The Ozette Prairies of Olympic National Park - Natural Resources ...

e important nesting sites for some ground nesting birds, as well as for cavity nesters that prefer snags in
areas with more sunlight than the dense forest. Although bird inventories have not been conducted on the
Ozette Prairies, they may be host to some cavity and ground nesters not found in the heart of the coniferous
forests. These would be such birds as horned larks, western yellow throats, western bluebirds, and
Lewis’s woodpeckers (Fred Sharpe pers. comm. 2007).
Role of the Ozette Prairies in the Life of the Makah
The Ozette Prairies were useful to the culture and economy of the Makah, the native people who
occupied the Ozette and the Cape Flattery region before settlement by Europeans and Asians in the mid-
1800s. Although the Makah made much of their living from the sea, fishing and hunting marine mammals,
they depended on the land for a large portion of their food and much of the material they used for
clothing, shelter, tools, implements, and ritual objects. Due to their biodiversity and openness, the Ozette
Prairies provided the habitat that supported many of the plants and animals from which food and material
were derived.
Extensive permanent occupation of the Ozette Village and its surroundings began approximately
2,000 years ago (Croes and Blinman 1980; Wessen 1984; Samuels and Daugherty 1991:11). Archeological
evidence reveals that the food procurement strategies and technologies, basketry and cordage manufacturing
styles, and woodworking techniques remained stable over the period of occupation, suggesting
2,000 years of cultural continuity (Wessen 1990; Croes 1977).
Occupation of the northeastern Olympic Peninsula began as early as 11,000 BP at the Manis
Mastodon Site near Sequim. The only limiting factor for early occupation of the northwest corner of the
Olympic Peninsula was glacial ice that retreated over 12,000 years ago (Dave Conca pers. comm. 2008).
Chronometrically dated archeological deposits on the northwestern part of the peninsula are much later
with clear occupation dated around 4,560+/- 80 years B.P. on what is now the Makah Indian Reservation
(Dave Conca pers. comm. 2008) and 2,500 years ago at the mouth of the Hoko River (Croes and Blinman
1980). Non-chronometrically dated sites in the vicinity of Lake Ozette have been linked to occupations as
early as 5,000- 8,000 B.P. based on artifacts style but as of yet have not been substantiated by radiocarbon
dating (Conca 2000). Further research in this region will probably push back the limits of human occupation
in the Ozette area into the mid to early Holocene, about 4,000 to 8,000 years ago (Dave Conca pers.
comm. 2008).
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