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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 2003)
Page 13 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR 97523, February 5, 2003 OSU says streams not so ‘dam’ good Tuesday, Jan. 28 *12:35 a.m. Medical as- sist: 1000 block Naue Way. *1:29 p.m. Illegal open burn: 1300 block Rockydale Road. *2:32 p.m. Medical assist: 400 block S. Junction Avenue. Wednesday, Jan. 29 *2:08 p.m. Medical standby: 681 Caves Hwy. Thursday, Jan. 30 *3:20 p.m. Public assist: 200 block Raymond Drive. *4:21 p.m. Motor vehicle accident: Old Stage Road/E. River Street. Friday, Jan. 31 *515 a.m. Flue fire: 200 block S. Old Stage Road. *10:59 a.m. Public assist: 200 block Idlewild. Saturday, Feb. 1 *1:05 a.m. Medical assist: 800 block Logan Cut Drive. *6:17 p.m. Medical assist: 2700 block Caves Hwy. Sunday, Feb 2 *7:25 a.m. Public assist: 400 block Crooks Creek. *8:42 p.m. Medical assist 1400 block Rockydale Road. PUBLIC NOTICE TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Josephine County Com- missioners will conduct informal meetings with public officials, county department heads and employees, and other citizens, every legal day, Monday through Friday, with the exception of Wednesday, between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M., in Room 154 of the Josephine County Courthouse. On Wednesdays, the office hours are from 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. A daily schedule of all prearranged meetings will be posted each morning beginning at 8:00 A.M. from the Executive Secretary of the Board of Com- missioners. The purpose of these meetings will be to gather infor- mation, discuss issues, and delib- erate toward decisions concern- ing matters of public policy and concern. All interested persons may attend said meetings except those designated as “Executive Sessions.” In addition, notice of advisory board and commission meetings are also posted in the Commissioners Office. DONE and DATED this 22nd day of Jan. 1997. JOSEPHINE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Jim Brock, Chair Harold Haugen, Vice Chair Frank Iverson, Commis- sioner Approved: Steven Rich Josephine County Legal Counsel PUBLISH ONCE A MONTH Elementary Schools Menu Sponsored by ‘Illinois Valley News’ 321 S. Redwood Hwy. 592-2541 THURSDAY, FEB. 6 Chicken noodle soup & pretzel, cheeseburger, pepperoni pizza, ham & cheese wrap, garden salad FRIDAY, FEB. 7 Nachos, hamburger, Hawaiian pizza, turkey & cheese roll, American Caesar salad MONDAY, FEB. 10 Rib-B-Q sandwich, ham- burger, cheeseburger, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chef salad TUESDAY, FEB. 11 Teriyaki dippers, cheeseburger, pepperoni pizza, ham & cheese roll, garden salad, fortune cookie WEDNESDAY, FEB 12 Hot diggity dog, hamburger, cheese pizza, chicken pita and Cobb salad Please Don’t Litter! A group of studies by an aquatic entomologist at Ore- gon State University (OSU) in Corvallis suggest that at least some of the problems facing streams in the American West may relate to their loss of ex- treme water flows, ranging from severe drought to flood. The same dams that have tamed the violent or extreme nature of these streams may also be disrupting aquatic eco- systems that depend on such events to favor native species, keep out invasive plants or animals, and maintain a natu- ral ecological balance that evolved over millennia, re- searchers say. Studies ranging from the unusual evolution of a giant waterbug in high mountain streams of Arizona to the mysterious disappearance of cottonwoods on river banks across much of the West all point to the same conclusion - - that streams and rivers in the West have evolved with regu- lar floods, droughts and every- thing in-between, and any dis- ruption of those patterns may pose a risk to native ecosys- tems. "Right now in the Ameri- can West there are more than 15,000 dams," said David Lytle, an OSU entomologist. "They remove the extreme flow events that used to exist, preventing both the major floods and the extremely low flows during summer months. But the increasing level of knowledge we're gaining about these extreme distur- bances suggest they are criti- cal to many native ecosys- tems.” The concept is not new, Lytle said. But its implications are significant. Just as forest scientists have discovered in recent decades the critical role of fire in maintaining healthy forest ecosystems in many areas, so too are stream ecologists now learning more about the nature and extent to which streams have been disrupted by efforts to tame their extreme events. Many other natural distur- bances -- windstorms, insect outbreaks, terrestrial droughts -- may also have similar ef- fects. But recent research con- ducted by Lytle and his col- leagues in this area, published in several professional jour- nals including “Ecology” and “American Naturalist,” is re- vealing what he calls the "footprint of evolution" in some stream systems, in which certain species are fully adapted to extreme events and may even depend upon them f o r s u r v i v a l . In one mountain stream system in Arizona that is peri- odically blasted by flash floods, caddisfly larvae are almost completely scoured out of the stream by the floods. About 96 percent disappear. But through generations of evolution, a significant amount of the insects meta- morphose into their flying adult phase during a period that's timed exactly with the most common flood season, keeping them out of the stream while the waters sweep b y . Research has been per- formed on cottonwood trees that once grew thickly along the banks of many western streams and rivers, providing shade, nutrients and woody debris that further aided the health of the ecosystem. These trees can experience some mortality due to floods. But it has also been learned that cot- tonwoods need bare, mostly scoured banks, the types of conditions common after a flood, to germinate their seeds and reproduce. And cotton- woods are now in serious de- cline in many areas. In the Colorado River, loss of flooding following construction of the Glen Can- yon Dam has caused a whole- sale shift in fish and fauna, allowing invasive species to displace native ones. The problem is bad enough that "simulated floods" have been attempted with rapid water releases -- so far with mixed ecological results. "We've seen the ecology of many western streams change dramatically," Lytle said. "Some fish species have declined or disappeared, pos- sibly relating to the change in flow regime or other factors. And the removal of these floods and droughts, which native species could handle but many others cannot, opens the door to a whole range of new, invading competitors." Lytle's research docu- mented another interesting example of adaptation to ex- treme conditions which ap- pears to go back 150 million years. There are species of giant waterbugs that thrive in some desert streams. During a major rainstorm of the type that can cause flash floods, Lytle and his colleagues once observed these water bugs in a mass exodus from the stream, literally marching up the can- yon wall for protection just before a flood burst through the area. They came back within a day. Later, in a controlled ex- periment that simulated heavy rain, the scientists were able to trigger the same behavior. The insects thought a flood was coming and headed for cover. "If you look carefully for adaptation to extreme events, you tend to find it," Lytle said. "This includes adaptation by plants, insects, fish, trees, all the components of a stream ecosystems.” SISKIYOU MARKET Septic Tank Pumping & Cleaning Family Owned & Operated *Free Phone Estimates *Residential & Commercial *Licensed *Bonded *Insured Serving Josephine County 7 days a week 592-6307 Shawn Elmer - owner/operator P.O. Box 2122, Cave Junction, OR. 97523
