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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2012)
6 community january24 2012 UNWC Hosts Coho Salmon Presentation By Bill Langmaid In just a few days the Vernonia community will be lucky enough to hear Steve Trask of Bio-Survey LLC present his analysis of the various factors which limit coho population growth in the Rock Creek basin. The presentation, hosted by the Upper Nehalem Watershed Council (UNWC) is open to the public, and will start at 7:00 PM on Thursday, January 26th at the Vernonia Grange. Contact Steve Sorbetts at (503) 429-0869 for any assistance. We’ve heard the dire warnings that forecast the demise of Coho Salmon in our local streams and rivers, and have seen it listed under the Endangered Species Act, but until recently there has been no work to quantify the ability of the Rock Creek basin to support the coho. The “Limiting Factor Assessment” (LFA) process was developed by Trask to more accurately assess the ability of a given river to support the entire life cycle of coho salmon. In doing this, it initially identifies a core area which is “a contiguous section of stream channel or channel system where juveniles rear on a consistent (year to year) basis.” Within the core area are isolated Anchor Sites “which provides all essential habitat features necessary to support the complete Coho freshwater life history. ” The premise of the LFA is that habitat preservation, enhancement, and restoration should happen in the core area in an attempt to increase the frequency of anchor sites. Providing more sites capable of providing for all stages of the coho life cycle also has reciprocal benefits to other species, like cutthroat trout and steelhead. The Analysis shows that in the Rock Creek basin there is a core area of 51 stream miles, encompassing most of the main creek, plus 23 miles of tributary habitat. Within that zone there are 24 anchor sites, only 9 of which are on the mainstem. Most of the anchor sites are in the upper reaches of Rock Creek, within industrial forestland. Only 4 are located in the lower reaches accessible from Keasey Road. Briefly, the limiting factor most evident was the absence of properly sized spawning gravel. Since this material is retained by presence of large logs within the stream bed, and the basin was mostly logged by 1960, it’s hardly surprising that the quantity and quality of large wood within the survey area was found to be extremely deficient. Beaver dams, a secondary mechanism for trapping gravel resources, are also mostly absent. Based on other research conducted in 2005, coho smolt production is limited by high summer temperatures within the lower reaches of What it Takes to Build A School out the design process to save as much as possible on the design and to avoid cost- ly changes later in the construction pro- cess. The challenge that we faced with this process was that in some cases our initial budget estimate was low, particu- larly when the District chose to maintain the quality and long-term sustainability options that we know will pay for them- selves over time. We worked closely with P&C Construction and BOORA Architects to come up with the most cost effective building that met our needs. We began with the intent to seek LEED Platinum rating, which will help us draw the atten- tion of some funders to our project and we are currently still on track to achieve this certification. When we brought P&C on board, the building drawings were only 50% complete. As the drawings were finished and decisions were made concerning the different programs and options in the building the final price for the building construction settled in at $26 million, which was higher than expected. In light of this information, in June 2011 we adjusted our overall proj- the stream. Inadequate spawning areas, coupled with channel simplification and high summer water temperatures, have resulted in a decline in juvenile coho abundance of 43% from 2009 to 2010, despite an increase in adult spawners of 36% between 2008 and 2009. While this is certainly an interesting statistic, seasonal variations in rain and temperature regimes likely play a strong role in fry survival. It does show, though, that there are limitations, and that the population of coho spawners is not finding the habitat they need to fulfill their life cycle. The UNWC has received a priority list of habitat improvements, which it will use when collaborating with area land managers on restoring the salmon habitat. Please join the UNWC in welcoming Steve Trask to Vernonia on January 26 and learn more about our local watershed and coho salmon preservation. continued from page 3 ect budget from $38.3 million to $39.3 million. However, because of some addi- tional unforeseen costs and the finalizing of the building construction details, the current building construction costs are just under $27 million. This, in conjunc- tion with other issues that we have faced has pushed our total budget to $40 mil- lion. Throughout construction to date we have strived to keep costs down while not reducing the quality of construction. We are striving to maintain the programs that we need for a well-balanced educa- tion for our students, while not giving up any of the long-term sustainability de- sign aspects of the new school. Well that’s enough for one arti- cle. I will talk more about the budget and some of the decisions that brought us to where we are when I next get a chance to share another article with you. Please feel free to email me with individual questions (ken.cox@vernonia.k12.or.us) or check the weekly update postings at vernoniaschools.org. 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