WWU’s Eric DeChaine, biology students establish two GLORIA sites in the Olympic Mountain Range

Ten WWU students, led by Professor of Biology Eric DeChaine, traveled to the Olympic Mountain range this summer to set up two Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) sites. 

GLORIA sites are created to study how climate change affects plants in alpine environments, which are considered areas generally “least impacted” by human influence.

“The alpine is the least touched area, and so if there's a response, it's not something like somebody's cutting it down or dumping chemicals there. It's more likely that the environment is changing,” DeChaine said.

The GLORIA sites were established in two locations in the Northeast portion of the Olympics near Port Angeles and Sequim. Each site is made up of four summits, with each peak having designated sample areas in each cardinal direction. In total, 32 sample areas were marked by DeChaine and his team. 

The WWU team was joined by three members of the Missouri Botanical Garden, which funds DeChaine’s GLORIA research. 

The research team began each morning by eating breakfast at the campsite before loading into the car to drive as far as possible toward the GLORIA sites. While some summits only required a 15-minute hike, others were not accessible by car and required the team to backpack for several hours to reach the sample sites. 

Each site is designed to be as minimally invasive as possible to avoid disturbing the environment or park visitors’ experiences. The researchers established a three-meter by three-meter grid, then marked the site by driving a nine-inch nail into each corner. The team recorded the coordinates of each site before burying each nail completely. When they return in five years, researchers will use a metal detector to find the nails and re-establish the grid. 

Student researchers then identified each plant species before recording the number of plants and taking photos. They were then able to collect samples of the plants from outside the established grid to bring back to the lab in order to confirm the plant species observed.

DeChaine plans to return to the newly-established sites with a new team every five years to monitor how plant diversity has changed, if plant life has migrated up or down the mountain and how the alpine environment has changed.

GLORIA sites are monitored by volunteer researchers from across the globe. Once data is collected, it is entered into the central GLORIA database and in turn can be used to conduct analysis on how the alpine environments are changing.

Esme Krause, a spring 2025 graduate, joined DeChaine’s team as a post-baccalaureate member. Krause worked as DeChaine’s teaching assistant for his systematic botany class, which was driven in part by their desire to be a part of the GLORIA team. 

Krause helped organize the trip by sharing information and answering questions from their peers about the trip. They were also in charge of some of the meal planning, which had to be carefully calculated to make sure people were not overburdened when hiking through the backcountry. 

“It came down to like how many calories can we get into small proportions,” Krause said. “We did so many trail mixes and snack bars.”

For some students, traversing the mountains was second nature. Biology senior Connor Berns grew up in Colorado and was no stranger to climbing summits. In fact, Western’s closeness to the Cascade mountain range was one of the reasons he chose to enroll.  

“I grew up in the mountains,” he said. “I loved biking, skiing and hiking, and I wanted to go somewhere where I could still do that.”

However, mountaineering experience was not a barrier for students, Berns said. 

“Eric made it an environment where you didn’t need to have that experience,” he said. “He was super welcoming of anybody who just wanted to be out there and learn, regardless of their previous experiences.”

Biology senior Aubrey Spillane was one of those students with limited experience. Prior to the trip, she was nervous about going from apartment living to long hikes and sleeping outside without cell service. But she was most concerned about one risk in particular: bears.

Spillane grew up in Alaska where grizzly bear encounters are not uncommon. 

So, when the research team crossed paths with a black bear, Spillane had to face her fear head-on.

“I was shaking in my boots a little,” she said.

The bear was laying in a snow patch along the path the team had to take and, thankfully, completely disinterested in the researchers. The students took turns watching the bear through binoculars until it eventually wandered off. 

“I've never been that close to a bear that wasn't like interested in trying to eat something out of your campsite or interested in you,” Spillane said.

At Mother Nature’s Whim

Bears were one hazard the team could prepare for, but mother nature also created a little bit of chaos on the mountaintop. 

While the team was on one of the summits establishing their site, a strong gust of wind came through and lifted two clipboards, the team’s data sheets and two hats into the air. 

“There's no reason that the data sheets should have blown off, but the wind just came up so fast,” Spillane said. “Because it was such a steep drop off, they literally flew out off the edge. Luckily, the hats went the other way.”

DeChaine went on a rescue mission for the sheets — trekking all the way down to the bottom of the steep, cliffside slope — and recovered all but one page of lost work. 

Mother Nature was sure to reward the team for their effort, too.

When the team was hiking into their backcountry basecamp, they took a small detour off the side of the trail. 

“There was this one moment where we popped out of the trees into this meadow with a little brook running down through the middle of it, and it was just the craziest, most pretty display of wildflowers,” Berns recalled. “We all stopped, and we were like, ‘Wow. This is such a magical place.’”

The field was covered in purple lupine flowers, and while the research team took a break to rest and drink from the stream, Berns laid back into the flowers and listened to the buzzing of the bees. 

While the research may be over for now, the students are hoping to be a part of the return team when the GLORIA sites are revisited or even be a part of establishing or monitoring GLORIA sites elsewhere. 

“I had so much fun,” Krause said, “and I think it had a lot to do with the people I was with, but I love learning about plants, and there are so many sites all over the world, so I definitely want to go back.”

To learn more about Eric DeChaine and opportunities within the biology department, visit https://biology.wwu.edu/

Mikayla King (‘17) covers the College of Science and Engineering and Woodring College of Education for University Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at kingm24@wwu.edu.