Ginkgo/Wanapum State Park

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Park entrance features a petrified log

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park/Wanapum Recreational Area is a 7,470 acre state park at Vantage, Washington including 27,000 feet of freshwater shoreline on the Columbia River. It contains a many examples of petrified wood found in the area. There is a museum center at the site, and an interpretive trail.

Over 50 species are found petrified at the site, including ginkgo, teak, breadfruit, cinnamon, gum (tropical), redwood, fir, cottonwood, spruce, Chinese walnut, magnolia, madrona, sassafras, mahogany, yew, and witch hazel. The museum also includes many Wanapum petroglyphs.

[edit] History

During the Miocene epoch, around 15.5 million years ago^[1], the region was lush and wet, home to many plant species now extinct. A number of these trees were buried in volcanic ash, where their organic matter was gradually replaced by minerals in the groundwater; the resulting petrified wood was protected for millenia by flows of basalt. Near the end of the latest ice age, the catatrophic Missoula Floods, about 15,000 years ago, wore away some of the basalt, exposing some of the petrified wood.

In prehistoric times, peaceful Wanapum Indians bands inhabited the region along the Columbia River from the Beverly Gap to the Snake River. They lived by fishing and agrigulture, and carved over 300 petroglyphs into the basalt cliffs, and may have used the petrified wood exposed by erosion for tools. According to documentation at the Park, Wanapum never fought white settlers, did not sign a treaty with them, and, as a result, retained no federally-recognized right to the land.

Around 1927, highway workers noticed the petrified wood, leading Geologist George F. Beck to organize excavations.^[2] The Civilian Conservation Corps completed the excavation, built a small museum, and opened the park to the public in 1938.

In 1953, Wanapum Dam was completed about four miles downstream, raising the water of the Columbia. A new Interpretive Center was constructed and about 60 petroglyphs salvaged from the rising water.

In October 1965, the National Park Service designated the Ginkgo Petrified Forest as a National Natural Landmark.

Petrified wood was named the Washington state gem by the state legislature on March 12, 1975, perhaps in part due to the popularity of this park^[3].