due to this phenomenon; the current and long-term impact on the ecosystem of the park has not yet been fully assessed.

Mercury and toxins from pesticides have been detected in the park, as has ozone; these have not been demonstrated to be at sufficient concentrations to greatly impact the ecosystem. Sulfur, nitrogen dioxide and ozone from factories and automobile emissions as well as increased dust and fine particulates from sources such as farming and construction are dispersed into the atmosphere, reducing long-range visibility. Visibilities of up to 150 mi have been reduced to less than 50 mi on the worst days due to the increased haze.

Climate change will impact the temperatures of high altitude lakes and streams, which in turn will have an effect on the fish that can thrive in these waters. Retreating glaciers reduce the amount of glacial ice melt available in warmer months that kept streams and lakes cold, even in late summer.

Attractions

North Cascades National Park is approximately 100 mi northeast of Seattle. Nearly all of the national park is protected as the Stephen Mather Wilderness and it is "one of the premier wilderness parks" in the lower-48 states". Unlike some national parks, there is no entrance fee at North Cascades, and hiking trailheads accessed by vehicle do not require a parking pass; trailheads on some national forest properties adjacent to the park may require a pass. Mount Shuksan, in the northwest corner of the park, is often photographed, and at 9131 ft is the second highest peak in the park.

Camping, hiking and bicycling
Hikers and backpackers often visit Cascade Pass in the southwestern section of the southern unit of the park, which was used as a travel route by Native Americans. The pass can be reached by a 3.7 mi hiking trail accessed from a parking lot at the end of a gravel road that starts at Marblemount. There are nearly 400 mi of hiking trails in the park. Hikers can also access two National Scenic Trails including 18 mi of the Pacific Crest Trail in the southern unit of the park and 63 mi of the Pacific Northwest Trail that passes through the northern unit. The north and south Picket Ranges, Mount Triumph, Eldorado Peak and Boston Peak regions are popular backcountry camping zones.

Unlike most US national parks, there are no places within North Cascades National Park where one can drive to a campground. There are many vehicular access camp grounds in Ross Lake National Recreation Area and in surrounding national forests. All overnight camping is considered backcountry camping and camping areas are protected to prevent overcrowding. Backcountry camping spots can be reserved in early spring only; walk-up permits can be obtained at the Wilderness Information Center near Marblemount. Since the vast majority of the park is designated wilderness, the goal is to ensure all hikers and backcountry travelers enjoy the opportunities for solitude. Group sizes are limited to parties of less than a dozen on what are known as trail and camping corridors, and in more remote areas off trails, groups larger than six are not permitted.

Bicycles are allowed in the park but only on the same roads that vehicles are allowed on. No mountain bike access is allowed on hiking trails. Hiker/biker camping is available at Newhalem Campground, Colonial Creek, and near Stehekin.

Mountaineering
High quality climbing routes on the numerous cliffs, ice and other challenges make the park a favorite destination for many mountaineering enthusiasts. While some peaks and cliffs can be accessed fairly easily, the most remote ones entail a multi-day excursion, challenging for even experienced mountaineers. The park has banned the installation of any new fixed anchors such as pitons, and only removable anchors such as chocks and cams are permitted. This clean climbing has been implemented to help protect the resource, since fixed point anchors deface the rock and are considered intrusive.

With much of the rock climbing and mountaineering done above the tree line, the effort to protect alpine ecosystems is of paramount importance. Leave No Trace policies are strictly enforced and encouraged, such as camping only on bare rock, using only a camp stove, storing food safely where animals cannot get to it, and carrying out or properly burying human waste as necessary. Mountaineering in the North Cascades was first popularized by Fred Beckey; at age 15 he was the first to reach the summit of Sinister Peak in 1938, in 1939 he was the first atop Mount Despair, and the following year he was the first to climb Forbidden Peak. Beckey was the first to summit at least two dozen peaks in the North Cascades, and his exhaustive three-volume Cascade Alpine Guide books, first published in the early 1970s, have been called the "Beckey Bible".

title: North Cascades National Park


text:
World Esperanto Youth Organization

The World Esperanto Youth Organization (Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo, TEJO) is an organization dedicated to supporting young Esperanto speakers around the world and promote the use of Esperanto. TEJO was founded in 1938 as the Tutmonda Junular-Organizo (World Youth Organization) and took its current name in 1952. In 1956, TEJO became the youth section of the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA). In 1971, the finances and administration of TEJO were fully integrated into those of UEA.

Activities
TEJO is an organization for young Esperanto speakers. TEJO has individual members as well as member organizations. There are 42 member organizations, as well as 13 national organizations that TEJO has contact with but that are not members.

TEJO organizes an International Youth Congress (Internacia Junulara Kongreso) each year in a different location around the world. During the IJK there are concerts, presentations, excursions, and recreation, usually one week long and attended by a few hundred young people from several countries.

TEJO also publishes the Pasporta Servo, which is an international hospitality network of Esperanto speakers that accept Esperanto-speaking guests.

TEJO publishes Kontakto, a magazine aimed at beginners and youth.

TEJO organizes several youth seminars each year. These seminars bring together an international group of young people to discuss a current issue. Past seminars have focused on human rights, globalization, language problems on minority languages, intercomprehension and the Internet. The seminars last for one week.

Timeline

 * 1920: World Esperantist Youth Association (TEJA) was established (and several years later "fell asleep")
 * 1938: During the first International Youth Congress (IJK) in Groet, Netherlands, according to a decision of more than 200 participants from 10 countries the World Youth Organization (TJO) was born.
 * 1939: The second IJK took place in Tervuren, Belgium
 * 1947: TJO became a special section of the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA)
 * 1948: The organization "Native Esperanto speakers" became part of TJO. The third IJK took place in Ipswich, the United Kingdom and it's taken place every year since then.
 * 1952: During the 8th IJK in Ry, Denmark, TJO became TEJO (the World Esperanto Youth Organization). In that period TEJO was going through a financial and structural crisis.
 * 1956: During the 12th IJK in Büsum, Germany, the committee of TEJO proposed that TEJO become the youth section and an integral part of UEA. A period of internal reorganization started.
 * 1960: The reorganization process was concluded during the 16th IJK in Rotterdam, Netherlands. TEJO opened itself to the outside world by starting cooperation with several non-Esperanto YNOs.
 * 1963: Kontakto, an international magazine of TEJO, was born. It continues to be published six times a year and is a magazine in Esperanto, but not about Esperanto.
 * 1964: PR became the focus of attention. Several brochures and flyers were published in national languages and special group for contacts with other youth organizations was established.
 * 1965: The first of a series of seminars was organized in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia (today Slovenia), with the goal of discussing the language problem and exchange experiences with different YNOs. Seminars soon also discussed more practical topics, such as exchange of experiences between generations and other issues of youth work.
 * 1966: At the same time as the most successful IJK took place (more than 900 young people participated), TEJO went through a serious financial crisis. TEJO became a correspondent member of the UNESCO's Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service. In Argentina the "Programme Passport" was launched, which turned into "Pasporta Servo" (a network of Esperanto speakers around the globe willing to host other Esperanto speakers for a limited time, a forerunner of Couchsurfing) several years later
 * 1979: TEJO was accepted by the Geneva Informal Meeting, GIM.
 * 1980: TEJO organized its first seminar at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg (EYC-S).
 * 1983: TEJO Tutmonde, another one of TEJO's magazines, related to the organization itself, was launched.
 * 2017: The first international youth congress that took place in Africa, in Togo.
 * 2020: the first international youth congress that entirely took place in the internet, because of the Coronavirus crisis.

title: World Esperanto Youth Organization


text:
1250s BC

The 1250s BC is a decade which lasted from 1259 BC to 1250 BC.

Events and trends

 * c. 1259 BC—Ramesses II makes a peace agreement with the Hittites (other date is 1263 BC).
 * c. 1258 BC—The Exodus as depicted in the Bible.
 * 1251 BC—September 7, a solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes, Greece.
 * 1250 BC—Traditional date of the beginning of the Trojan War.
 * c. 1250 BC—Wu Ding, king of the Shang dynasty, and earliest archaeologically confirmed Chinese monarch begins his reign.
 * c. 1250 BC—Earliest surviving writing from Ancient China.
 * c. 1250 BC—Chariots appear in Ancient China.
 * c. 1250 BC—Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece, are made. Citadel walls are built.
 * c. 1250 BC—Papyrus of Ani created, during the 19th dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt.
 * c. 1250 BC—Tawagalawa letter sent from a Hittite king to a king of the Ahhiyawa

Significant people

 * Wu Ding, king of the Shang dynasty.
 * Sanchuniathon, Phoenician writer, is born (approximate date).

Fiction

 * S.M. Stirling's Nantucket series is set in Bronze Age era, circa the 1250s BC.

title: 1250s BC


text: Talk:Driftwood

title: Talk:Driftwood