Fun in Seaside

Hi,

Join the North Coast Land Conservancy for a local celebration of National Estuaries Day on Sept. 26 starting at 10:00 am at Neawanna Point in Seaside. Established in 1988 as part of Coast Weeks, National Estuaries Day is an occasion to raise awareness from coast-to-coast about the importance of our nation's estuaries, and the need to protect these amazing places.

What's so special about estuaries? They're the places where rivers and streams meet the ocean- places of great diversity, complexity and beauty. Here, freshwater mingles with saltwater, and change is the only constant. Tides fill and flush the estuary. Fish and other organisms rest and reproduce here. Innumerable plants and animals, including us, depend upon the health of estuaries for their very survival.

This year's programs include presentations by the City of Seaside's Neal Wallace and Author Bonnie Henderson, and field programs on Beavers, Natural History, Geology, Restoration, and critters for the Kids. We'll wrap it up with a barbecue in the park. For details and directions, visit the event web page.

This program is part of the North Coast Land Conservancy's summer program series. For details, see our web site.

Squirrel Lost Its Tail :(

Well I have bad news and good news. The good news first, the gray squirrel living in our dishwasher has finally been vacated. The bad news is that this squirrel is now sans tail!!! I hesitated to share this information as I felt awful but felt like it was my scientific duty to share this valuable info. After scouring the internet for anything I found only scanty data about this phenomena. Squirrelys can indeed detach their tails when threatened which is how this one must have felt after I grabbed it by its tail and carried it outside. Squirrely is a good word for these guys, it swirled around clearly unhappy I uprooted it from my house (we checked for nesting and it had not yet started one; there aren't any motherless babies to worry about). If it had been calm it would have been freed with its tail intact but alas no, it swirled so much so that the last segment of its tail detached! Amazingly enough, there was no spine in the tail, which, after reading more information, makes sense. It sacraficed its tail (although completely unecessarily given my love for anything small and cute) to 'save its life'.

The tail which was left behind had no ligiments, no blood, no goo, really just an empty shell. I have observed this same phenomena with lizards and their tails have much more meat, blood, cartilidge, etc. Although the squirrel is certainly going to be less attractive and much more embarrassed than it would have had it kept its tail, metabolically it appears to be less detrimental to the health of a squirrel than to the health of a lizard.

I hope that anyone experiencing this event in the future finds this information helpful. Although I still feel bad, I am pretty sure the squirrel is going to be fine. No broken bones and it won't bleed to death. Maybe its balance will be worse for wear, but it now has a great story to tell to its children and grandchildren, hopefully. Or I will incur the wrath of the squirrel kingdom and wake up to find a horde over me...

At least it is no longer pooping in my dishes.

Events, Events, and More Events!

Dear Friends,

We have several events sponsored by the Friends of the Coos Watershed at the end of this month. These events are focused on water quality both nationally and locally, are free, and are co-sponsored with the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Join us at the South Slough NERR Interpretive Center Auditorium in Charleston on National Estuaries Day, Saturday September 26. There will be two free screenings of the PBS Frontline documentary Poisoned Waters from 10 am – 12 noon or from 1 to 3 pm.

The join South Slough and CoosWA for a discussion of water quality in the Coos watershed. Discussion leaders will focus on drinking water and land use issues, and lessons from “smart growth.” This free public discussion will be held as part of Java Jones Coffee House’s Green Night program Wednesday September 30 from 7 to 9 pm.

Please contact us with any questions at 541-888-5922 or cooswa@cooswatershed.org

Sincerely,

CoosWA

Join Us at the Water Research Center Conference

Registration is now open for the regional conference “Water and Land Use in the Pacific Northwest: Integrating Communities and Watersheds.”

Visit the website at http://capps.wsu.edu/waterland for updates about the conference.

Under Program Information you will find details about the conference schedule, including pre-conference activities and an agenda that links to the abstracts for each session. The early registration fee of only $200 will be honored until 10/16/2009. Students may register for $100.

The Skamania Lodge is offering per diem rates of $120, and this rate will be honored until October 9. To make reservations, please call 800-221-7117, press 2 twice for group reservations, and ask for the Water/Land Conference rate.

Space is still available for poster presentations, and new posters will be accepted until September 30. Visit the Poster Session section on the website for information about submitting poster abstracts.

Don’t wait—start making your plans to attend today!

Diane Weber, Administrative Assistant

State of Washington Water Research Center

Washington State University

PO Box 643002

Pullman Washington 99164-3002

509-335-5532

weberd@wsu.edu

Grant Opportunity

Title: 2010 Academic Year EPA Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Fellowships for
Undergraduate Environmental Study

URL: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2010/2010_gro_undergrad.html

Open Date: 09/15/2009  -  Close Date: 12/10/2009

Summary: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Center for
Environmental Research (NCER), invites applications for the Greater Research
Opportunities (GRO) Fellowships for undergraduate environmentally related
study for bachelor’s level students. The deadline for receipt of applications
is December 10, 2009. Subject to availability of funding, the Agency plans to
award approximately 30 new fellowships by July 30, 2010. The fellowship
provides up to $19,250 per year of academic support and $8,000 for internship
support for a combined total of up to $46,500 over the life of the fellowship.
The GRO program enhances and supports quality environmental education for
undergraduates, and thereby encourages them to continue their education beyond
the baccalaureate level, and pursue careers in environmentally related fields.
The actual amount awarded per year will vary depending on the amount of
tuition and fees and the number of months the stipend is required. This
fellowship is intended to help defray costs associated with environmentally
oriented study leading to a bachelor’s degree.

Applicable Category(s): Grant/Fellowship Announcements
       
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Business Expo

Minority Enterprise Development Week Celebration

September 30

Oregon Convention Center

Cost: $85

For more information and registration:

Www.bdiweb.org

Columbia-Pacific Energy Expo 2009

“Energy… It’s Everyone’s Business”

Don’t be left behind in the new energy economy

Save the date NOW!

September 30, October 1-2, 2009

Seaside, Oregon

www.nwenergyexpo.com

Governor’s Marketplace Conference

October 8, 2009

All day event - No Charge

MUST pre-register to attend

For information and registration:

http://www.oregon.gov/Gov/MWESB/events.shtml

Linda K. Jones

Clearinghouse Program Coordinator

Governor's Advocate's Office

Minority, Women and Emerging Small Business

Phone: 503.378.3583

Fax: 503.378.3139

Governor's Marketplace Conference 2009

October 8

For more information ask Linda Jones or:

http://www.oregon.gov/Gov/MWESB/events.shtml

Nations Drinking Water Not Meeting Federal Water Quality Goals

Check out this detailed article in the NYTimes. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html?hp

Although I knew I was fortunate to have a pristine well I didn't know how unfortunate most Americans are in regards to water quality. Water quality is so bad is some states that people develop rashes after bathing! The clean water act has been violated over 500,000 times in the last 5 years but less than 3% of violations received fines. Further the actual number of violations is suspected to be higher as a result of the recording process. Nearly 20 million Americans contract a disease related to poor water quality every year.

From the article "three coal companies — Loadout, Remington Coal and Pine Ridge, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy, one of the largest coal companies in the world — reported to state officials that 93 percent of the waste they injected near this community had illegal concentrations of chemicals including arsenic, lead, chromium, beryllium or nickel."

Wow.

Beautiful Summer

Nothing quite says 'summer' more than swarms of bees, roofing in 80 F weather, and swimming in the Nehalem, except for maybe farmers markets. The last farmers market of the season in Manzanita is today, which is too bad as there is usually another two months of good food and good weather. C'est la vie. I don't think there is a better work-out than throwing shingles in the heat. The roof is coming along nicely, if I am not too lazy I might post some pictures, but right now the heat is unbearable. I don't know how the pros do it!!!

Turtle thought extinct found in supermarket!

A rare Arakan forest turtle was found in a Myanmar forest. This turtle was rediscovered after the endangered (once thought extinct) turtle was found in food markets! Go figure.

From the LA Times

"Layers of sediment provided a proxy for temperatures: thicker layers indicated higher temperatures as water from melting glaciers pushed mud into the lakes, while thinner layers indicated less melting.

All three data sources told the same story -- that the Arctic began to warm at the beginning of the Industrial Age in the mid-1800s, when humans began releasing large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere."

Find the entire article here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-arctic5-2009sep05,0,3388515.story