The View from Cascade Head

As anyone who has ever visited it will readily attest, the view from Cascade Head is absolutely breath-taking. Jutting out from the northern coast of Oregon, it offers its visitors an expansive panorama of the Pacific Ocean that will long be remembered. It also offers habitat for a wide range of wildlife, including the threatened Oregon Silver-spot Butterfly, Northern Spotted Owl, and Coho Salmon. And recently, the Cascade Head Experimental Forest and the Cascade Head Scenic-Research Area were combined in being recognized as a United Nations Biosphere Reserve. Ecologically, geologically, and visually, Cascade Head is truly one of the planet’s true treasures.

Having lived my entire life (thus far…) within – at most – a three hour drive from this remarkable place, I have visited it more times than I can recall; however I don’t know that I’ve ever really held a sufficient or proper amount of respect for just how special it is, or how many people have worked so diligently for so long to protect it. Which is why I was very pleasantly surprised when a copy of Dr. Bruce Byers‘ new book The View from Cascade Head; Lessons for the Biosphere from the Oregon Coast recently reached my desk from Oregon State University Press.

Taking the form of a collection of essays with a three part focus – that the “actions and efforts of committed individuals can make a difference [,that] ecological mysteries still abound despite decades of scientific research, and [that] how we think about our place in nature shape our individual and collective effect on the ecosystems we inhabit” – Dr. Byers’ book should pique the interest of all who have ever visited this remarkable place (or would someday like to do so).