IT’S
ABOUT
TIME
BY D AV I D WA G N E R
BUFFLEHEAD
BUCEPHALA ALBEOLA
ebruary is a very interesting month
for the Willamette Valley. Although
it’s midwinter in the northern
hemisphere, we have spring activity
gearing up, with expectations of first
native wildflowers blooming.
The error bar is wide for average first bloom
of spring beauty because weather is so
unpredictable this time of year. The average
opening of spring beauty is Feb. 16, the
birthday (in 1909) of Lincoln Constance. He
was one of the most notable botanists to have
grown up in Eugene and graduate from the
University of Oregon. His family ritual was to
search for spring beauty flowers every year
on his birthday.
Keeping track of annual records of nature
events like this is an important part of
environmental science. These are the data,
the facts, which provide the scientific
community with information to create
projections. There would be no weather
prediction possible without past records.
F
Effective and accurate predictions are
constantly improving with more powerful
models that rely on modern computing
technology.
It is so discouraging to hear how the
current administration is attacking the
scientific agencies that monitor the
environmental parameters that influence
human life. These agency scientists, from
botanists to cosmological physicists, are
responsible for providing the information
necessary for making political decisions
about critical environmental matters.
Now is a good time to give a shout out to
the ground troops making the observations.
They rely on federal support to maintain and
coordinate their environmental monitoring
programs.
Citizen scientists must step in to help.
Watch what’s going on!
David Wagner is a botanist who works in Eugene. He
teaches moss classes, leads nature walks and makes na-
ture calendars. He can be contacted through his website:
fernzenmosses.com.
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eugeneweekly.com • February 2, 2017
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