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Nature Center e-newsletter #1

January 19, 2006

Dear Members and Friends of the Lost Valley Nature Center,

The Nature Center has come a long way in just over three months. In early October, with the blessings of the Lost Valley community, I first sent out a letter to friends, family members, and neighbors outlining my vision for the Nature Center and asking for support. That was followed by the production of a brochure, a mailing to Talking Leaves subscribers, and other outreach efforts. By the time I left Oregon on December 25, for two-and-a-half weeks visiting family back East, enough contributions had arrived to cover a quarter-time Nature Center Coordinator salary for 2006. By the time I returned on January 10, an equal additional amount had arrived, assuring that we'll also be able to purchase some needed equipment and supplies. As of January 19, we had raised $8325. This is a very encouraging start to this project--thank you all! We are continuing to seek additional Nature Center members and contributions to allow us to progress toward our larger vision, which involves developing further Nature Center educational facilities and ultimately placing the land into a conservation land trust to protect its ecological integrity in perpetuity.

The contributions received to date have allowed us to place an order for an engraving machine, which should be arriving next week. This will allow us to create permanent plant identification and other signs along our trails. We expect to be creating these signs, as time allows, on an ongoing basis for use on selected parts of our property (other sections will be left more "unsigned" and "wild"). The signs will be erected (once we figure out the best methods of doing that) in conjunction with plans for creating more detailed interpretive written material, such as trail guidebooks.

We already have a head start on the re-development/recovery of an old trail along the lower section of Anthony Creek on our property. The trail leads from North of the meadow garden (and East of a cluster of oak and ash) down to the creek near our waterfall (which, though usually modest, is currently raging as it spills off the upper bank). Land intern Beth worked with land steward Rick to improve this trail, which gave Walama Restoration easy access to a large section of creekside which they cleared of nonnative blackberry in December. This work was part of a grant secured for us from OWEB (Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board) by our naturalist neighbor Dave Bontrager, and replanting with native shrubs has already started.

By this past Tuesday, heavy rains had raised water levels back up to where they were during the previous heavy flooding (which I missed) at the end of December. Anthony Creek turned into a churning river, overflowing its banks into side channels in the restoration area, and redistributing large woody debris in dramatic fashion. Many of the paths around the meadow and in the forest became miniature creeks themselves. Water levels have now subsided somewhat, but the roaring of Anthony Creek (which I can hear as I type this) is still many decibels above normal, and we will be discovering this flooding's effects (in redistributed wood, soil, and rock) for weeks and months to come.

Winters in central Western Oregon are never too severe. Signs of spring are already around us: swelling buds, catkins, and (when conditions are right) the mating calls of tree frogs, who have actually been singing off and on since late November. In the few intervals of non-rain this week, I've heard the whinnying of robins (who seem to have been silent for months) as well as encountering the familiar kinglets, towhees, juncos, sparrows, jays, and others. Future e-newsletters will focus more on observations on the land here. I'll also be sharing insights and observations gleaned from classes and nature walks/talks I'll be attending with Dave Bontrager, at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum, and elsewhere--and undoubtedly be straying into some of the same territory I and others have been exploring for years in Talking Leaves magazine: how do "self, society, and nature" fit together? What is ecological identity? Why is the frog call I am hearing as I type this so beautiful to me?

Again, thank you for your support of the Lost Valley Nature Center.

Chris
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