The lichen Vulpicida tilesii (Ach.) J.-E. Mattsson & Lai is reported for the first time in Washington State. Previously its known distribution was circumpolar and southward into the Rocky Mountains of the United States. A map showing its distribution in the Pacific Northwest is provided. During the summer of 1992, a partial survey of alpine lichen communities on the Olympic Penin- sula in Washington State was carried out to develop an inventory of alpine lichen species. The Buckhorn Wilderness area in the Olympic National Forest was included in the survey. The study site is east of Olympic National Park in a cirque, to the southwest of Buckhorn Mountain, at an elevation of 1,981 m. The approximate location of the cirque is 9.75 km west of Quilcene, Washington, and 14.5 km south of Sequim, Washington, in Jefferson County: T27 N, R3-4 W, sections 18 (R3) and 13 (R4), 47049'N, 12307'30W. The Buckhorn cirque is a mixture of sandstone and argillite with an alluvium of sand, silt, gravel, and some limestone from the ocean floor and talus from landslide deposits. The ridge above the cirque is pillow basalt from the Crescent Formation, formed during the Eocene. Oceanic crust makes up the ba- saltic bedrock of the surrounding area. The cirque contains an exposed alpine tundra-like terrain with a northwest aspect and gradual slope, between 9- 180, leading off a ridge to the south of Buckhorn Mountain. The site has a nearly continuous lichen cover, consisting mainly of Cetraria cucullata (Bell.) Ach., C. ericetorum Opiz, C. islandica (L.) Ach., C. nivalis (L.) Ach., Leprocaulon spp., and Thamnolia subuliformis (Ehrh.) Culb. Interspersed with these lichens are many small herbs and sedges such as Carex spp., Campanula rotundifolia L., Douglasia laevigata Gray, Lupinus lepidus Dougl., Salix ni- valis Hook., Solidago multiradiata Ait., and cushion plants, including Phlox diffusa Benth. and Silene acaulis L.