Toby Island

Before and After Restoration

2009-11-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Before and after photos in ecological restoration are some of the most power ways to show how we are successful in improving our natural areas, enhancing our wild spaces for people and wildlife. BEFORE: Madrona Park was neglected for many years and invasive ivy and clematis climbed up to the tops of these Big Leaf Maples, weighing heavy on their branches and blocking out sunlight and competing for resources that would otherwise go to the production of flowers, nectar, seeds, and leaves of the trees. This site is also home to rare Oregon Oak, Madrone, and Pacific dogwood. AFTER After cutting the ivy and clematis, you can see the trees are once again free from this competition. It's like shedding the heavy backpack after a long trek in the woods. AFTER with Leaves: Two years after cutting, Madrona park has converted to a dry oak savanna. The trees are healthy and the ground cover is improving. Many invasive cherry and hawthorn trees were removed. This is a site along the Columbia Slough where the bank was covered with 100% Armenian blackberries. It was regraded in conjunction with the construction of the warehouse. It was planted with a variety of native trees and shrubs and native groundcover. BEFORE: AFTER: The After photo shows the native Lupine in flower and a closed tree canopy. This area now provides healthy wildlife habitat, reduces water temperatures, and makes the area nice. Workers made a lunch spot near the tree line to chill out at lunch (Good people habitat). Forest Park. This area along Firelane 1 along a powerline cooridor for years was managed for the powerlines. This means cutting any trees underneath them, but little else was done. Because of this neglect, weedy and fire prone weeds such as blackberry, clematis and scotch broom took over this area . It also wasn't a comfortable place to walk. There was a lot of homeless camps and garbage left behind and blackberries taking over the trail. BEFORE: AFTER:You can see with these photos that the clematis was taken out of the trees, as well as the ivy. Blackberries and scotch broom were cut and controled and holly that was sprouting in the forest was cleared out. It was seeded with native grasses and wildflowers. This area is in continuous threat from small out breaks of Garlic Mustard and other weeds, but it is now a pleasant walk and has some of the nicest views in the city. A clump of Trillium hanging on after control of blackberries. As you can see, restoration of our natural areas is not only possible, but needed. To restore the biodiversity of our forests, improve the livability of our city, and clean our air and water, ecological restoration needs to continue. The City of Portland's Watershed Revegetation Program and many other groups in the region are helping make it a better place.

The Botany of Western Ireland and Western Oregon

2009-10-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Botanists know when they are home. You could blindfold us, fly us around the world and drop us in random ecosystems. We would know when we were back in our climate, geology and ecosystem, because when we see that familiar assemblage of plants, we know we are home. That sense of home we all have and feel, but botanists can raddle off species names that make that place special. With the trading and gardening of plants from abroad that has undoubtably been happening since humans figured out the shovel, ecosystems around the world are less and less different. And this is speeding up the more we trade and travel. I call it the homogenization of our ecosystems. Humans are reconnecting once isolated areas back to one. Isolation that created diversity, that made species evolve strange shapes, behaviors and colors is disappearing. With these barriers broken down, species are having to compete with new arrivals. That cute Trailing Blackberry of Oregon is having to contend with the more vigorous, fecund, and gladiator-like Himayalan Blackberry. As much as this is a battle for resources on the ground, its also a big shift in the ecosystem: what species are around and how they interact. For the past few months I’ve been living in a cute village, Ballinafad, in County Sligo, Ireland. Ireland is green year around, like my hometown Portland, Oregon. We also have other similarities besides rain: good beer, similar temperature and climate and many of the same plants. As ecologists, we manage land to increase the diversity and abundance of of native flora and fauna. Often this translates into removing alien species and replanting or re-introducing native species. Western Ireland is full of the same foreign weeds that we have in Portland. Here’s a partial list of our common introductions: Traveller’s Joy Clematis vitalba, Indian Balsam Impatiens glandulifera, Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed), Convolvulus sepium (bindweed), Laurel Prunus laurocerasus, Poison hemlock Conium maculatum, Fennel Foeniculum vulgare, Bracken Fern Pteridium aquilinum (ok, it is native to both places, but is sometimes battled in both places, like Juncus effusus as well), Melilotus altissimus, Giant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum, Sycamore, Hedge and Norway maple (Acer pseudoplatunus, campestre and platanoides), Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum, Milk thistle Silybum marianum, Periwinkles (Vinca minor and major), Nipplewort Mycelis muralis, Tansy Tanacetum vulgare, Butterfly bush Buddleja davidii, Italian Ryegrass Lolium multiflorum, climbing polygonum Fallopia convolvulus, and Beech Fagus sylvatica. Some of the above species spread very fast and are problems in many areas of the world. The next list, which includes some of Portland’s most invasive plants are all native to Ireland. Reed Canary Grass Phalaris arudinacea, English Ivy Hedera hibernica, Holly Ilex aquifolium, Giant Reed Grass Phragmites australis , European beach grass Ammophila arenaria, Herb Robert Geranium robertanium, three other Geraniums (molle, dissectum, lucidum), Mullein Verbascum thapsus, False Brome Brachypodium sylvaticum, St. John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum, Ranunculus acris, Wood Avens Geum urbanum, Bitter sweet nightshade Solanum dulcamara, Purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria, Rowan tree Sorbus acuparia, Privet Ligustrum vulgare, Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna, Hazel Corylus avellana, Gorse Ulex europaeus, Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata, Teasel Dipsacus fullonum, Yellow Iris Iris pseudocorus, Thistles Circium vulgare and arvense, Brown knapweed Centaurea nigra, Ox-eye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare, Birch Betula pendula, Water milfoil Myriophyllum, Plantain Plantago lanceolata and major, Broad-leafed Orchid Epipactis helleborine, Cock’s foot Dactylis glomerata, Cleavers Galium aparine, Cat’s ear Hypochoeris radicata, Montbretia Crocosmia x crocosmiflora, Tall Fescue Festuca arundinacea, Carrot Daucus carota, Cow-parsley Anthriscus sylvestris, Bent grass Agrostis stolonifera and capillaris, Red Fescue Festuca rubra, various clovers Trifolium repens, arvense and pratense, Sowthistles (Sonchus spp.), Docks Rumex obtusifolius, crispus, acetosella, Dandelion Taraxacum spp., Bird’s-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus, Rye grass Lolium perenne, Creeping buttercup Ranunculus repens, Lesser clandine Ranunculus ficaria, and a few other grasses. This gets strange when a species like Bird Cherry, Prunus avium, here in Ireland is rare and protected, and in a site in Portland I’m trying every chemical and machine to remove it from a natural area. These species in Ireland are important for the ecosystem: for the birds, insects, and soil, but in Portland are pushing out our trilliums, daisys and Oregon Grape. And this migration goes both ways. I’ve seen hedgerows, either planted, or slowly being taken over by plants I know as native in Portland. These give me a warm hearted feeling of home, but I know they are just misplaced, and a bit out of control here. Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus, Douglas’s Spirea Spirea douglasii, Fireweed Epilobium angustifolium (which actually is a native in Ireland in rocky places, but is invading bog margins from foreign strains) , Epilobium ciliatum, Fringecup Tellima grandiflora, Monkey flower Mimulus guttatus, Blue-eyed grass Sisyrhinchium californicum, Red Flowering currant Ribes sanguineum, and Red Osier Dogwood Cornus sericea (stolonifera) are all spreading here. Also the Irish have replanted many of their bogs and uplands with conifers native to Oregon including Western Red Cedar Thuja plicata, Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii, and the very common Sitka Spruce Picea sitchensis and Lodgepole pine Pinus contorta. The mink, a native weasel from Oregon has been introduced here as well and is feasting on chickens’ and rare tern eggs every spring. And you would think a small island in the North West of Europe and a continental city 9 times zones away wouldn’t have common species but we do. Our swallows are the same species and we have a few plant species as well, such as the common rush Juncus effusus (OK, different varieties, but same species anyways), the Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica, some contention here too), Cattail, or called Reed Mace in Ireland Typha latifolia, the Bullrush Scirpus (Shoenoplectus) lacustris, Bracken Fern Pteridium aquilinum, Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Yarrow Achillea millefolium,Toad rush Juncus bufonius, Lady Fern Athyrium felix-femina, and Deer Fern Blechnum spicant. Also the wetland grasses Deschampsia caespitosa and Alopecurus geniculatus are native to both places as well as the sedge Eleocharis palustris What causes big evolutions of some species and not in some in nothing less than fascinating. After spending years in Oregon cutting ivy from trees, clearing the forest of garlic mustard and Hawthorn and Holly, I got full of hatred for these species. Then living and being a biologist in Ireland has forced me to re-look at these species. To see them as they are: Almost perfectly evolved where they are native (here) and just a bit too successful where I’m going back to (Oregon). No, don’t get me wrong, I won’t put down the sprayer or chainsaw, but I might at least apologize for my killing the introduced species. Maybe not shed a tear, but realize ,in the end, we are all just struggling for our own existence, our own continuation, and I can’t knock any species for it. But I’ll still remove them to help save what dwindling native diversity remains. If no action is taken place, our ecosystems will look the same, the same species in similar climates, and our sense of home will be lost, our unique species will be pushed out by those hardened species.

Green tips from Europe

2009-08-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

Europeans on average use ½ of the energy what us gluttonous Americans use. Most of this is due to most living near town centers, in apartments, with small cars and within walking distance of shopping centers. We developed our country around internal combustion engines, not the donkey cart and our own two feet. And because “going West” is so ingrained in our mentality as is our love for massive box stores (cheaper is always better!), we consume more, have bigger houses, fill our house with appliances, and drive around vehicles that are twice the size of delivery vans in Europe. So besides all the barriers in our culture against wanting to conserve, I believe most people don’t want to melt the last Arctic ice. So here’s some tips from our European ancestors, that you can incorporate into your life to conserve more CO2. -Line dry your laundry. Driers are so rare on this continent. Even in moist Ireland, I’ve only seen one drier, and most people think of it as an excess no one needs. People line dry clothes from apartment windows, or have a handy rack to place near the heater on a wet day. Me, I haven’t used a drier at all since I’ve been in Ireland, and I usually have to dance a bit to get them dry in a couple days, but it really is no bother once you get used to it. -Switches on the sockets- Up to 20% of US electricity is lost because electronics are kept plugged in (TV, VCR, Computers) as drain electricity even when they are turned off. Why not have a switch on the socket to turn off the electricity, and then you don’t have to worry about your two year old sticking their finger in it either. -Small Fridges- In Ireland I’m sharing a fridge 1/3 of the size of most US fridges with 4 people. Not only are your forced to eat what you have, you are forced to eat fresh food as well, and not have 5,000 condiments clogging the back. I’ve been trying to find a small, efficient fridge in the states before I left, and it was hard (I’m still open to suggestions). Most apartments in Europe have one that fits under the kitchen counter. Do we need to cool the equivalent of 10 shopping bags worth of stuff all the time? - Electric water heaters- It seems most showers I’ve seen in Europe have electrical on-demand heaters. Actually my house has one for my shower, and also has a small hot water tank for the bath, the sinks and the washer. Not sure if the combo is more efficient, but the on-demand heaters can avoid the tank all together if you get a bigger one. -Tax Fossil Fuels: The best way to stop our addiction to oil is to tax the shit out of it. When speculators went crazy, our gas price jumped so severely that that Escalade you’ve been wanting to sell was worthless. As it should be I’d say. But back on the tax issue, there needs to be an economic incentive to burn less oil. Across Europe, a gallon of gas costs over $6 US. So, my fellow Americans, consider yourselves lucky, but maybe we should regulate ourselves, not by making Ford get that average of 25 miles per gallon, but by creating a demand for smaller, efficient cars by increasing the price of gas. (Ford won’t tell you this, but they sell a super small, efficient hatchback in Europe that they won’t sell in the States). With a tax we can make more wind turbines, buy up more forest land, and insulate houses. And where taxes have been strikingly absent, even in Europe, is with airline fuel. The most polluting form of travel has tax-free fuel! Even in Europe! -Mass Transit systems- You don’t really need a car in Europe, and it often is too expensive to own one, if you count in the fuel and the registration fees (in Ireland, close to $1000 US/ year). But you also can get around super easy on the bus, train, or street car. The push for more transit networks in the States are encouraging. -Small roads- After driving around rural Ireland for a couple months now, I’m still surprised by the narrowness of their roads, often with no shoulder, hemmed in by hedgerows. Their mega highways (dual carriageways) have 2 lanes, a smallish shoulder, and are planted HEAVILY with trees and shrubs. These highways are the exception and are a blight compared to most country roads that you have to slow around corners as their might not be enough room for two vehicles. This doesn’t make things easy on bike riders, but paves a lot less of the farmland, and makes things generally a lot nicer. Also only some roads are mowed on the shoulder, and if they are, only once a year, so you often get a nice diversity of local fauna and flora right along the road. Sealed houses- The house I’m in is a cookie cutter suburban home, but one nice feature, and I’ve seen this in other places around Europe, is their tight seals. The windows are quite large, are dual lined with glass (well insulated) and have a handy dual action. Twist the handle oneway and it will swing open. Twist it down, and the window latches on the bottom and the window opens from the top, allowing for fresh air, but is safe from break-ins. Position it in the middle and the window seals completely shut with no drafts to be found. We haven’t had to turn the heat on much at all even in cooler, dreary Ireland. Eat the local cuisine- In Europe, most places have their specialty foods, because that is where those food items have grown historically and their cultural of food was formed around it. Here in Ireland, everything is potatoes, carrots, cabbage, dairy and meat (And Guinness). Not much else grows here. By cooking with the local food you are supporting the local farmers. I’m doing my best, but my diverse palate is too much of a pull. And where 100g of fresh Irish strawberries costs $6 US, this is also trying as I know the one’s growing in my garden back home taste better and are free. Coming from green Portland (and being a hyper aware ecologist), I am struck by the wonderful consciousness of our people. We try to recycle all things, easily, and are aware that we need more transit, higher population density and fresh air. Only in small pockets are people composting, recycling their plastic, and seeking out fresh, organic produce. I think the governments here are more environmentally progressive than the average European. The Knockvicar Organic Centre that I visited yesterday is still a small subculture, seemly a small community of other European ex-pats finding their green comrades and fresh produce. These dot the landscape however sporadically, but are increasing which hopefully they are increasing, and increasingly frequented by the average Irish person, rather than the weird ex-pats that I seem to really enjoy.

Bogs in Ireland

2009-08-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Sphagnum moss maybe not the most interesting of life forms. It likes areas that are soaking wet, and cold, and have little nutrients. In fact, they get much of their nutrients from the rain, and intermingle with plants that evolved to eat insects. But Sphagnum moss has had one of the biggest impacts on Irish life than any other plant (minus the potato) and has fueled not only people’s homes and gardens, but helped the country create its own electricity. Sphagnum is also called peat moss because once it dies, it forms the soft, spongy stuff called peat that many of us have bought to amend our garden soil. Because sphagnum creates such an acidic environment, it builds upon itself, sometimes rising close to 2 mm a year. Bogs are very sensitive to their hydrology and need a constant, undisturbed supply of water to keep their sponge full, to continue their growth. They often start their growth in a lake bed and slowly fill it in (called a fen). Then they will continue to expand to form a dome shaped bulge. This type of bog is called a raised bog. These bogs are unique and host a huge diversity of plant and animal life, but are under threat from exploitation. I must admit, I have used peat moss before, even in the garden I constructed in Ballinafad, but I have become an advocate of not using it. For one, its not sustainable in any sense of the word. It takes hundreds of years to build what takes seconds to harvest. Also the shear size of bare brown spots across Ireland is appalling in itself. It is being mined with the largest of tractors. Because it is always in extremely wet areas, huge ditches must be dug, and most often in commercial sites, water is pumped out, so that it dries enough for extraction. Bord na Mona, the largest Irish peat miner, also operates electricity plants burning peat, and produces compact “briquettes” used as firewood. The smell of these briquettes, I must say, intoxicatingly smells like home, or maybe the pipe your granpa would smoke on Christmas. But when the peat burns, its literally turning Ireland into smoke. Some of the peat is extracted using a tractor which runs along the ground, cuts narrow slabs of turf, squeezes it into a long brick, and then people come by to stack it into a Tepee shape to dry during the summer. These are then delivers to homes to for storage, to heat their home. Much of the controversy lies in the SHA’s or Special Habitat Areas, where 10 years ago the government warned people they couldn’t harvest peat from these areas. The 10 years ran out last year and they are still harvesting. The government was under so much pressure they gave a one year extension. And granted, these SHA’s only cover about 2% of all peat extraction areas, but nonetheless, I’ve heard stories of fights breaking out between neighbours who felt differently about exploiting their peat. Because “digging turf” goes back centuries, and restricting was has been for many families a weekend event, is a stab to people resisting change. But much like our ancient forests in Oregon, bogs have been exploited and there has been a 92% loss of raised bogs in Republic of Ireland. But peat extraction is taking the soil, whereas our logging operations cause soil erosion, but they aren’t mining the soil. There is only so much ground you can dig up until you hit the bare earth. Even Bord da Mona thinks it will run out of resources in 10-15 years, and has been investing heavily in wind and other energy to help to company survive after the last of the peat has been harvested. It will take at least 4,000 years to replace what they extracted in the last 100 years, if, of course, these lands were able to be restored to their original condition. They most likely will become lakes, or deep ditches with surrounded by scrubland. Restoration is taking place and some progress is being made, but in the larger picture, the Irish aren’t protecting their unique natural heritage. Next time you buy some soil, think about peat-free, because you are inadvertently supporting strip mining of wetlands, of a unique ecosystem and one of the few carbon sinks on the planet.

Vienna

2009-08-04T03:10:00.000-07:00

Vienna, the capital of classical music. You name a composer, and they were here, writing their masterpieces in some smoky coffee shop. Also, right now, it is the dance capital of the world. Impulstanz, what has to be the world's largest dance festival is happening now, and I'm here for it. OK, here for my wife, who's enveloped by it, but here non-the-less. This city is spectacular. I'm amazed daily by the enormous and grand buildings which seem to be everywhere, and this city seems to be vibrant, encompassing the old with the avant-garde. Where else do they have a massive public screen where you can watch a dance film of Pena Bouche from 1975 in front of the magnificent Rathaus (or city hall) and sample Vienna's finest food and drink all the while. They also have rich ethnic markets with excellent produce (and my friends, chantrelles are in season), great bike paths along the Danube and throughout the city, and good local beer, wine and our new favorite, the aperol spritzer. Anyways, here's some pics:

The Burren and Cliffs of Moher

2009-08-02T03:51:00.001-07:00

A hike in the Bricklieves

2009-08-02T03:15:00.000-07:00

Ballinafad has much to be desired. No dependable internet, no restaurant, no live music and pretty much anything you should find of a town of any size, but you got to count its blessings. As I write this at dusk, fighting off some midges, I’m watching the swans float along Lough Arrow. The walk was crap at first. It just retraced a bike ride I had been on recently, you know, on a quiet farm road walled in by the hedgerows which also wall in cattle and sheep and the farm houses with their peat drying under a roof and their “poly-tunnel” gardens. I guess an idyllic Irish setting for most, but for me, who has seen this scene a bit too much and is maybe a bit jaded. We found the sign for the trail, which was a road, until the trail was a high grassy and brambly patch walled in by two stone walls. After Julie was moving brambles in front of herself to her back, I was busy picking leaves of Filapedula, or meadowsweet ,which in full flower right now. (planning on making a tea later). And I guess I did get scraped a few times, but nothing as bad as all the midges eating behind my ears, my scalp and that spot above my belt line. As we got on this overgrown trail, the wind picked up and the rain started coming down. Hard. And the trail switched from tall grassy, to mucky wetland, and those two stone walls crumbled if you touched them. Farther on, passing the last sheep meadow, the canyon came into view, which back in the day, people buried their loved ones in this valley. It was almost wilderness, except for the crumbling stone piles that were a house. Bones extracted from this valley were brought to the archeologists home for further study. As the story goes, the couple started having weird occurrences happening in their house, and they had to demand a spot in the museum for these bones, to help save their own sanity. We walked across the canyon and into a raised bog, no doubt harvested many times over the millennium. They harvest the “turf” or the peat, dry it, then burn it to heat homes and to cook over. This is still occurring, although because it is a very unsustainable harvest practice, and bogs are one of the few carbon retention areas or “sinks” this is going out of fashion. The fierce wind and rain hit us again and we got back onto a road and circled up to the megalithic tombs. They look like heaps of stone, but have a small entrance, that you can crawl through and open up once inside, with an amazing structure of solid stone. These are over 5000 years old, older than the pyramids, but maybe not quite as spectacular. Staying inside the tomb to avoid another onslaught of rain and wind, we then clambered down another road, towards lough Arrow, through horse and sheep pastures to the main highway. Two Indian guys gave us a lift back to Ballinafad. You mentioned you are looking into opening a take-away curry restaurant? I think Ballinafad wouldn’t be a bad spot.

otters in ireland

2009-07-26T03:00:00.000-07:00

The European otter is declining. Not an amazing statement and nothing to write home about, except for me, who is doing just that. Many other species are declining: ya’ll heard of the polar bear, the white rhino and honey bees, but why is the European otter declining? Studies over the past 20 years have shown that there has been over a 25% decrease in the otters’ accurance throughout Ireland. This is not good. This is about the same decline that the Spotted Owl is seeing in the NW US. Of course this is not a huge decline, but if this was the rate of your bank account decrease, you would half your money in 50 years, not good for retirement. So yes, I’m writing home because the European otter is declining, and I’m part of documenting this decline. So I’ve been driving around in my 4X4 searching for bridges that have easy access. Stone walls that you can jump over and walk through a pasture to find nice rocks or cement landings,which the otters love. Yes, they aren’t sunbathing on these rocks, they are showing off their spraint, or droppings. It has a distinctive sweet smell, mixed in with a funky, fishy smell, in case you are wondering. And it is usually very black and oily with fish scales, or sometimes with crayfish throughout its spraint. The males are territorial, and the spraint shows their keep, and helps keep otters well dispersed and healthy. (One of their favorite foods, crayfish are also declining, but studies are just starting to look at this. ) So I pull out the Trimble GPS/data logger and hit some keys documenting what I find: footprints and a detailed outline of the spraints texture, age and contents. I haven’t been finding very much evidence of the otters. Most otters’ deaths that are documented are flattened on the road. Most roads don’t have a crosswalk sign for otters, as the recently killed male on the N4 found out. Otters also are drowned in fisherman’s nets, probably most commonly on the coast where driftnets are abandoned and wrap them up. As much as our driving and fishing are killing otters, two other species maybe having a larger impact that needs much more attention. The American mink, a relative in the weasel family was released by a farm years ago and now have been scattered throughout the country. The mink like the same habitat, rivers and streams, and like the same food: fish. Many locals that I’ve talked to seem to repeat the same sentence, “Yeah, I used to see otters around here, loads growing up, but now all I see is mink.” Although the mink is almost ½ the size of Lutra lutra, its reputation of a fierce fisherman is legendary. Not only are they out fishing the otters, but they are also out harassing them. The otters aren’t used to much competition in their rivers, but now the sneaky mink is out battling the former king. Like invading ninja, the otter is being blindsided. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has been hiring mink trappers in some areas, and its effective, until funding runs out (like this year), and the bastards continue their population explosion. Also the fish stocks are down, partly due to pollution, but I also suspect the zebra mussel is much the cause. It’s throughout the upper Shannon system, filtering its waters to the extreme, sucking out all zooplankton that the fish would eventually eat. Now the trophic system has shifted from life being in the water column, to life clinging inside hard shells to rocks that few can dislodge. How have these mussels changed the system? No one knows for sure, but quite a few B & B’s and one pub have closed around Lough Arrow, the lake outside my window because there isn’t any fish. Fisherman couldn’t tell you why they aren’t catching fish anymore here, they are just finding better places to fish in Norway. Ireland is the last stronghold in Europe for the otter. I didn’t tell you this earlier because I wanted to tell you the scary part first. It’s been a dark and rainy day and that’s just the mood I’m in. The otter isn’t going to be extinct on this island anytime soon, but why save a species if it’s too late?; especially one of the cutest, loveable species on the planet. (Except for the two American otter species, and those baby wart hogs). I haven’t had the fortune to meet an otter face to face yet, (they are nocturnal and shy), but I have become quite acquainted with their stools. When you break apart a spraint containing the miracle of fish bones and bleached crayfish scales, and smell that sweet, acrid smell, you get that warm feeling in your heart. Not just because you’ve found what you are looking for, but because you share this earth with a wise, mysterious, and fun-loving creature that we often wish we could be. I mean, is there a more ideal life if you think of it: No need to change your clothes because your layers of fur are warm, more waterproof than Gor-tex. No need to deal with any distractions like cooking, indoor plumbing or cellphone bills because food is abundant, tasty, filled with Omega 3’s, and you communicate with your shit. So you get all this free time to make slides into the water, surf down rapids, and take lots of naps. I’m sure the otter can give more lessons on how to live a good life if us humans can figure out how to live side by side. I mean, what kind of magnificent creatures are we if we can’t protect our fellow, loveable creatures. I always think its sad when I see a gift shop containing hundreds of stuffed animals that probably outnumber the wild numbers of that species (as anyone whose bought a stuffed manatee can attest to). We are in love with our vertebrate kin, yet there are few success story to tell. If children had more political sway, you can bet the otter would be top of the agenda, and probably hold a spiritual place in the assembly. But it seems us adults forget how these creatures captured our creativity, inspired us to be our best, and showed us that the world is filled with much more intellect and spirituality than humans alone can hold.

Tea and Corncrakes

2009-07-26T02:51:00.001-07:00

The Corncrake is the sound of summer in Ireland. Or it used to be. People over 40 reminisce about having the bird lullaby them to sleep after a hard day on the farm. Hearing this I thought the call would be one of warbles and pretty flute-like melodies, almost Kenny G-like. But the song is one of a monotonous buzz, more insect than bird that calls dusk until the break of dawn. But I guess since there are no crickets here, it is their cricket, and they aren’t around anymore. The Corncrake is a beautiful little bird, with grays and yellows and browns to camouflage it in the tall grass and hay fields it inhabits. The Corncrake migrates all the way from South and East Africa to find nesting spots across Europe that are increasing finding a huge tractor mow over their habitat. In the past 30 years, Ireland has gone from harvesting silage from 1 time a year to 3 times a year and in pushing the land, so has the Corncrake been pushed out, silenced. Rachel Carson’s Spring has hit Ireland. Now it was my job, one night last week, to go out and listen for the Corncrake in the Shannon valley near Athlone. All we heard was silence, and I mean not even an insect. I went out with NPWS ranger Andi Webb who did pick up some long-eared owls and some bats with her cool bat detector device, but no Corncrakes. The Irish countryside is a lonely place without sounds at night, especially if you used to hear a bucket load of Corncrakes, their calls infiltrating the air with a comforting hum. The head ecologist, William Cormacan, and my roommate Brid did hear three that night. The only three in a great distance, where their used to be hundreds maybe thousands. The area I surveyed did have some a few years ago, and farmers are being paid to harvest grass later and leave the best spots all for the Corncrake. The payment scheme seems great in theory, but in reality, these birds aren’t finding these areas, and the night stays quiet. One area that did have Corncrakes also had summer flooding the last few years, which ain’t good the birds. I can’t say much about what happens to birds when they get into Africa. Migrating birds can have a tough time in wintering grounds where there are no environmental laws. So my art project idea is to bring the Corncrake back. This bird that is the symbol of rural Europe, of a childhood playing on the farm, and the backdrop of many a fire. What would happen if you put speakers out, maybe just for a night or two, all throughout various fields surrounding a small village and recreated the Corncrakes’ serenade. I could change the dead night back to life again, or at least give a sad reminder of how it used to be. Would the old folks remember? Would parents tell their children? Would people realize what they have lost: not just this symbol of the night, but part of their nation’s soul and weep for the Corncrake? Maybe I’ll find some speakers and see what happens in the town of Ballinafad, see if anyone even remembers it. Two weeks later: I was able to go out and hear two male Corncrakes call. Their loud beebs sometimes lining up together, other times their rhythm would be off. It was magical.

Videos from Ireland

2009-07-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Aloha everyone, Because of some major computer problems, I have so much to put up here, talk about and blab on about, but for now, I just have some pictures and videos to put up. I'm still waiting for some internet access at my house at old Arrow View Lane, but here's some pictures and videos to wet your palette. This is my garden plot. I love to tear up lawns and so I did. I found a hand trowel, some dirt, some rocks and some cardboard and put some herbs in the Judit brought for me. Things are seeming to be growing well. Also I love to ride my hot rod bike. There are tons of beautiful lakes around, and so I am exploring them. Here's some videos from the boat surveying for plant and animal life on islands in Lough Ree.

Wildflower Hunting

2009-04-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

What turned out to be a stormy and rainy and windy day, ended up pleasant. We got a nice showing of early wildflowers. At Catherine Creek we saw flowers that were peaking about 2 weeks later than last year. It has been a long winter. The Columbia river gorge is probably the most spectacular place on earth that I've been. After travelling around the world for 9 months, I came back to the gorge and found it to be so amazing. It's like you are in Alaska, with a massive river, huge waterfalls and trails and flowers everywhere. The view from the cliff at Tom McCall is amazing and it looks better with the Lomatium columbianum flowering (a gorge endemic below). After braving over 50 mph winds, we went searching for a prairie up a lonely logging road and only found lots of cut trees, and ended up almost getting stuck in the snow. Needless to say, we turned around and had a couple pints. Plant list for the day: 3/31/09: Olysinium douglassii, Saxafraga occidentalis, Frittilaria pudica, Crocidium multicale"Gold Stars", Ranunculus occidentalis, Delphinium nuttallianum, Dicentra cucullaria, Montia sibirica, Cardamine pulcherima var. pulcherima, Lomatium macrocarpum, Lomatium columbianum, Mimulus alsinoides, and Dodecatheon poeticum.

How ecological restoration differs between Europe and the US

2009-02-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate to travel to Ghent, Belgium in September of 2008 to present the program for which I work at the 6th European Conference on Ecological Restoration. Right away I noticed the stark differences in culture: beer and wine served at lunches, more frequent breaks, the seriousness of speakers (which, admittedly, most of them were speaking in their second or third tongue), and the ease of meeting fellow ecologists. This was my fourth time in Europe, but first time at a work related event and was nervous that it would be more formal than in the U.S. I rehearsed my talk many times, and felt it was delivered well, but was dismayed that I got few questions at the end. I came from America for heaven's sake, don't you have a few questions to ask me? But after pondering our program (one that uses large crews with chainsaws to battle noxious weeds), I saw that our program is leading in many ways, and in other ways, we have a lot to learn from Europeans. My program, the Watershed Revegetation Program within the City of Portland, is trying to reforest areas of the city that are covered in weeds, such as the English Ivy seen in the photo. We use many different techniques (think integrated pest management) to manage the weeds, and we replant with native species to aid in the recovery of the native forest. And we have been enormously successful: planting over 3 million trees and shrubs in over 2,000 acres. We work on private and public property, on industrial land and in neighborhoods, with private contractors and many collaborating agencies. I think we have a model program because of this, but found out that our program is very "American". I was labeled "chainsaw guy" by a Greek man who I met previously, and realized that my openness about describing our use of herbicides may have been too hard hitting, too American. Also our program has a shorter-term outlook on our sites compared to many Europeans. This is partially funding based, but it also is our thinking (and our documented results) that we can change weed infested land into a young flourishing native forest. Many Europeans presented a longer term view and a view including more philosophical intentions. The first day at the conference I was near the point of rage when a woman from France showed how an oak floodplain forest was recuperating until a few years ago when noxious weeds started to out-compete the native vegetation. The oaks would no longer regenerate, and only fields of knotweed are in its future. Her conclusion, after years of study, was to do nothing: let nature take its course. How can we afford to let nature take its course, when humans are responsible for transporting these weeds around the world, and we have the ability to help slow the spread of the weeds, allowing the forest to recover! Its our duty to become the most humble and well intentioned stewards of our land. This includes direct intervention when we see declining biodiversity because of noxious weeds. This presentation threw me off a bit, but I soon realized from other conversations and presentations that many groups are doing similar work and having similar struggles. I thought it would be nice to summarize my comparisons from a short week in Belgium. Where Europeans are leading:

Reserves : The EU has set up an ecologically-based mandate for each member country to have a network of reserves (Natura 2000). These are for the preservation of natural systems and to provide bird habitat.
Funding: The Habitats Directive also formed a funding branch called LIFE which provides 2.1 billion Euro over 6 years to fund the restoration of these reserves.
Research: Judging from the conference presentations, more research about ecological changes and impacts of restoration is taking place in Europe. A field trip visit to the GulkePutten Nature Preserve demonstrated many careful experiments that were installed to find the best method before larger scale impacts were taken.

Other differences between Europeans and the US:

Diverse culture and ecology: Although the US maybe about as diverse ecologically as Europe, the diversity of the cultures, languages, and bureaucracy add a heftier challenge to restoration. With a somewhat coordinated effort, trying to achieve not only the halt of the loss of biodiversity by 2010 and restoring ecological processes continent-wide is a huge challenge. Its large bureaucracy can slow many projects down with their many requirements, but also can make projects better with more oversight and review.
Scale: Many Europeans were commenting on the scale at which some restoration projects are taking place in the US. Many, such as the everglades, are huge in scale and can be many times the size of all the Natura 2000 sites in one country combined. But since I work for a municipality and work on restoration sites ranging from 200 acres to sidewalk strips, I don't doubt the need to work on small sites.
Pollution: Europeans have worked much of their land hard, with fertilizer for many generations. The accumulation of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and other pollutants can cause severe and lasting changes in the plant community. Much research and management is trying to tease out how to reduce these contaminants and the tolerance level of many rare species.
Private Consultants: Many restoration practitioners in the US work with private companies; providing research, reports, installation and management on many restoration projects. These types of companies don't exist much in Europe, although there seems to be some public/private ventures that are in business. Most restoration in Europe is designed, researched, and managed by agencies, although private contractors are hired for the implementation of some projects. The harvesting and removal of a conifer plantation in the Hautes Fagnes Park in Belgium was done by private contractors under the watch of agency land managers.

There are many interesting techniques being used in Europe, which a program like mine has much to gain. Using the right tool should be the most effective at returning the natural processes back with the least intervention. Often there are huge restraints to how much of the process we can get back (for example degraded soil), but I think Europeans are much better than us at solving this problem first, through research and then applying it. Climate change is studied much more in Europe and its effects are often greater, as seen in the sharp decline of the Black Grouse as the snow season gets shorter. I am still learning from ecologists that I have met and that I contact after reading their abstract. Continued sharing through conferences like this, field trips and job swapping help disseminate information quicker . This is important because many areas are reaching a critical tipping point, and the longer we wait, the more biodiversity will be lost forever.