Environment

When palm trees thrived in the Pacific Northwest

Fossils at the Burke Museum tell a story of our past climates.

When palm trees thrived in the Pacific Northwest
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Knute Berger

A 12,000-year-old pine cone, a fossilized ginkgo leaf — Knute Berger dives into the Burke Museum’s paleobotany collection to find out what Washington use to look like and to contemplate which of the state's former, and considerably warmer, climates would be the most suitable dwelling for a modern-day Mossback. These specimens might help scientists understand, and prepare for, human-caused climate change.

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Knute Berger

By Knute Berger

Knute “Mossback” Berger is an editor-at-large and host of "Mossback’s Northwest" at Cascade PBS. He writes about politics and regional heritage.