WINTER 2016 Wetlands VOLUME 8 ISSUE 2 Richard Wilhelm Richard WATER Water is essential to sustain all life. It is equally important to humans as the natural landscapes that sustain us. Conservation and protection of water may be one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime We forget that the and of our children and future generations. While the amount of water on the planet today is the same water cycle and the as it was in prehistoric times, the demands for it have increased. ❚ Land and water are inextricably life cycle are one. connected. We must understand and acknowledge their interdependency and relationship as we develop Jacques Cousteau and implement strategies to conserve water. ❚ Wetlands, vital to the health of our environment, support Oceanographer conservation of the land-water connection. Their irreplaceable role is the result of the unique natural characteristics of wetlands. Like kidneys, they absorb, filter and recirculate our water. Which in-turn provides critical fish and wildlife habitat to so many of the iconic species we identify with Oregon. In the face of destructive floods, they serve as natural buffers helping to protect our communities. ❚ With the heightened awareness around limited water resources, wetlands role in cleaning and recharging our water supply has become even more essential. OREGON’S GREATEST WETLANDS Every year in early winter, high tides in Oregon are higher than usual. These extreme high tides, commonly called “King Tides,” occur when the moon is closest to the Earth. King Tides visually demonstrate what an estuary might look like as the sea level rises. TWC is sharing our King Tide aerial photos to jumpstart conversations about what lays ahead for the future of our estuaries and how sea level rise may necessitate Location changes in land use and infrastructure. PACIFIC CITY Oregon Coast freshwater wetland habitats include deflation plain wetlands, sphagnum bogs, and lakes formed by small creeks that have been blocked by moving sand dunes. Sphagnum bogs, like TWC’s Ian Nedry Peterson Preserve typically occur in depressions and in coastal headlands with Blacklock soils where water is “perched.” Species present in these communities include pitcher-plant, cottongrass, and yellow pond-lily. Photos: Upper: Outlier Solutions, Inc.; middle: Larry Olson, lower: Kendra Manton. COASTAL FRESHWATER WETLANDS Willamette Valley Wetland prairies are seasonally flooded ecosystems dominated by herbaceous plants. In response to restoration of fescue fields, thousands of native prairie plants, including some rare species have turned Mud Slough Wetland Preserve into a tapestry of color and texture. Every fall through spring, thousands of ducks and geese, shorebirds and swallows return to the wetlands. In addition, bitterns, rails, herons, and egrets feed in the marshes, while bald eagles and northern harriers work the skies overhead. 2 MUD SLOUGH, WILLAMETTE VALLEY WET PRAIRIE The Harney Basin is an arid landscape. The supply of water is a limiting factor for most human activity in the basin, as well as for wetlands and their dependent species, such as White-faced Ibis, Avocets and Stilts. Precipitation is variable from year to year and runoff may vary within the same year, resulting in both drought and surplus years, and everything in between. BOCA LAKE, MALHEUR WILDLIFE REFUGE Oregon’s 22 major estuaries are ecologically essential for many fish and wildlife species, includ- ing salmon, crabs, oysters, clams, wading birds, ducks, geese, shorebirds and harbor seals. Management of our Lower Yaquina Preserve allows for migration of plant communities and change in vegetative species composition resulting from flooding, erosion, tsunamis and sea level rise. LOWER YAQUINA ESTUARY PRESERVE What would Tualatin look like today if Althea Pratt Broome had not lead a community movement to save the 56-acre Hedges Creek Marsh? Thirty-seven years later the community conservation in Tualatin has inspired a state wide movement to conserve Oregon’s Greatest wetlands. Photos: Upper: Brandyn Six; middle: David Pitkin; lower: Clean Water Ser- vices. Right panel–newt, turtles, water striders: Ron LeValley; frog, dragonfly: HEDGES CREEK PRESERVE, TUALATIN Scott Christianson 3 OREGON’S GREATEST WETLANDS 225 volunteers enthusiastically contributed 1500 hours of their time to conserving Oregon’s Greatest Wetlands. Volunteers assisted with preserve maintenance, stewardship and monitoring, scientific data collection, sharing photos and stories, being TWC ambassadors, office work, helping at events and participating on board committees. TWC staff and Oregon wetlands thank you for your time and passion. For the past two years TWC has partnered with Light Hawk Volunteer Pilots on our King Tide (highest tides of the year) to get an aerial look at how Oregon Cen- tral Coast estuaries might respond to rising sea levels. This spring pilots provided us with the 1,000-foot perspective of the land, wetland and water connection of the Harney Basin. Drone pilots have been helping us document the presence of beaver and changing water levels at our preserves. 4 LAND MANAGEMENT/STEWARDSHIP OREGON’S GREATEST WETLANDS Removal of 1400 ft Dike Improves Fish Access to OUR MISSION Poole Slough To partner with Inter-tidal salt marshes are among the most communities biologically productive natural ecosystems on earth because of the way marsh plants live, die, across our state and decompose. Tides are the life-blood of these in conserving, unique estuarine habitats that provide criti- enhancing and cal habitat for all salmonids species during an important transitional life phase between fresh restoring the physical and saltwater. Coho salmon typically spend and ecological several weeks to a month in the estuary feeding values of Oregon’s and completing the transition between fresh and salt water. greatest wetlands In August 2016, TWC removed a 1,400-foot- for current and long dike along the Oregon Oyster parcel of our future generations. Lower Yaquina Preserve to improve fish access to the extensive distribution of tidal channels at high tides and storm events. The barrier removal reestablished natural processes and functions to provide self-sustaining unobstructed habitats for native migratory fish and other fish and wildlife species. We look forward to watching changes in the The health of our water ecological function and fish and wildlife use of is the principal measure Poole Slough in response to this project and our 2015 large wood placement. of how we live on the land. Luna Leopold In partnership with others, TWC is getting closer to conserving and restoring 10,000 acres of Oregon’s coastal forest, river, wetland, and estuary habitats in an area spanning Yaquina Bay, Alsea Bay and Beaver Creek watersheds between Newport and Waldport. 5 2016 Over 150 people gathered in appreciation of Oregon wetlands and The Wetlands Conservancy. It was a fabulous afternoon of delicious food and drink, catching up with old friends and making news ones and learning about TWC’s most recent projects and partnerships. Many thanks to our 2016 event sponsors!! It wouldn’t be Wetlands Through their missions, work and support of and Wellies without fresh The Darlingtonia; Bull Run whiskey, Starvation TWC, they each share a commitment to the Yaquina Oysters from Alley cranberries, Cooper’s Hall Pinot Noir and ecological, social and economic value of Oregon Oyster. black walnut bitters could be a contender for conserving Oregon’s wetlands. Together the official Oregon cocktail. we will continue to conserve and restore Oregon’s Greatest Wetlands! Many thanks to our 2016 sponsors! 6 As you head into the holiday season think about Special thanks to Clackamas Community College’s Environmental visiting one of our restaurant partners, ordering some Learning Center for hosting Wetlands and Wellies 2016. We look forward oysters, grabbing a growler of beer, purchasing some to working together on the Newell Creek headwater restoration project. wine, trying a new spirit, satisfying a sweet tooth, tak- ing home some tasty food or buying a friend or family member a gift certificate. Best Wellies Contest Many thanks to our 2016 sponsors! This year local fashion icon Brandon Gaston, LifeSTYList, and contestants took our “Best Wellies” contest to a whole new level of fashion, creativity and fun. 7 Photos: Evrim Icoz In Celebration of Beaver and Wetlands Beaver, our beloved state animal is woefully misunderstood Welter Judy and blamed for dam building, flooding and munching on plants. In fact, the North American Beaver create wetlands, spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead, and habitat for insects, birds and amphibians. Their pools help filter water and moderate fluctuations in water flow downstream. They are nature’s hydrologists! History of Beaver Decline in Oregon Robert Gray and Lewis and Clark’s poetic descriptive writings of Northwest waterways and abundant beaver and The Wetlands Conservancy will host a traveling beaver otter populations captured the interest of powerful fur trading art exhibit and sale in 2017, featuring over 100 Northwest companies in New York and London. Very quickly profession- artists. The exhibits will highlight the aesthetic, ecological al trappers from all over the world descended on the Oregon and cultural significance of beaver, Oregon’s iconic territory to trap beaver. By 1890, demand for beaver hats and state animal and Oregon State University mascot. coats led to their decline, leaving behind only the nickname The first three exhibits will be in February, April and of “the beaver state” as a testament to the once abundant May of 2017. furbearers. In response to their almost extirpation, the Oregon February, 2017–Oregon State University In partnership legislature temporarily prohibited beaver trapping from with SPARK Arts + Science @OSU, the kickoff of Beaver 1899 until 1919. A second moratorium was placed on Tales will be at Oregon State University with a reception, public beaver trapping from 1937 to 1951. The combination exhibit and sale at the LaSells-Stewart Center. The exhibit of management and these partial protections resulted in will run throughout the month of February in tandem with the reestablishment of beaver in Oregon.