Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Page 9
One sure sign of spring, which some people anticipate, is the
arrival of turkey vultures to Illinois Valley. Though not quite as
romantic, or as regular as the swallows returning from Capistrano,
they are still a natural indicator of the season. They winter in
Mexico and Southern California and migrate up the central valley
of California, over the Siskiyou Summit, and into the Rogue Val-
ley in great numbers. They then disperse into the smaller valleys
while some continue north as for as Southern Canada. The com-
mon name, turkey vulture, is derived from its naked head being
similar to the ground-dwelling turkey. The scientific name,
“Cathartes aura,” is obtained from “cathar,” Greek for “clean,”
and “aur,” Latin for “ear.” This could refer either to its carrion
eating habits or the lack of feathers on its head. Only mature vul-
tures have a red head, the immature males and females have a
black head and neck.
Another interesting tidbit is that studies of their excreted ma-
terial in Central California show approximately 25 percent of
their diet is plant material. Vultures also eat small mammals such
as moles and gophers and even insects. The vultures’ fecal mate-
rial is thought by some scientists to be antiseptic. They can con-
sume rotting meat without harmful effects because the bacteria
has been destroyed by their digestive system. This same white
guano is not forced away from the body but dribbles down their
legs and is thought to be a unique way of lowering the body tem-
perature since they do not sweat.
Most birds have a syrinx, a structure in their throat which vi-
brates to produce sound. But the Turkey Vulture is lacking this
structure. Therefore its only sound is a hissing noise when dis-
turbed.
Vultures are easily recognized while they are soaring high
above the valley floor searching for food. Their wings are ex-
tended with a slight V-shape as opposed to hawks and eagles
which soar with a flat wing profile. They can soar for hours on
rising warm air columns, called thermals, without flapping their
wings. Their sense of smell is very acute in detecting dead ani-
mals. Natural gas maintenance workers often detect leaks in the
pipes by watching where the vultures are circling.
Vultures have another unique ability, similar to kangaroo rats,
to survive long periods of time without water. They can extract
water from the food they eat and recycle water internally.
Turkey vultures were first recorded by scientists in 1839 in
the Oregon area. This was by John Kirk Townsend who had come
to Oregon with Thomas Nuttall in 1834. He often worked winters
as a post surgeon for the Hudson Bay Company at Ft. Vancouver.
One might suppose the Lewis and Clark Expedition would have
reported them in 1805 - 1806. But they were only in Oregon from
October to April when the vultures are farther south. They do re-
port killing a California condor near the mouth of the Columbia
River, showing their range was much greater than now. Today the
condors are found only in small areas of Southern California.
Lewis and Clark make no mention of turkey vultures being
seen anywhere during the trip. Either the range has greatly in-
creased since then, or, more likely, they were so common and
well known in the East that they didn’t bother to record them.
A final tidbit, on May 14, 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedi-
tion left St. Louis, Missouri to begin their trip. The year of 1803
was spent preparing the crew and collecting supplies as well as
moving everything from Washington D.C. to St. Louis.
OLCC scans
documents
to upgrade
The Oregon Liquor Con-
trol Commission (OLCC)
soon will begin electronically
scanning more than two mil-
lion paper documents into its
computer database in a move
to upgrade agency record-
keeping and speed up liquor
licensing.
The agency's Document
Management System (DMS)
project is under way, and the
computer hardware should be
in place by the end of June.
"With this system we'll be
able to quickly access records,
and that will be a big time-
saving benefit to our staff,
customers and the public,"
said Linda Ignowski, OLCC's
regulatory director.
The system will allow
staff members to e-mail, fax,
or print directly from their
computers.
And, in the future, com-
pliance histories will also be
included on the license inquiry
system. Ignowski said that
documents up to 25 years old
will be scanned into the new
system.
CAMP CLEANING - The
eighth annual SOLV ‘Down
By The Riverside: Enhance-
ment and Appreciation Day’
was held on Saturday, May
17. Volunteers worked to-
gether to clean more than
300 parks and public facili-
ties throughout the state.
Four state parks located in
Illinois Valley were included
in the project. The event
was presented by the Ore-
gon
Lottery and
co-
sponsored by many busi-
nesses statewide. (Photo
above) CRT board member,
Tom Dunn and (photo left)
Joel Moore both contributed
to the beautification project
at Grayback Campground.
(Photos by Steve Fairchild)
OSU-led group aiming to
support family forestland
A new cooperative called
the Family Forest Products
Education and Marketing Pro-
ject has been established to
help support Oregon’s family
forestlands and forest products
businesses.
The group was formed by
Oregon State University
(OSU), the Northwest Wood
Products Association (NWPA)
and the Oregon Small Wood-
lands Association (OSWA).
The group hopes to use
education and outreach efforts
to help owners stay committed
to forest stewardship, enhance
the productive potential and
profitability of forest lands,
generate more fiber from un-
der used wood species, ex-
pand markets, create jobs and
build a new infrastructure to
accomplish these goals.
“Some woodland owners
often do not consider the
range of opportunities avail-
able through active manage-
ment,” said Scott Reed, of the
Extension Forestry Program in
the OSU College of Forestry.
“We hope that one or
more pilot tests of this concept
will demonstrate how owners
can work together in ways that
will improve their return on
investments in forestland
ownership, and also serve the
manufacturing sector and cre-
ate new jobs,” he said.
Mike Gaudern, executive
director of the OSWA, said
that according to a recent poll,
Oregonians want to see a bal-
ance between social, eco-
nomic and environmental as-
pects of forest land in Oregon.
All three are needed across the
landscape, he said.
In the new cooperative,
OSU will focus on educational
programs in such areas as har-
vesting, quality control, wild-
life habitat, recreation and
aesthetics, timber and non-
timber forest products, and
transportation of products to
markets.
The OSWA will try to
identify area needs of family
landowners, including collec-
tion and management of data
from more than 2,500 of its
members. And the NWPA
will handle overall administra-
tion of the project, including
assistance with processing,
finished goods inventory, mar-
keting and financing.
The cooperative also plans
to work with small woodland
owners to more effectively
ensure a steady supply of for-
est products that will be able
to sustain mills and wood
products manufacturers in
economically viable opera-
tions.
The word ‘taxi’ is spelled the same in English,
German, French, Swedish and Portuguese.
Closed
Tuesday & Wednesday
1691 Rogue River Hwy.
Grants Pass, Oregon 97527
(541) 471-0830
Providing quality hair care for all ages.
‘Tony the barber’ who listens to you
and cuts your hair the way you want it.
You will look better, feel better and
do better with Tony’s neat cuts.
HOURS:
Monday through Friday - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday - 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Remember: 1691 Rogue River Hwy.
‘Where the nicest people meet.’
Page 9
Wednesday, May 28 - 5 to 7 p.m.
Hosted by Ted Crocker, LTC
103-B Lister St.
(behind Century 21 - Harris & Taylor)
Meet & Mingle
Free Refreshments
Open to all chamber members
and their guests