WatershedEvents

Resource: USGS / Impacts of Urbanization on Stream Ecosystems

Al Smith and Warren Aney looking for mussels in Fanno Creek.

USGS Study Looks At Impacts Of
Urbanization On Stream Ecosystems, Includes Portland
(Forwarded by Al Smith)

The loss of sensitive species in streams begins to occur at the initial stages of urban development, according to a new study by the USGS. The study found that streams are more sensitive to development than previously understood.

"We tend not to think of waterways as fragile organisms, and yet that is exactly what the results of this scientific investigation appear to be telling us," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "Streams are more than water, but rather communities of interdependent aquatic life...."

Read the entire article at www.cbbulletin.com.

The study may be retrieved at http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1373/

 

Sylvan Creek Cateract

This photo was taken Monday, the 19th of November, sometime near the peak of the rainfall that hit Sylvan Hill that day. The 24 hour total for the area was well over two inches - not the heaviest storm to hit the Sylvan Hill complex in the last few years, but heavy enough to put the creek over its banks for a while. 

This particular reach of the creek lies just below one of the the huge retaining walls that were built during the expansion of Sunset Highway and the re-working of the Sylvan Overpass between 1998 and 2002. The creek flows off of TV Hill (highest peak in the Sylvan Hill complex and also the highest point in the Fanno Creek watershed) and passes to the south under the highway through a 4' pipe. The mouth o fthat pipes is obscured by the surge of water shown at the top of the photo. 

The silt clearly evident in the photo comes from the heavy deposits of loess and clay that still cover the hillsides throughout the Tualatin Hills. Areas further upstream - north of Sunset Highway - are extremely unstable and slide-prone. With every heavy rain along the flanks of the Sylvan Hill complex, tons of this material are shorne off the surface of the ground and carried south towards the Tualatin River.

Visit DOGAMI (Department of Oregon Geology and Mineral Industries) for more information on the geology of these hills and a look at some crazy-wonderful LIDAR maps. 

Knapweed Sighting

Knapweed, a pinkish one trending towards purple.Beautiful but bad.

Found this little beauty in the small, vacant lot just across Raab Road from ODOTs facility near the Sylvan overpass. I sent in a report to the invasive species hotline and am interested to see how they respond. It's definitely a type of knapweed and I will post the picture to iNaturalist when I get a chance. I'm pretty sure someone who links to that site will be able to ID it for me.

The Bug Chicks

Have you stopped off at the Bug Chicks site? Make sure you do, you won't regret it. I was so inspired by my visit to their site that I decided to post a photo I took while waiting to photograph the controlled burn that took place in Cook Park a few years ago. This gal had a burrow in the loose material next to the railroad berm that separates Cook and Durham Parks. She was busy that day and made more than a dozen trips out and back in the short half-hour I spent lying on my belly outside her door.

THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

This photograph offers a view of the eastern portion of Cook Park, a place that is rapidly becoming one of the best wildlife viewing areas in the entire Fanno Creek sub-basin. It was taken from atop an eight-foot ladder placed on the concrete pathway that skirts the southern end of the park. The ladder was necessary because efforts to restore the native vegetation in this area have been so successful that from ground level you can no longer see into the emergent wetlands that lies at its heart. It being late August, all but a small  portion of the grassy vegetation in the area has succumbed to more than a month without measurable rain. But almost hidden in these sunburned grasses are hundreds of herbaceous plants – Pacific willow, Oregon grape, red-osier dogwood - that were put into the ground by restoration crews in February of 2011.

They appear to be doing quite well, dry weather notwithstanding, and in a few years this area will be transformed into something very akin to a similar wetland just to the west of this one.

What people actually see in the landscapes shown in these photographs will vary considerably depending upon their familiarity and understanding of the area. Someone with agrarian roots might see some valuable farmland; a city-dweller might see a vacant lot; a biologist might see habitat; and a politician might see a highway. But what Watershed Folk generally see here are two incredibly complex and valuable water treatment facilities, installations that can play pivotal roles in the region’s future as Oregon's water crisis deepens. One of them is Clean Water Services’ Durham Sewage Treatment Plant. Don’t see the other one? Please keep looking, because without your attention and intervention, an irreplaceable clean water resource could easily become a paved highway. Here's why:

“The City of Tualatin is revising their Transportation system plan and they want to hear from you.
One of the proposals under discussion is a new bridge across the Tualatin River that would put a new road next to Tualatin Community Park and through the Cook Park Wetlands. Fifteen years ago Tualatin Riverkeepers were successful in lobbying the City of Tigard and other agencies to protect these wetlands from a plan to drain them for soccer fields. Since then, Clean Water Services has invested in a successful habitat restoration effort. A significant link in the Fanno Creek Trail was added along with the Ki-A-Kuts pedestrian/bike bridge over the river. A documentary film, Wetlands: Seasons of the Mind was made about these very wetlands by Carl Vandervoort and Deb Dewit. You can watch the trailer of the movie at http://vimeo.com/user2382339/wetlands.  To learn more about how you can participate in the Tualatin Transportations System Plan, go to http//www.tualatintsp.org/?p=tsp-ideas-map. You can also send an e-mail to the Tualatin City Council asking them to remove the bridge from the Transportation System Plan at council@ci.tualatin.or.us.” (Reprinted courtesy of Brian Wegener, Tualatin River Keepers)

Quinn and Me at Mule Shoe (Good As It Gets Department)

 

Quinn and Buddy on the trial to the Mini Painted Hills

Last week I spent five wonderful days camping, fishing, and hiking with my 7 year old grandson, Quinn Baker. Here are some photos and a few quick notes from that outing.

We camped at Mule Shoe Campgrounds, a BLM site that sits on the banks of the North Fork of the John Day River. It’s a decent site – no water, but clean toilets and well tended camping areas. There are a handful of trailer sites and several more walk-ins. There’s a good boat launch/pickup area there as well.

Quinn is getting fairly adept at using a full-size spinning reel and rod. Given that we were constantly fishing in and around reeds and rocks, it’s surprising that we only lost a little tackle. The shot above shows Quinn at one of our two main fishing spots. This one is just below the campgrounds. If you look real close you can just see the top of our pop-up in the background.

Our second fishing spot (and in general, the best) was just downstream from the rapids at Priest Hole.

We caught around a dozen fish altogether, most of which were small-mouth bass like the one Quinn is holding here. We also caught four small steelhead of comparable size. I’d never caught a steelhead before, but now I know where the madness comes from that sometimes causes otherwise rational and well-educated people stand in ice cold water for hours on end fishing for the beasts. What power those fish possess!

The highlight of our trip turned out to be a hike we took up a ravine that I’ve come to call Cougar Creek. The creek is one of more than a dozen good-sized but highly ephemeral streams that flow off the northern flanks of Sutton Mountain. (I visited this area in April 2011 with my buddy Jim Carlson. We had the good luck to come across a cougar track – hence the name.) 

The creek leads out of an area Jim calls “The Mini Painted Hills.” The formations here are similar to those found in the Painted Hills Unit that is located just a few miles to the south of here. I’ve been into this area four times now and found boot tracks on the trail only once.

Most of the domes in the area are dominated by iron-bearing clays, but one large, white dome lies on the northeast side of the basin. I’m not sure what this material might be, but it doesn’t have a salty taste so maybe it is some kind of carbonate?

We spent a couple hours hiking and poking around in the basin and covered better than 2 miles overall. Quinn seemed totally oblivious of the heat and effort involved. He turned out to be a wonderful hiking companion – steady, durable, and reasonably cautious.

Quinn stands at the top of the highest dome in the area. We went to great efforts to stay on solid ground as we moved among the domes. When we had to cross one, we took care to tread only where deer or other animals had laid down trails before us.

On our way back down the creek we came across an area that appeared to have been recently disturbed – by what I couldn’t tell. If you click on this image and blow it up to max size you may be able to see the dozens of red flowers that are blooming there.

The plants turned out to be monkeyflowers. (I think it might be Memulous kellogii, but I’m not totally convinced). I ran across this flower when I visited the Painted Hills with Erica, Quinn’s mom, a year ago. It’s native to the Pacific Northwest.

We also came across stands of Mariposa lilies in a couple of the open areas on the slopes above the stream.

We saw a fair amount of game, including pronghorns and golden eagles. Quinn is a highly-organized kind of guy, so shortly after we arrived he began keeping track of the animals and plants we were encountering on a couple Post-It pads.

The fire-index was at “moderate” throughout our visit, but no one was taking any chances. Open fires and fire-pits have been banned since the 1st of June. But I managed to melt a giant marshmallow on our gas stove, and Quinn somehow managed to choke it down.

As I indicated at the outset, it was a great trip for both of us. Watching Quinn hike through that terrain was one of the most moving experiences of my life.That kid moved through the hot breeze and over the broken ground as if he had been doing it all his life. He also “got it” where the wonder of the geology is concerned, remarking to me several times how wonderful the place was.  I just hope he never loses track of that connection.

OWEB Listens

A few days ago I headed down to Salem to attend an OWEB “Listening Session.” These sessions are being held to pass-through information about “OWEB’s plans for developing a Long-Term Investment Strategy.” They will also be used to gather information from the agency’s “partners, grantees and the public about their priorities.” Timeline for the adoption of the strategy is June of 2013, and this first round of dialogues with stakeholders from different regions of the state should help the agency as it wrestles with how best to meet the mandate that came with the passage of Ballot Measure 76 in 2010.

The agenda for the meeting was pretty straightforward. Tom Byler, Executive Director, spelled out why the development of a long-term strategy has become a priority, then a “process facilitator” laid out a kind of roadmap of the process for the participants to follow during the listening session. Lauri Ananon, manager of the grant program wrapped up the preliminaries with a brief historical overview of OWEBs various programs.

After the pass-through portion of the meeting the Session Facilitator got us started on an interactive session that was designed to collect information and concepts from the participants. First the participants (there were around 50 of us) were asked to take ten minutes and write down some brief answers to four discussion points*:

The first of these focused on goals and visions by asking participants to identify outcomes OWEB should achieve with its investment strategy over the next ten years. As part of the response the participant was also asked to identify how achievement of those outcomes might best be measured.

Discussion point-2 asked the participant to “Picture your watershed. What tools and programs can OWEB provide…to help you achieve your goals…?”

Point-3 required that the participant take a critical look at OWEBs historical performance and identify areas for improvement in the agency’s efforts to provide ecological, social/community, and/or economic benefits “that are important to you.”

Finally, a process question: if I were in charge of designing the investment strategy, how would I focus on my own strategic priorities without excluding support for “opportunities for new and creative ideas to achieve restoration outcomes?”

Once we had more-or-less framed our thoughts the facilitator broke us into four groups and the “interactive” part of the process began. Each group went off to an area where one of the four questions was posted on the wall. As folks articulated their various responses to the question one of the facilitation team members wrote the responses down on a large sheet of paper posted on the wall. The group I ended up in was a pretty diverse bunch, but most were with organizations that have received funding from OWEB in the past. I think I may have been the only one in the group who wasn’t actually representing a specific group.

When all four groups had rotated through the stations we reassembled and the OWEB team gave a quick wrap-up of some of their takeaways. All in all it was a pleasurable experience and left me feeling pretty good about the process OWEB is using to put together their long range investment strategy. There will be ongoing opportunities for providing input to the process. If you are at all interested you can visit their website or their Facebook page. And if you want to stay current with the process just subscribe to their listserv.

*OWEB made these questions available to participants prior to the meeting. I spent several hours reflecting on them and in the end decided to use that reflection for the epilogue of my book. Speaking of which, UP FANNO CREEK – AKA The Book That Wouldn’t Die – will be heading to the designer in a few more weeks. Copies should be available no later than mid-September.

TRK GALA

 

 

This is a 2x2 detail from a print I'm donating to the Tualatin River Keepers for the auction at their annual Green Heron Gala, April 14th. All framed out the print is 11x11 (image area 6x6). Hope to see you there! Bring $$$!

OSB 1582 - 30 Yes / 0 No

Waters of the State of Oregon

This is a better written bill than it was when it went into the Natural Resources Committee February 14th. Maybe that's one reason why it won such overwhelming approval on its final round. The fact that 16 Democrats and 14 Republicans could all agree about any piece of legislation, much less one with potential environmental/economic overtones might leave you thinking that anyone who might wish to continue fretting about this law is either crazy or an idiot – or possibly even both.

OK, call me crazy. Based upon my current understanding of the cut/fill process where “waters of the state” are concerned, this bill as enacted further tips the table towards the pockets of private enterprise at the expense of the Public Trust. It does this by giving permit applicants access to an additional and relatively low-cost appeal process when the DSL rules against their permits. I think this part of the bill, in and of itself, is strong. But what seems to smack of inequity here is the fact that access to this remedy is unavailable to individuals and/or organizations who may wish to contend against issuance of any of those permits.

Given my current understanding of the intricacies of the permitting process at every level of government it is quite possible that I simply haven’t fully grasped how these may bear on the Public Trust/Private Interest equity issue I see lurking in OSB1582. Certainly any sane person would look at the complete unanimity of the vote and quit the field. How could 30 Senators all be wrong, and at exactly the same time?

As I said, just call me crazy. As a survivor of the debacle that ensued from the Golf of Tonkin Resolution, I’m never surprised (and never comfortable) when an overwhelming majority of politicians from either side of the aisle suddenly meet in the middle and agree in principle on something that later on turns out to have been an obviously bad idea. I don’t mean to implying that these 30 senators are ALL clueless or that they’ve sold out the wetlands or were just too pressed for time to read the bill or anything like that. I’m just saying that I’m (1) inherently suspicious, (2) admittedly ignorant, and (3) therefore still very uncomfortable with what is, for all intents and purposes a done deal.

As soon as time permits I am going to get my head more completely around the permitting process. I believe I have an excellent grasp of the non-political issues, and a fair comprehension of the basic regulatory processes; but I am still a novice where the intricacies of watershed governance and related processes are concerned. Maybe when I’ve become more well-informed I will be able to make that vote 31/0.

Pine Ladybird Beetle (Mulsantina Picta)

I took a break from editing the book on Sunday. It was far too glorious a day to grind away in the downstairs office. In order to keep from feeling too guilty I spent a few hours beating back the holly that has taken over the back bank of the Koi Pond. At one point I sat down for a snack and this little darling flew by. It was slightly smaller than a grain of barley and while my macro is very, very nice, it is a monster to focus with, at least on my D3100. Someday maybe I will be able to afford a better camera. At any rate, I'd never seen one of these before, but they are supposed to be common throughout the United States. Hope you run into one yourself, but make sure you have a magnifier handy or you might miss some of the more subtle details.