2015 OUTDOORS ISSUE
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Lane County Audubon Society is alive and flapping
A NORTHERN FLICKER
PHOTO BY KYLE LYNCH-KLARUP
I
n May, as the sun sets each evening, thousands of small
birds swarm above the brown brick chimney of Agate
Hall on the University of Oregon campus. They are
Vaux’s swifts, newly arrived from Central America.
When the light begins to die, the cloud flies together
and spins into a funnel above the chimney mouth and the
swifts dive down to roost for the night.
Below in the parking lot, a dozen people watch the
show, including Maeve Sowles, president of Lane County
Audubon Society.
“I had a friend from Hawaii tell me once that if this
happened on the islands, there would be tour buses and
tickets to this,” says Sowles, originally from Hawaii as
well. Right now, the birds are free of charge.
There are few hobbies as convenient as birdwatching,
also known as birding, or in England, twitching.
“My daughter calls birding a gateway drug to the natural
world,” says Jim Maloney, a photographer and ecologist at
the Lane County Audubon.
According to Maloney and other members of the society,
birding in Oregon and the U.S. is alive and flapping.
A national survey by the U.S. Forest Service backs
him up. In 2013, some 85 million Americans spent time
observing, photographing or feeding wild birds. About 18
million people made special trips in 2011 to see or count
birds by sight or sound.
“If you’re outside, then you can be birdwatching,” Sowles
says. “It allows us to be closer to a non-human part of the
world, and adds another dimension to enjoying the outdoors.”
B Y D A S H PA U L S O N
At the society’s early May meeting, members
discussed education efforts in local schools and
conservation issues around the county. Talk veered
occasionally into stories about crows chasing eagles or
suspicious turkey activity around Spencer Butte.
Birding is auditory as well as visual for keen observers.
An eagle can be detected, and even identified, as much by
its cry as its feathers. Migration patterns mean new species
arrive and depart year round and, like every good hobby,
there’s always a new challenge awaiting.
MT. WASHINGTON
PEEKS OUT BEHIND
BURNT TREES, WHILE
THE THREE SISTERS
FLANK ITS LEFT SIDE
SET OFF FOR
SANTIAM
Hike offers post-fire forests and
mountain views S TO RY & P H O T O BY J O H N W I L L I A M S
D
espite the potentially disastrous effects a multiyear,
recording-breaking drought will have on the
people and wildlife of western Oregon, there is a
small consolation prize: early season hiking near
the Cascade Crest.
Typically trails in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness are
under snow through late June, but with snowpack in the
Willamette Basin at an abysmal 8 percent of the normal
snowpack for that area, the majority of snow below 6,000
feet has already melted.
Situated 2 miles west of Three Fingered Jack is 15-acre
Santiam Lake. There are two primary ways that Santiam
14
May 21, 2015 • eugeneweekly.com
Lake can be reached: from the west via the Duffy Lake
Trail or from the south via the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) near
Santiam Pass.
I suggest hiking via the PCT because of the unique post-
fire forest. This area burned in the 2003 B&B Complex
fire. Lodgepole pine and beargrass are the primary plants
repopulating the area. Post-fire early seral forest is very
rare because it is often salvage-logged. Thankfully, this
area was spared because it’s within a wilderness boundary.
After gently ascending for nearly 1 mile you will come to
the Santiam Lake Trail junction. As you begin to walk west,
Mount Washington and South Sister can be spotted through
The National Audubon Society, a registered nonprofit,
began in 1905 after a growing outcry against bird slaughter
for fashion or development. Conservation, education and
grassroots organizing became their main tools.
The branch in Lane County began as the
Oakridge Audubon Society during the late ’60s. In 1975, it
expanded into a countywide organization and, in addition
to local outreach, now helps traveling birders find rare and
uncommon fowl.
Vaux’s swift is one of those birds. These swifts, which
migrate between Central America and Canada every year,
remain in flight constantly except when resting. Their natural
roosts are enormous tree snags, now scarce because of
logging, though chimneys are an attractive, urban alternative.
Sowles emphasizes that Lane Audubon loves to
encourage birding, but education and conservation are
their real missions.
“We’re very fortunate to have a well-preserved
environment in Lane County,” Sowles says. “You can still
see what it was like 200 years ago.”
However, the ecosystem is changing. “Winter
temperatures are higher now, and we have birds that we’ve
never had before in the Willamette staying here all the
time,” she says, like black phoebes. Others — like the
Western meadowlark, Oregon’s state bird — are now rare.
Lane Audubon, which claims about 1,600 members,
recommends beginners or interested parties join its monthly
bird walk. They organize a walk every third Saturday of
the month and provide knowledgeable guides. Binoculars
can be loaned upon request.
The next Audubon walk is 8 am Saturday, June 20.
Birders meet at the South Eugene High School parking lot
for carpooling.
Armchair birdwatchers can follow the adventures of local
birder Noah Stryker as he travels around the world trying
to document 5,000 species for his Big Year at audubon.org/
features/birding-without-borders. ■
the fire-killed trees. Three small lakes that make for a decent
camp are just off trail to the west after you begin to walk north
again. You will continue northwest while weaving in and out
of areas that were spared from the B&B fire. These patches of
forest that were not burned provide welcome refuge from sun.
Subalpine fir, mountain hemlock and western white
pine are all found within these unburned patches. Near the
3.5 mile mark, you will ascend a few hundred feet towards
a small pass just south of Upper and Lower Berley Lakes.
These lakes can be accessed by following an outlet stream
west from the Santiam Lake Trail.
If you walk past a van-sized boulder, you’ve gone
too far. You will then pass through two nearly flat sandy
areas before ascending into a dense mountain hemlock
dominated forest. Mount Jefferson quickly comes into
view along with stunning views of Three Fingered Jack in
the meadow above Santiam Lake.
There is a small grassy area just east of where the trail
reaches the southern shores providing a beautiful area for
lunch. If you’re planning to camp in the area, be sure to set
up at least 200 feet from the shore of Santiam Lake. Return
the way you came. ■
DIRECTIONS FROM EUGENE: Follow Hwy. 126 east
for 68 miles, merge right onto Hwy. 20, follow for 8.8
miles; trailhead is a well-marked left turn.
HIKE DISTANCE: 11.5 miles round trip
HIKE TYPE: Out and back
ELEVATION GAIN: 700 feet
TRAILHEAD ELEVATION: 4,800 feet
USAGE: Moderate
DIFFICULTY: 2 out of 5
FEES: $5 or a Northwest Forest Pass