September 2003 Archives

Zac tells me that the tree with the sweet-smelling flowers on the north side of the canyon near the pipe is a glorybower (Clerodendrum sp.). I don't know if we've got a species ID yet. Some glorybowers are listed as invasive plants in places like Hawaii and Florida, but it doesn't seem to be a problem here.

Also, the solitary great blue heron at the east end of the canyon has found a companion. The two of them have been spotted roaming and fishing from the springs down to the land bridge. One heron seems to be pursuing the other one around, making this a great time to see herons in flight.
- posted by Niels

The Johnson Creek Watershed Council will be holding its Springwater Festival this Saturday, September 27th, from noon to 3pm in Gresham Main City Park.

The theme of this year's festival is "Celebrating Johnson Creek." The council invites you to come celebrate the many accomplishments of the year, including the release of the Comprehensive Watershed Action Plan (http://www.jcwc.org/actionPlan/TOC.htm), which will guide protection and restoration in the watershed for years to come.

The Johnson Creek watershed stretches 25 miles from its headwaters near the Sandy River to its confluence with the Willamette River. The watershed includes the Reed canyon and Crystal Springs Creek.
- posted by Niels

Last spring's Canyon Day brought out a bluegrass band, a flock of volunteers, and a camera crew from Oregon Public Broadcasting. The crew was here to get the story on the canyon restoration for "Oregon Field Guide," a tv show that focuses on Oregon's natural areas. While we planted a few hundred native plants, the OPB team interviewed participants and filmed some of the activities.

Now we get a chance to see the result.

According to the OPB schedule on the web, the Reed canyon segment will be shown on Thursday, October 9th at 8:30pm.
- posted by Niels

Here's a news release from Corvallis that drifted across my desk a few weeks ago:

A new guide to the Pacific Northwest's most dominant or potentially invasive weeds has been published by the Oregon State University Extension Service. "Invasive Weed Identification and Management (Pacific Northwest's Least Wanted List)" is a 44-page guide, written by OSU Extension weed specialist Jed Colquhoun.

The pernicious plant invaders covered in the guide include species rampant on both sides of the Cascades, including: Scotch broom, English ivy, false brome, kudzu, purple loosestrife, yellow starthistle, toadflax, Canada thistle, knapweed and more than 30 others.

The guide provides color photos of each species, lists identifying characteristics, origin, habitat, ecology and gives several choices for control strategies, including physical removal, biological control, burning and herbicides.

"Invasive Weed Identification and Management," EC 1563, is available by mail for $5 per copy plus $3 shipping and handling. Send your request and check or money order payable to OSU to: Publication Orders, Extension and Station Communications, 422 Kerr Administration, OSU, Corvallis, OR 97331-2119.

To preview this publication and more than 100 others published by the OSU Extension Service on invasive weeds in the Pacific Northwest, visit OSU Extension and Experiment Station Communications website at: http://eesc.oregonstate.edu. Click on "Publications and Videos," then "Agriculture" and then "Weeds."

I got my copy of the guide in the mail last week and found info on several familiar faces from the canyon, including English ivy, Himalayan blackberry, Japanese knotweed, and a range of thistles. Biggest surprise: Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), which blankets the lower canyon, made the list of top invaders. Second biggest surprise: Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), which is spreading in the community gardens, didn't make the list of top invaders.

I'd trade a patch of bindweed for a patch of garlic mustard any day.
- posted by Niels

New to the canyon? Curious about what's going on down there? As part of new student orientation, Zac Perry will be leading a tour of the canyon on Wednesday, August 27th. The one-hour walk will start at the fish ladder at 1:30 p.m. and highlight some of the restoration work taking place around the lake. The tour is really meant for incoming students and their parents, but other people can probably join in if there's room. Check with Zac to be sure (Zachariah.Perry@reed.edu).

At the same time Zac is hiking the canyon, I'll be introducing new students and parents to some of the larger and older trees in the landscaped areas of the Reed campus. The tree tour will start at 1:30 p.m. in the front doorway of Eliot Hall and wind around the buildings on the eastern end of the campus.

Having trouble deciding? Both tours repeat at the same times and places on Thursday August 28th.

Correction: The tours start at 11am on Thursday. My mistake.
- posted by Niels

Another interesting bit about river otters, taken from Cascade-Olympic Natural History by Daniel Mathews:

Fishermen here see otters regularly. Look on riverbanks and lakeshores for otters' easily recognized slides, tracks or "spraints." The latter are fecal scent-markers placed just out of the water on rocks, mud banks or floating logs, and usually showing fish bones, scales, or crayfish shell bits under a greenish, slimy (when fresh) coating which smells distinctive but not unpleasant.

I went looking for spraints and slides around the fishladder this evening. I found several places where the grass was beaten down in paths and where something had been sliding down into the lake. And right on the edge of the land bridge I found a compacted, dried pile of crayfish bits. But there wasn't anything fresh and I didn't see the otter. We'll keep looking.
- posted by Niels

For all you readers bored with notes about chicory, here's canyon news of a livelier sort: We may have a river otter in the lake! Zac Perry tells me he saw a river otter near the fishladder entrance the other day. Apparently, our otter may be living in a burrow on the edge of the lake near the amphitheater.

I've never actually seen a river otter (as far as I know) so I turned to my handy Peterson Field Guide for the following description:

RIVER OTTERLutra canadensis A large weasel-like mammal, rich brown above, with a silvery sheen below, and with small ears and a broad snout; feet webbed, tail thick at base, tapering toward tip.

A sociable animal, usually 2 or more travel together. Eats fish, frogs, crayfish, and other aquatic invertebrates. Dens in banks, with entrance below water, or other suitable places.

This isn't the first time river otters have been seen here. Bob Salinger mentioned them a few years ago when he described the canyon in Wild in the City, a guidebook to Portland's natural areas. But this is still a fairly unusual visitor for most of us. If other people see the otter, please drop me a note and I'll post it here. A photo would win you amazingly big bonus points...
- posted by Niels

I just got a note from Lee Hallagan, class of '03, this afternoon. Lee wrote his Reed thesis on the reintroduction of the Pacific treefrog (Hyla regilla) into the canyon. As part of that thesis, Lee did a habitat analysis and then released 2,638 Hyla regilla larvae on campus after first collecting them from a nearby wildlife refuge.

Lee writes "I heard that someone saw a frog early in the summer, and I would like to know if you hear about any other sightings. The real test will come in the spring. If I was successful, we should be able to hear them chorusing in the canyon. This would mean that they survived and, more importantly, they are breeding. That would be great."

If anyone does sight a frog in the canyon, please drop us a note here at Blog Central and we'll get the word out. To help with identification, here's a great treefrog photo that Lee sent along:


- posted by Niels

Check out this great picture of an American Bittern sitting in a Doug fir:

 

 

The photo was taken by Mac McKinlay '67 in the lower canyon in late July. Has anyone else seen this bird? It doesn't show up on any of our bird lists for the canyon.
- posted by Niel

I saw a green-backed heron again today, under the cross-canyon bridge. It seems to be a very skittish bird. Great blue herons don't like human company, but they're sly enough to stand still and disappear into the scenery when humans pass by. Green-backed herons don't seem to have the same self-control and they launch into the air at the slightest disturbance. The ones on campus seem to spend the whole day fleeing Reedies and looking for a quiet spot in the canyon.

To recognize a green-backed heron, look for the bright yellow legs. It's got the same general body shape as a great blue heron, but it's much smaller and shorter. When it stalks a fish through shallow water, the heron hunches down low and lifts its feet almost up to its chest.

You can see a nice photo of a green-backed heron here on the USGS web site: http://biology.usgs.gov/features/photogal/gallery7.html
- posted by Niels

Residents of the RCAs are walking to school through fields of blooming chicory at this time of year. You can see the bright blue flowers in all of the waste areas around the community gardens and there's just a bit of it near the fishladder. Chicory (Cichorium intybus) isn't a native but I haven't listed it on our invasive weeds page because it isn't much of a problem. The plant is a slow-growing perennial that doesn't produce many seeds and it's easy to pull up.

Chicory is native to Europe, but it was brought to the United States by immigrants who grew it for food. The young leaves and shoots can be used in salads and the roots (supposedly) can be dried and used for a coffee substitute. (I haven't tried it, myself...)
- posted by Niels

As I was walking along the gravel path by the rugby field today, I noticed that we have a tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) growing on the edge of the canyon. Ailanthus was considered an exotic Asian beauty when it was first imported to the U.S. in 1784. These days it's more commonly considered a nasty, invasive weed. The tree is extremely hard to kill and it's got a deep taproot that makes it hard to dig up. And it spreads like crazy: a mature, female tree can produce more than 300,000 seeds every year.

Here in southeast Portland we've got a moderate tree-of-heaven infection. There are several large trees in Sellwood and along 28th avenue, and you can see the young trees popping up in most vacant lots. But this is the first Ailanthus I've seen in the canyon. It's odd that it hasn't been more of a problem.

Has anyone seen another tree-of-heaven in the canyon? If so, please drop me a line. You can see photos and learn more about the plant here: http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/aial1.htm
- posted by Niels

This tuesday, as the thunderstorms rolled in, I saw what looked like a seagull. As it flew closer, and began circling over the Anna Mann lawn, I could the see how much larger the wing span was and that the bird's colorations were that of an Osprey. What a treat! We have often seen this bird or one of the same species, flying around the theatre annex and the recycling center on 28th street.

- posted by kathleen

If you have an interest in the invasive species we're fighting here at Reed, you might want to visit the Invasive Species Weblog to learn more about the subject. Blog owner Jennifer Forman posts almost-daily updates about the various battles against plant and animal invaders around the globe. She's got news reports, current research, and info about upcoming conferences and workshops. She also offers a link to an online store where you can buy clocks, mugs, and so forth with pictures of invasive plants. (Don't miss the Japanese Knotweed baby bib - a must for every new parent!)
- posted by Niels