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Sips 'n' Science: Bringing Back the Pacific Lamprey - Jan. 9, 2019
Wow! Our first Sips 'n' Science pub talk of 2019 brought Brew Coffee & Taphouse to full capacity at 52 attendees! This time, Kelly Dirksen - Fish and Wildlife Program Manager for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde - shared the fascinating life history of the Pacific lamprey, and described how local Tribes are helping to restore populations of this 650-million-year-old, eel-like fish in the Willamette basin. Best of all, if you missed this presentation, you can now view it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/x789W-Ecyes!
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Sips 'n' Science: Beaver-Inspired Stream Restoration - Nov. 15, 2018
On November 15, NOAA Research Fisheries Biologist Dr. Chris Jordan explained why partnering with beaver makes sense for many stream restoration efforts across Oregon. We had a FULL house with a total of 62 attendees at The Valkyrie Wine Tavern, which served up some delicious food and wine during Dr. Jordan's presentation.
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Love Your Watershed: Fall Bird Walks - October 6 & 21, 2018
On October 6, local naturalist and bird expert, Joel Geier, took bird walkers through the unique "striped" landscape of Luckiamute State Natural Area's South Unit, where oaks grow on gravel ridges while prairie and ash trees grow in the swales left by old oxbows and side channels of the historic Willamette River. During this beautiful fall day, participants got to see many kinds of sparrows, goldfinches, yellow-rumped warblers and kingfishers, just to name a few!
Then on October 21, Joel led a group of 15 bird-walkers along the Richard Guadagno Memorial Loop trail at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge. Cool morning temperatures kept the birds quiet early on but not long after the sun warmed things up, everyone was treated to the lovely song of our state bird, the Western Meadowlark!
Then on October 21, Joel led a group of 15 bird-walkers along the Richard Guadagno Memorial Loop trail at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge. Cool morning temperatures kept the birds quiet early on but not long after the sun warmed things up, everyone was treated to the lovely song of our state bird, the Western Meadowlark!
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Love Your Watershed: Luckiamute Confluence Tour - Sep. 23, 2018
On September 23, 2018, we had the opportunity to take a closer look at some of the restoration work going on around the Luckiamute River and its confluence with the Willamette. The Luckiamute Confluence Tour was the first event in our 2018 - 19 Love Your Watershed series, and gave participants the chance to learn about what the LWC and some of its partners are doing to protect and conserve native landscapes and river health within our basin. Tour stops included the Jont Creek restoration site (private), Willamette Bluffs Conservation Area (private) and Luckiamute State Natural Area.
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Love Your Watershed: Ethnobotany Workshop - June 5, 2018
During our June 5 Native American Ethnobotany of Western Oregon workshop, held at Beazell Forest Education Center, Grand Ronde Tribal representatives - Greg Archuleta, Lorraine (Bejee) Barton, and Devon Robinson - wowed all of our participants with their knowledge, stories and presentations of the uses of native plants by The First Peoples of our region. Workshop attendees not only got to participate in some hands-on table activities, they also had the opportunity to hike along Beazell trails with Greg Archuleta, learning to identify native plants and how they were (and are) used in Native culture, cuisine and medicine.
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Photography by Miriam Haugen, of Haugen's Galleri
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Love Your Watershed: Spring Bird Walks - April 2018
Our April 14 Bird Walk turned out to be perfectly timed to miss the deluge of rain we had during the first two weeks of April! During this walk along the Luckiamute State Natural Area's North Tract loop trail, bird-walkers caught a glimpse of nesting osprey, a northern harrier, woodpeckers, ruby-crowned kinglets, several warblers and sparrows, plus some gregarious common yellowthroats.
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On April 28, our Bird Walk took us to Western Skies Cattle Ranch, a beautiful 113-acre piece of land that is sustainably managed for both native oak conservation and happy, healthy cows. Along our four-hour hike around the open meadows and open oak woodland habitats, we saw and heard wild turkeys, acorn woodpeckers, western bluebirds, red-winged black-birds, white-crowned and chipping sparrows, and several types of migratory warblers. We were also treated to beautiful displays of native wildlflowers and a few newborn calves testing out their brand new legs!
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