Science, Music, and Marshmallows
Schedule of Events
A Summer 2004 Natural Resource Series
Presented by Marys Peak Natural Resources Interpretive Center
Note: All Wednesday presentations will be at the Clemens
Mill site, on Highway 20, at the eastern entrance to Philomath, directly
across the highway from the logging supply company (see
Map).
All Saturday field trips will convoy from the same location, beginning from
the parking lot with the Red Caboose,
unless otherwise noted and marked with two asterisks (**).
Birds
of Prey Live Raptor Demonstration
Jeff Picton, Director, Chintimini Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
See live hawks, owls, kestrels and vultures up close. Learn how they have
adapted to survive and what you can do to help them.
Birds of Luckiamute Landing
Corvallis Audubon Society
Learn to identify birds of prey and other species. Bring binoculars or
borrow ours.
Forestry:
Then and Now
Gary Blanchard, Senior Forester, Starker Forests
Learn how forestry has changed since the settling of Oregon. Compare logging
and harvesting methods that were used then and now to cut, yard and mill
trees.
Starker Forests Tour
Gary Springer, Starker Forests
See how Starker Forests, one of the largest privately owned timer companies
in Benton County, manages their land for timber production, recreation
and environmental
values. Visit sites that show site prep, planting, thinning and harvesting
while leaving riparian buffers, wildlife trees and encouraging fish habitat.
Our Solar System and Beyond
Steve McGettigan, Heart of the Valley Astronomers
A slide show at dusk will focus on the latest research on the nine planets.
After dark, use one of the many telescopes on-site under the guidance of
a professional
astronomer to see Neptune, Uranus, and especially great views of the gas
giant Jupiter and its moons!
Star Party @ Adair Aerodrome
Steve McGettigan, Heart of the Valley Astronomers
Come to this Star Party and look through various telescopes at planet, star
clusters and galaxies. Come see how big the universe really is!
Maintaining Genetic Diversity of Plant
Crops
Joseph Postman, USDA Clonal Germplasm Repository
Learn how the federal government promotes and maintains the genes necessary
for healthy crops. See how scientists collect plants from around the world
and maintain them right here in Corvallis in a field, screenhouse and liquid
Tour Clonal Germplasm Repository Facility
Joseph Postman, USDA Clonal Germplasm Repository
Take a field trip to the USDA Clonal Germplasm Repository to tour their
facilities and experience genetic diversity on your palate. We will pick
and eat different
varieties of blueberries, caneberries and pears to compare their edible qualities
as well as analyze their growth habitat and ripening patterns.
**Meet at Repository facility on Peoria Road
Indian Burning and Catastrophic Wildfire Patterns of the Oregon Coast
Range, 1491-1951
Bob Zybach, Historical Ecologist, OSU College of Forestry Forest
Science Department
Native wildlife of the Oregon Coast Range existed in a stable and predictable
environment shaped by local human uses of fire. At certain times, wildlife
habitat in forested areas was transformed by fire in hours and days to vast
burns covering hundreds of thousands of acres. These conditions of constant
burning coupled with infrequent catastrophic events provided the environments
in which native
plants and animals evolved since the last ice age.
Chepenafa
Kalapuyans: Early 19th Century Bald Hill Land and Plant Managers
Bob
Zybach, Program Manager, Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project, Inc.
Tour will involve several stops along the foot trail to the peak of Bald
Hill. Focus will be on native plants and local history, including Kalapuyan
uses of fire in the area during the early 1800s. Children's tour is 1.5
hours; adult tour to the peak is 3 hours.
**Meet at Bald Hill Trailhead on Oak Creek
Oak Woodland Habitats
and Their Management
Darin Stringer, Forest Ecologist, Integrated Resource Management
Learn about the ecology and latest restoration efforts to save Oregon white
oak habitats in the Willamette Valley.
Oak forests and associated habitats in the Pacific Northwest
rank among the most threatened forest types in North America. Oak habitats
were the dominant cover type throughout much of the interior valleys of western
Washington and Oregon prior to Anglo-settlement. Much of these forests have
been cleared for agriculture or housing or have succeeded to conifer-dominated
forest. At least 140 wildlife species use these habitats, including many "At-Risk" by
state and federal agencies and the Oregon Natural Heritage Foundation. For
example, continual loss of oak habitat function has resulted in the near
complete extirpation of the western grey squirrel in western Washington.
The historic abundance of oak habitats resulted from active forest management
by indigenous cultures primarily using fire to control conifer encroachment.
Active management is needed to restore and maintain biodiversity, and to
develop the wood quality needed to sustain a small, viable oak wood products
industry. Without financial incentives to maintain oak on their property,
(e.g. revenue from sale of oak logs and thinned conifers, purchased conservation
easements, land lease programs) many landowners pursue more economically
viable and less ecologically reasonable uses of their land.
This presentation will focus on how restoration plans are developed as well
as how to improve the structure and function of these forests. Techniques
include thinning, native seeding, noxious weed control and creation of snags.
Examples of projects under way in the Willamette Valley will be showcased.
Tour Bald Hill Restoration
9:00 am Marc Barnes, Senior Forester, Integrated Resource Management
Learn about the restoration efforts at Bald Hill Park through removal of
under-story trees and non-native plants.
**Meet at Bald Hill Trailhead on Oak Creek
_________________________________________
For more information about Mary's Peak Natural Resources
Interpretive Center or the Science,
Music, and Marshmallow series, contact Jeff Mitchell,
series coordinator,
541-738-2529.