Mason bee (Hoplitis fulgida) - Dr. Jessica Rykken, NPS

OPAS Program: “Insects in the Olympics”
Presented by: CJ Urnes, Olympic National Park
Wednesday, October 16, 2024  7:00pm
Dungeness River Nature Center, Rainshadow Hall
Free to attend.

Olympic Peninsula insects are truly magnificent, with fascinating distributions and an enormous array of adaptations. In many cases they are more spectacular than our most colorful local birds. Despite their beauty, ecological importance, and vulnerability, only a handful of studies have examined the insects of the Olympic Peninsula. For most of them, little is known about where they live, when they are active, what they eat, and who eats them.

CJ Urnes

We will learn about some of the most amazing local insects, and discuss a framework anyone can use to identify insects around them. CJ will discuss some charismatic local insects, how to use iNaturalist to identify and catalog insects, and his own research on insects within Olympic National Park. Please bring photographs of insects you have taken, CJ can help you identify them after the talk.

Carter (CJ) Urnes is a field biologist and ecologist from Port Angeles. He started working in ONP in 2011 and completed a Master’s in Marine Science at Western Washington University in 2021. He has studied many organisms including sea stars, songbirds, salmon, and butterflies. He is working on a book about historical ecological changes in our area.