Wednesday, February 25, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Talking climate change in Sisters
By Jim anderson
Correspondent
The Sisters Science Club
filled The Belfry to capacity
Tuesday evening, February
17, when Connie Millar,
USFS research ecologist PhD
from the Pacific Southwest
Research Station at Berkeley,
California, presented her
research on climate change.
Millar spent about an hour
sharing her work in the Sierra
Nevada mountains where
she studied a variety of trees
and their response to the
changes of weather phenom-
ena happening in that area, as
throughout the world. As she
demonstrated how the forests
of the Southwest are chang-
ing, she often addressed what
she referred to as the “War on
Science” that seems to be tak-
ing place in U.S. politics and
other parts of our society.
Over 50 Sisters Country
residents in the audience were
held spellbound as Millar
explained the various forest
changes she has witnessed
over the last 30 years.
She demonstrated how
weather is changing forest
and tree species distribu-
tion as they are affected by
changes in ocean circulation,
which in turn are caused by
El Niño/La Niña effects in the
Pacific.
Noting everything Millar
was sharing with the crowd
at The Belfry were four
eighth-grade students from
Sisters Middle School, and
their science teacher, Mike
Geisen. Each trimester,
Sisters Middle School stu-
dents in Geisen’s science
class are asked to participate
in science activities outside
of the scope of the classroom
and curriculum.
These can include science
talks, participating in the sci-
ence fair, watching selected
TED Talks, and diving into a
particular topic of interest by
reading about current events.
After the close of the pro-
gram, and after a lengthy ques-
tion-and-answer time with
several of the members of the
audience, Millar spent time
with the students to discuss
some of the points in her talk.
For several days after The
Belfry talk, the students and
their teachers kicked around
the ideas and findings Dr.
Millar shared with them and
came up with these thoughts:
True Duerden: “Dr. Millar
provided an insightful over-
view of topics I knew very
little of, so it was fascinat-
ing to see how global climate
change affects the movement
of various trees species, but I
didn’t know how complex it
actually is. For example, I
had no idea that species not
only move up the mountains,
but down as well. Also, dif-
ferent events such as extreme
windstorms and wildfires
can even lower a tree line. I
am very glad that I attended
the talk and learned so much
more than I knew before. I
hope to attend many more
talks in the future.”
Keaton Green came to
these conclusions: “I think
one of the most interesting
facts that I learned is that
we are not necessarily in an
unusually warm period, but
that we are in one of earth’s
warm cycles that happen
every hundreds of thousands
of years. The temperature
will most likely start cooling
down in a few thousand years.
“Another interesting fact
that I learned is that the Pika,
which is related to rabbits,
is not at all affected by the
warming period yet, because
they live down in the talus
slopes where the temperature
is about the same all day.”
Abi Manley had this take
on Dr. Millar’s presentation:
“Global warming is caus-
ing ecosystems at the base of
mountains to rise and grow
in subalpine areas more. The
main reason for plants and
animals not living up there
in the first place is the cold
temperature.
“With Earth’s temperature
rising, the plants and animals
are starting to move upwards.
Eventually, if the Earth gets
hot enough, the plants and
animals will keep moving
upward, run out of space,
and ‘go up into heaven’ (go
extinct).”
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5
Texas singer-songwriter
headed for Sisters
The Belfry
will present
singer-song-
writer Randy
McAllister
on Saturday,
February 28
at 8 p.m.
R a n d y
McAllister is
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Heartbreak,
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photo provided
play a part in
texas
songwriter
Randy
Mcallister
will
play
the Belfry
the songwrit-
on
Saturday.
ing of Randy
M c A l l i s t e r.
His music has been hailed as Delbert McClinton, with a
some of the most original and blues-man’s background and
innovative being made today. sensibilities thrown into the
While comparisons are mix.
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Doors open at 7 p.m.
his music is a cross between Tickets are on sale at www.
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with Dr. Lew Sterrett
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9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | Free admission & lunch
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