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

“Today’s visitor may find it a little more difficult to imagine the wonder I felt at first sight of Ahl-
strom’s Prairie. Having been reared where people struggle to cut down, root out, and keep back the dense
growth of the rain forest, I had never before seen so much naturally unforested land. It seemed unbelievable
when the grown-ups belittled the seemingly vast expanse by informing me that there were places in
the world where one could not even see a tree. Moreover, they said, this was not a true prairie because it
was covered with sedges, heaths, and bracken, not grass. Furthermore most of it was not even a natural
opening but a ‘burn,’ a place where the trees grew poorly because of the glacial, hardpan soil. The Indians
burned it yearly to discourage further tree growth so that deer would find better browse, and to foster
the growth of the bracken and the fruitfulness of the evergreen huckleberries, both of which were important
items in their [the Indians’] diet.... Serious misfortune inflicted a serious setback to his [Ahlstrom’s]
developing homestead and his plans when, during one of his absences, all of his buildings burned to the
ground. The settlers on the burns had continued the Indians’ practice of firing the burns each year. In
fact, such a practice was necessary as a means of fire-prevention, for the dead bracken became dangerous
tinder after the first warm, sunny days of spring. Unusually dry weather that year permitted the burning
fire to become an uncontroled threat. Ahlstrom’s nearest neighbor and fellow-homesteader [Pete Roose]
had worked through two days and a night to save his own buildings, and had the fire under control, he
thought before leaving for Lake Ozette. He was dismayed to find only blackened, smouldering remants
of his neighbor’s [Lars Alstrom] building when he returned the next morning” (Vanderhoof 1960).
“Ahlstrom, a former logger, more than half a century ago settled on the prairie and built his home
there. The open prairie in the woods contains more than 100 acres... On my several visits to Ahlstrom I
found he was a supreme optimist. For half a century he expected a road to pass through his place. The
prairie was one of those created by fires many, many years ago. Indians perpetuated the prairies as
hunting ground by each year burning the dry bracken that covered them. This burning kept the second
growth timber from growing. That prairie and others, were grazing places for deer and elk. Indians, from
the shelter of adjacent trees could get close enough to the animals to kill them, with bows and arrows.
Immediately west of Ahlstrom’s prairie is a smaller one, also the home of many deer” (Henson 1960).
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