Page A-8
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Winding Trails: by Al Hobart
This originally ran in the Thursday, November
14, 1963 edition of the Illinois Valley News,
Fall Color
The trees that are usually of most in-
terest to the layman are the deciduous broad-
leaf trees, the ones that lose their leaves in the
fall. These are the most colorful, because as the
sap flow diminishes in preparation for winter
the leaves of some species change color from
summer green to various shades of red, yellow
and green, turning the autumn woodland into a
natural art gallery.
Prettiest of all the autumn foliage is
that of vine maple, a small rogue of a tree that
has little to recommend it until time for the au-
tumn show. Then it comes forth resplendent in
its breath-taking array of bright colors, trium-
phantly outshining all its woodland neighbors.
A single leaf may be painted part blood-red and
part shining yellow, with a suggestion of green
still remaining. A large cluster of such trees is a
wonder to behold at this season.
The soft rose color of the Dogwood
leave is one of the most pleasing attractions in
our fall woods. This small tree, unlike the en-
tangling vine maple, is beautiful and stately all
the year round. Its large white flower bracts are
strikingly beautiful in a dark canyon or in the
shadow of the larger forest trees. In the open,
these bracts, which surround the central clus-
ter of small flowers, are smaller and sometimes
greenish-white.
These two trees, along with the poison
oak shrub, provide most of our autumn reds.
The bigleaf maple and black cottonwood give
us our most striking yellows, the large lobed
leaves of the maple a lighter shade than the
golden yellow of the cottonwood leaves.
Many of the trees and shrubs whose fo-
liage is unable to add to the bright hues of our
autumn scenery supply that lack by producing
fruit that is nearly as colorful and for different
reasons, still more interesting.
The broad flat-topped clusters of the
blueberry elder’s white-dusted blue fruit is not
only extremely attractive but edible as well,
making excellent jelly, jam or pie. They are
quite plentiful in the Valley and easily gathered
– if you can beat the birds to them. The red-
berry elder, with beautiful pointed clusters of
red berries, is found in our area, too, but only in
scattered stands in the mountains.
Many locations in the Valley are richly
painted with the red to orange fruit of our several
species of wild rose, called rosehips, the shrubs
sometimes literally loaded with the oval, attrac-
tive fruits. An interesting thing about the rose
hip is that it is not a true fruit, but a container
and shelter for the fruits, which are represented
by the “seeds” or achenes contained within the
pulp of what was the flower’s receptacle, which
expanded to enclose the fruit cluster in the pro-
cess or maturing. It’s a confusing arrangement
to the amateur botanist – like the “flower” of the
dogwood, and others, where a cluster of numer-
ous and inconspicuous but complete flowers
with their showy surrounding bracts, resemble
a single large blossom.
The madrone, an evergreen broadleaf
tree that is attractive all the year round, is es-
pecially so when its crown is covered with
berry-like fruit that resembles half-inch reddish
oranges. And the cylindrical clusters of dark-
red berries of the western chokecherry are par-
ticularly attractive.
The white, eye-catching berry-like fruit
of the snowberry, or waxberry, is rather a com-
mon sight about the Valley and adds an exotic
touch to the autumn color scheme. The fruit is
sometimes a half-inch or more in diameter. It
is really a drupe like the plum, containing two
nutlets instead of the single pit.
The shiny black berries of the cascara
and the coffeeberry bush are present too, but not
so evident as some of the others. Lesser wild
plants, too, add their important bit, with color-
ful leaves and fruit, to the overall natural paint-
ing.
When all of these species of wild veg-
etation are vying with each other in the fall
to make our Valley and its neighboring hills a
competitor of the rainbow, we almost forget
what a beautiful display we beheld when our
spring flowers were in bloom.
Leadership Development
Training scheduled
The Ford Institute for Community
Building was created several years ago
to promote vitality in rural communities.
This free program, sponsored by the Ford
Family Foundation, is based on the belief
that thriving communities develop from a
broad base of skilled and motivated lead-
ers, a diversity of effective organizations
and a collaborative network of local orga-
nizations.
There are now over 4,800 gradu-
ates representing business, government
and non-profit sectors in 86 communities
across rural Oregon and Siskiyou County,
California.
In 2009, the Ford Institute Leader-
ship Program began training the first local
group, or “cohort,” in the Illinois Valley.
The goal of the training is to develop in-
dividual leadership skills as well as col-
laboration techniques for community co-
hesiveness and success.
Attendees gain useful skills for both
professional and personal settings. Sev-
eral examples include how to run effec-
tive meetings, work well with different
personalities and become a more confi-
dent public speaker. Participants also have
the opportunity to network with a diverse
group of other civic-minded valley resi-
dents in order to make connections and
build future collaborative relationships.
The engaging leadership program is
designed to be offered three times over a
five year period. The Ford Foundation has
also sponsored other free organizational
training in the Illinois Valley over the past
four years. Applications are currently be-
ing accepted for the third and final Lead-
ership Development Training scheduled
to begin in January.
A class typically consists of around
25-35 individuals (from high-school stu-
dents to retired seniors) with leadership
experience ranging from emerging to
seasoned. Following the initial kick-off
session, a total of four sessions will take
place one weekend a month between Jan-
uary and April, 2014.
Rural Development Initiatives
(RDI), a nationally recognized Oregon
non-profit, delivers this community-fo-
cused leadership curriculum that has no
cost to participate, except individual com-
mitment and time.
Each session consists of a Friday
afternoon from 1 to 6 p.m. and Saturday
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free training in-
cludes two catered meals and snacks each
day. Attendance at all four sessions, sup-
porting mini-sessions and participation in
a group project are required for gradua-
tion, but exceptions are possible.
Workshop participants are encour-
aged to brainstorm potential projects and
learn to come to consensus on selecting
a project. The first cohort teamed with
several dozen individuals, businesses,
non-profits and civic groups to build the
playground at Jubilee Park.
Two years later, the second cohort is
now in the process of completing a bio-
swale; designed to filter water and parking
lot run-off at Evergreen Elementary. All
projects receive up to $5,000 in matching
funds from the Ford Family Foundation.
While learning how to make a dif-
ference and actively building a project in
the Illinois Valley, leadership trainees are
also building networks, and social capital
by working with fellow community mem-
bers, as well as becoming part of an ex-
panding, supportive network of rural lead-
ers across the state.
The deadline to apply is this Friday,
November 15, but late applications may be
considered. Program information, train-
ing dates, and an online application are all
available online at (bit.ly/FILPInfo). To
watch a short video on the program, visit
bit.ly/FILP2014.
For questions or more information,
contact Ginger Casto, RDI Southern Re-
gional Program Coordinator, by email at
gcasto@rdiinc.org or 541-944-8176.
If you noticed the Brown Family around town
lately you are not alone. In an odd move the
city council replaced its current employes with
Charlie (left) Lucy, Snoopy and Sally.
CHE AP!
CHE AP!
CHE AP!
Southern Oregon
Alternative Medicine
Will be returning for the monthly clinic
to their Cave Junction location at the
Jefferson state trading Post
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592-3667
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