Listening for the first red-wings, Looking for the first buttercups

It's early February already, although you wouldn't know it from the lack of snow.

Up on Cricket Flats, it's time to start listening for the return of the first red-wing blackbirds on the ponds. This week-end I'll start checking the rocky southwest-facing corner where the first buttercups appear. Soon the spring calendar of flowers and migratory birds will unroll. It's my favorite time of year, welcoming back these old friends who come to visit the breaks.

In town, I'll be more prosaically watching for the first dandelion to bloom in the orchard. In the years to come I will be doing my best to encourage wilder flowers to bloom.

In both places I watch finches return to the bird feeders and listen to the bright songs of chickadees. In both places, I worry about the lack of snow and wonder how best to foster and encourage native plants and wildlife. In both places, I look to science to help me understand more about how everything is connected, how changes ripple through the ecosystem.

I've been reading about some of the research that's being done on the impacts of climate disruption - several studies now show that elk and deer are browsing at higher elevations with the reduction in snow pack, especially browsing down vegetation long streams and creeks. In the spring, this means there is less cover along the streams for migrating songbirds, to hide, feed and nest, so songbird numbers are plummeting in these areas. Oh for a wolf pack to keep the elk and deer moving! More and more studies by a range of researchers show the long term beneficial effects of the presence of top carnivores, especially wolves and cougar, on keeping the herbivores from grazing down the streamside plants. Songbirds need wolves...

Writers such as Henry David Thoreau and John Muir have spoken eloquently of how everything in nature is truly connected to everything else - a web of relationships. Break a strand, and the web is more vulnerable, shredding and unraveling along that break. Poets tell us of the heart of that, but scientific research can tell us how the strands are connected, and which strands we are missing. We are just beginning to understand how complex and interconnected nature is, and how inextricably our welfare is wrapped up in the integrity of this web. Whether it is understanding more about how mycorrhizal soil life affects fruit tree production or how climate disruption and lack of top predators affects songbird populations, the information we gather can help direct our choices for the integrity of the web, and, consequently, our own well-being.

Part of what I respect so much about the work HCPC does is that it is directed by what science can now tell us. Whether it is protecting key fishbearing streams from damage or protecting key elk calving grounds from disruption; speaking out for the return of native species including wolves and wolverines, bighorn and bull trout; challenging the lack of analysis in categorical exclusions and travel planning; HCPC works with the best scientific research available.

HCPC's mission is simple at it's heart - protect, preserve, and restore - but the issues we tackle are complex. HCPC brings scientific knowledge and understanding to these issues, promoting more informed choices.

So here's to the turning of the year, the very beginning of spring, and another year protecting, preserving and restoring this place I call home.

- Danae Yurgel

Joseph Canyon Potential Wilderness Area

The Joseph Canyon Potential Wilderness Area, located in north Wallowa County on the Wallowa Whitman National Forest, includes approximately 40,221 acres of steep, remote canyon country. The "Potential Wilderness Area" boundary includes the Forest Service's official "Inventoried Roadless Area" boundary, plus the additional roadless lands that are contiguous with this boundary. While somewhat technical, the important point is that the Potential Wilderness Area best represents the total extent of the contiguous unroaded lands centered around Joseph Canyon that retain Wilderness quality. Joseph Canyon exemplifies the rugged topography of northeast Oregon's incredible canyon county, characterized by very steep canyons and grass-covered slopes interspersed with numerous exposed basalt layers.

Photo looking north into Swamp Creek toward its confluence with Joseph Creek. Note the fire scar from a 2010 grass fire. Large core habitat areas such as Joseph Canyon are the best remaining natural laboratories to observe the role of natural disturbance processes on unmanaged landscapes. Recent research indicates that large disturbances are a critical factor for ecosystems to adjust to changing climatic conditions.

The map below shows the Joseph Canyon Potential Wilderness Area mapped in orange. The area is fairly well-known, largely because of the Joseph Canyon Viewpoint, a highway pullout 30 miles north of Enterprise that overlooks the 2,000-foot depths of Joseph Canyon and is one of 38 sites that form the Nez Perce National Historical Park (http://www.nps.gov/nepe/index.htm). Joseph Creek drainage was an important travel route for the Nez Perce as they made their seasonal treks between their winter villages along the Grande Ronde and Snake Rivers and summer encampments throughout the Wallowa Valley. The name, "Joseph Canyon" is thought to be derived from the fact that the younger Chief Joseph was born in a cave in the Washington side of Joseph Canyon in Asotin County.

The Joseph Canyon Potential Wilderness Area is comprised of three main drainages: Swamp, Davis and Joseph Creeks. Joseph and Swamp Creeks are designated Wild and Scenic Rivers within the roadless area and the Joseph Canyon Creek system is home to a large population of native Snake River steelhead, listed as threatened under ESA in August 1998. Not shown on the map above is a large piece of BLM land that contains an additional 2 miles of Joseph Creek. This stretch of Joseph Creek on BLM land has been proposed for addition to the existing Wild and Scenic River Designation.

Joseph Canyon is renowned for wildlife and harbors old growth Ponderosa Pine woodlands. It includes the historic Chico Trail and has significant historical value that embraces all of the major peoples that have shaped the region; the Nez Perce Indians; pioneers and settlers, the Forest Service, and backcountry hunters and hikers. The trails have been used since time immemorial.
A recent group of hikers on the Chico Trail observing an old derelict phone line that extended between historic Forest Service Guard Stations, one at Sled Springs, and the other in Swamp Creek. Familes that lived in these remote guard stations hiked the same trails that the Nez Perce hiked to come and go into this remarkable country.

The Joseph Canyon Roadless Area adjoins the Nez Perce Precious Lands Wildlife Area to the north (see figure above and http://www.nezperce.org/Wolf/Exec_Summary.pdf). The Precious Lands are 15,000 acres of contiguous “roadless” lands including portions of Joseph Canyon and also adjoin to BLM and State lands to the north. Their protection significantly heightens the conservation value of the Joseph Canyon Roadless Area.

Efforts to gain the interest of U.S. Congressmen were successful in 1983 when the area was included as a part of HB 1149, a wilderness bill sponsored by Congressmen Weaver, Wyden, and AuCoin. It was not, however, included in the Senate version of the 1984 Oregon wilderness bill sponsored by Senator Hatfield.

Natural, ecological and scenic value: Joseph Canyon is a key travel corridor for many wildlife species between the remote Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness. This area provides escapement for elk, deer and bear during hunting seasons. Over half of this roadless area is within elk winter range and the northern part within Joseph Creek is used by a herd of bighorn sheep. The many rock cliffs provide nesting for avian species such as peregrine falcon, roosting sites for bats, and unique habitats for other wildlife species (e.g. cougars). Condor historically used Joseph Canyon and one of the historical Nez Perce names for the area was “Condor Canyon.” In addition to the breathtaking views from Joseph Canyon Viewpoint, numerous ridges offer both stunning views of the deep canyons and expansive vistas.

Solitude and recreation: Backcountry hunting, horse-back riding, hiking, scenic viewing and camping have long been popular in Joseph Canyon. The rugged country provides challenging opportunities in deep, remote canyons, separated by secluded ridge tops.

After climbing Starvation Ridge, hikers relax and enjoy the view into Swamp Creek.

Threats: Motorized recreation is the greatest threat to Joseph Canyon. It is imperative that the entire Potential Wilderness Area be safeguarded from motorized recreation. However, some alternatives have proposed designating the historic Chico Trail as a motorized route under the Wallowa-Whitman Travel Management Plan.

Solutions: Joseph Canyon is one of the most special landscapes on the entire Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and should be given Wilderness protection. The ongoing Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revisions requires evaluation of the Wilderness quality of all Potential Wilderness Areas and the opportunity for the Forest Service to recommend that Joseph Canyon be protected through Wilderness designation.

For more information about this awesome landscape please contact David Mildrexler at david@hellscanyon.org. Hells Canyon Preservation Council.

Boardman Coal Plant is Oregon's Largest Greenhouse Gas Emitter

By Brian Kelly, Restoration Coordinator
Photo courtesy of Columbia Riverkeeper

I’ve been following the news about the Boardman coal plant ever since I found out that it pollutes the air over Hells Canyon. And the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the Strawberry Mountains as well, not to mention Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. The coal plant is Oregon’s largest stationary source of sulfur dioxide (acid rain) and nitrogen oxides (haze). It is the state’s second largest source of mercury pollution.

So it was not too surprising when the US Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that the Boardman coal-fired electric plant is also Oregon’s largest stationary source of greenhouse gasses.

In 2010, the plant released nearly 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the EPA. That’s about equal to the carbon emissions from 800,000 passenger vehicles during a year.

The good news is that the plant will stop burning coal by the end of the decade. Hells Canyon Preservation Council was a member of the coalition that brought about this important victory. Last summer, HCPC and our allies settled a lawsuit whereby the plant will stop burning coal by 2020, reduce pollution in the interim period, and fund environmental projects including restoration work in the Eagle Caps and Hells Canyon.

There are many other sources of carbon emissions. There is much work yet to be done to protect our planet from ourselves. But for today, I am grateful to read a new report about pollution and to know that we have begun to take care of a local part of the problem.

Reflections on No Snow

It doesn't quite seem like January, with the lower hills all free of snow. Temperatures have been warm for this time of year, and I worry about summer drought. Promised snow showers have turned into brief rains. I'm not complaining about the sunshine - I love every minute of it in the dark of winter. The deer and elk have an easier time grazing, but I worry about ticks and other parasites being more of a problem for them this summer if we don't have our usual weeks of freezing cold.
Climate change may seem theoretical, but climate disruption is already taking a toll on wildlife here and around the world. In such a time of change, the concept of wildlife corridors and links becomes very vivid and real. Over and over scientists are warning of the importance of connected habitat for wildlife to be able to survive and thrive.

Looking at the Big Picture in 2012, HCPC will be bringing up the topic of connectivity in the national Forest Travel Management Plans and the Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision. Paying attention to the smaller details in 2012, HCPC will be bringing wildlife habitat and connectivity issues to bear on timber sales, energy development, and other projects.

It's gonna be a busy year. Or rather, another busy year (for a quick list of some of HCPC's accomplishments in 2011, click here).

With a new Executive Director (read about Darilyn here), the generous response from our members to our fall/winter drive, and the continued support of funders, HCPC is poised now to make a real impact in 2012 on the protection and restoration of these wild lands in this unique and special place that I am so lucky to call home.

- Danae Yurgel

Thoughts on Winter Solstice

American Bison in Yellowstone National Park
Story and photo by Brian Kelly, Restoration Coordinator

Thousands of years ago, Celtic people built Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. Incredibly, they were able to orient these structures of massive stones to capture the rays of the rising sun on the Winter Solstice morning. Observance of the Winter Solstice must have captured the imagination of these people and held great importance to them.

Here in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21, 2011 at about 9:30 PM. During the Solstice, the northern part of the earth tilts farther away from the sun than at any other time of the year. So the days grow longer and the nights grow shorter as we head into spring and summer.

Thinking about the earth as a planet that tilts, rotates and revolves around the sun is a reminder that we are all travelling on one planet together. From that perspective, it's apparent we should all be working together to take care of our planet. Protecting and restoring this earth is like taking care of your home and your family and friends. It makes good sense and you feel good by doing it.

During the Winter Solstice, I like to reflect on the seasons that have past and look forward to the seasons yet to come. The natural cycles in the Blue Mountain region are spectacular in their diversity as the seasons unfold. Skiing the powder snow of the Elkhorn Range in winter, gazing at the velvet-green slopes of Hells Canyon in the spring, sitting in the cool shade of a ponderosa pine in the summer heat, and hiking in the red and gold leaves of autumn are all vivid in my memory. We take these seasonal changes for granted. But when you stop to think about it, the intricate web of life that is expressed in each of these seasons is truly incredible.

The Winter Solstice marks an important point during the cycle of seasons. As we travel through the seasons and as we travel through space on our planet, it’s wise for us to keep in touch with the natural rhythms of life on earth. And it’s a graceful life that moves to the rhythm of nature.

I wish you the best of all of the seasons to come.

HCPC attends AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco

Over 21,000 scientists from all over the world gathered at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco Dec. 4 – 9th. I was fortunate to be able to attend and present my work on satellite based detection of large-scale ecological disturbances and studies of global skin temperature, or land surface temperature. Attendees of the 2011 Fall AGU meeting traverse between three buildings making up the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. Coming from La Grande Oregon, where the sidewalks are generally close to empty, it was exhilarating moving with a massive wave of people into the city for dinner at the end of the day.

I listened to presentations on global bioenergy capacity, treeline migration, global die-offs of trees, improving communication on climate change, the impact of drought and floods on the Amazon, challenges for feeding the world, and much more. I also got away from all the technical talk and listed to Simon Winchester tell stories about his own life, and heard presentations about the life’s work of prominent historic scientists, such as John Tyndall. John Tyndall was the first person to demonstrate that greenhouse gases absorb radiant heat in the laboratory in 1850, and then even recognized the implications of this discovery for effecting global climate. It makes one reflect on why we have come so far down this global warming path when we have had this fundamental information for so long.

While on the topic of troubling Earth system indicators, I listened to a prominent scientist describe his work with many others quantifying our exceeding of three of nine planetary systems considered in the study; Biodiversity, the Nitrogen Cycle, and Climate Change. We are now well outside the range of anything humans have ever experienced for these factors and rapidly changing most of the other factors, such as ocean chemistry.


On the lighter side, I dug an unwanted plant from an area of Golden Gate Park that is being managed to feel like an ancient forest. It was fun to get outside and do some physical work. It's worth noting that almost the entire park is exotic species because it was originally established on the beach sand dune environment. There were some native oak trees however, which can still be found growing there today.
Helping restore an ancient forest feel in the tree fern forest of Golden Gate Park during one of the AGU Fall Meeting events. I couldn't beleive how easy it was too dig in the soil compared to the rocky soil at my Eagle Cap cabin!

As I sat listening to the big changes that are already underway on Earth due to climate change and the unbelievably large-scale shifts in biomes that are expected because of impending climate change, I couldn’t help think of our conservation work. I for one, am very attached to the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, and even to little things such as the smell of a Douglas-fir plant community type in mid-summer, or the way light penetrates through the canopy at different times of the day. It is not easy to picture such big changes in our local Wilderness area. But I think it’s important that we get ahead of the curve and highlight the value of our current reserve system such as Wilderness areas, Roadless Areas, National Parks, National Recreation Areas, etc., as the best places we have to accommodate large shifts in the biotic community, mainly facilitated through natural disturbance processes. These are the only landscapes where these big changes can occur in a relatively natural way and I think there is real value in that from a conservation perspective. And through it all, large protected areas will still be areas where future generations can get into big open country, where solitude can be found, and a natural world can be observed, be it including novel ecosystems for which we have no historical counterpart. The entire National Forest System and Public Lands base is pretty well connected in many parts of the western U.S. and will serve as a corridor to the extent that our management allows for. I think this should be a key objective of the entire Public Lands base, as protecting connectivity of the landscape is the single most important thing we can do to aid plants and animals in adapting to climate change.

Other interesting factoids on our food production system:
1. Our food production system is responsible for 35% of total carbon dioxide pollution! In fact the rapid increases in global land use change (agricultural expansion), population growth and the increase in fossil fuel consumption are all very tightly coupled.
2. 40% of the Earth’s population is switching to a meat centered diet, creating a huge shift toward greater demand on global resources as the caloric benefit received from the meat is far less than the calories used to grow the meat. Particularly problematic is beef due to its water consumption and the massive amount of land allocated to grow corn for cows that isn't even edible.
3. Soybeans and cattle production continue to result in a one-two punch of destruction to the Amazon rainforest.

post by David Mildrexler, Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator

Settlement Agreement is a Victory for Threatened Fish and the Walla Walla Roadless Area

Press Release, December 5, 2011

Contact: Jennifer Schwartz, Staff Attorney, 541-963-3950x23 or jennifer@hellscanyon.org

Hells Canyon Preservation Council and the U.S. Forest Service reached an agreement, approved in federal court today, that commits the government to determining whether motorized vehicle use along the upper reaches of the Walla Walla River is impairing the recovery of steelhead and bull trout populations, both of which are listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

For decades the Forest Service has allowed off-highway vehicles "OHVs" (motorcycles and in some areas all-terrain vehicles like quads) to use trails adjacent to the North and South Forks of the Walla Walla River. "The Forest Service has expanded the motorized trail network, which now spans over 100 miles, in some of the best, un-roaded fish and wildlife habitat in the region without carefully examining the environmental consequences, including the unauthorized use happening off of established trails" said Jennifer Schwartz, Staff Attorney for the Council. "The Walla Walla River watershed is an ecological stronghold, encompassing crucial winter range for big game, old-growth forest stands, and deeply incised canyons that provide critical aquatic habitat for bull trout and Mid-Columbia River steelhead." Under the agreement, the Forest Service will thoroughly assess the impacts of motorized use in the area and refrain from constructing any additional motorized trails until it complies with the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

The Walla Walla River Roadless Area is surrounded by other large tracts of roadless habitat and the congressionally designated Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness—offering rare opportunities for wide-ranging animals like elk, black bear, cougar, lynx, wolves, and wolverine to travel within a well-connected natural landscape.

The government has recognized since 1972 that OHV use on public lands is “in frequent conflict with wise land and resource management practices, environmental values, and other types of recreational activity.” Executive Order 11644. Today's high-powered motorized vehicles can penetrate deeper into backcountry areas that were previously inaccessible due to technological limitations. OHVs can negatively affect natural resources, from disturbing and displacing wildlife, to trampling native plants, to destroying wet meadows and spreading noxious weeds. This lawsuit focused on OHV impacts to water quality and aquatic habitat through soil rutting, erosion and compaction, the removal of streamside vegetation, and the loss of streambank stability, all of which can lead to increased surface runoff, sedimentation, elevated water temperatures, and the introduction of oil, grease, and other pollutants into public waterbodies.

"Today's agreement marks a critical step toward ensuring the health of our waters, native fish populations, and the biological integrity and quiet enjoyment of our remaining roadless, wild lands," said Schwartz.

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Hells Canyon Preservation Council is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the Hells Canyon-Wallowa and Blue Mountain ecosystems.

Top photo courtesy of David Mildrexler: depicting damage to wet meadow from unauthorized OHV use emanating from the Walla Walla River motorized trail network.

Bottom photo courtesy of Jennifer Schwartz: depicting unauthorized use by full-size ATVs (quads) alongside South Fork Walla Walla River and within river's floodplain.