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2A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016 Fens, sloughs, marshes and more mostly level, cover a broad area and all are connected below the surface by a unifi ed groundwater supply, accord- ing to Sayce. Fens are not very acidic and are high in nutri- ents so they have diverse fl ora. In contrast, bogs are isolated from a groundwater supply, so they tend to be very acidic, low in nutrients and have special- ized fl ora that can tolerate such conditions, Sayce said. Referring to the Clatsop Plains wetlands, Sayce advised the audience to “amaze every- body — call them fens.” Cascadia Subduction Zone shapes landscape By KATHERINE LACAZE For The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — What is the difference between a fen and a bog? Field ecologist Kathleen Sayce answered this and other questions during her presen- tation “Into the Fens: Explor- ing Clatsop Plains Wetlands” in April at the Seaside Pub- lic Library. Sayce’s program was the fourth installation of Listening to the Land speaker series, presented by the North Coast Land Conservancy and Necanicum Watershed Coun- cil and focused on water as a theme. Sayce illustrated for the audience how to identify dif- ferent aspects of the Clatsop Plains’ water system, from rain and rivers to dune swale lakes, fens, sloughs, marshes and more. The Clatsop Plains wet- lands are actually a collection of fens, which means they are Shaped by earthquakes The Clatsop Plains’ topog- raphy is shaped by its proxim- ity to the Cascadia Subduction Zone and earthquake events, which are accompanied with shaking, major erosion, sub- sidence and, sometimes, tsuna- mis. The subsequent formation of dunes after an event is rapid in geological time, from one to fi ve years, Sayce said. Dunes are formed through two processes that defi ne their nature. The young ephem- eral outer dunes on the Clat- sop Plains will not be there after the next Cascadia Sub- duction Zone event. Further inland, the durable dunes are not as affected by earthquakes, Katherine Lacaze/For The Daily Astorian Field ecologist Kathleen Sayce talks about the water systems on the Clatsop Plains wet- lands during her presentation “Into the Fens,” part of the Listening to the Land speaker series, at the Seaside Public Library. and they have been around for more than 4,000 years. A geological mystery in the area, according to Sayce, is that when the ground drops after a Cascadia event, it rises in the following years but never returns to its former level. “Over time, this area, from around Tillamook Head up through Willapa Bay and into Grays Harbor, is going down and it doesn’t geologically FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TONIGHT FRIDAY SATURDAY 70 50 48 Mostly sunny and delightful Partly cloudy ALMANAC Mostly cloudy First Full May 13 Newport 48/64 Coos Bay 51/66 Source: Jim Todd, OMSI TOMORROW'S TIDES Astoria / Port Docks Time 7:59 a.m. 7:57 p.m. Low -1.2 ft. 1.1 ft. REGIONAL CITIES City Baker City Bend Brookings Eugene Ilwaco Klamath Falls Medford Newberg Newport North Bend Hi 74 62 64 68 61 62 68 70 59 61 Today Lo 45 46 51 49 52 45 52 49 48 51 W c t sh pc pc sh c pc pc c Hi 74 67 65 79 67 66 75 81 64 65 Fri. Lo 46 47 53 50 53 47 55 52 49 53 W c c pc pc s t c s s pc City Olympia Pendleton Portland Roseburg Salem Seaside Spokane Springfi eld Vancouver Yakima Hi 71 73 73 68 72 61 72 68 71 79 Today Lo 44 53 53 51 50 49 56 49 50 55 W pc c pc sh pc pc c pc pc c Hi 79 80 83 80 82 69 79 80 81 86 Fri. Lo 45 51 55 54 53 52 55 50 53 56 W s pc s pc pc s s pc s s Clatsop County’s budget com- mittee will meet at 9 a.m. Mon- day in the Judge Guy Boyington Building in Astoria to review the proposed budget for next fi scal year. Public comment is welcome. The county’s proposed bud- get totals $57. 1 million, about 9 percent higher than the cur- rent budget. The increase is mostly due to budgeting money in the general roads fund rather W pc sh pc pc s pc pc pc sh pc s pc sh s s pc s sh s sh s pc t pc sh Hi 72 55 77 80 83 70 91 62 85 71 79 68 67 76 83 74 77 57 81 58 79 74 65 75 57 Fri. Lo 53 48 59 47 58 50 60 42 73 54 60 55 55 56 61 50 61 51 58 52 60 52 53 54 51 Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. CLATSOP POWER EQUIPMENT, INC. than leaving it unappropriated, according to the county. A total of 3.39 full-time equivalent jobs are added in the proposed budget, creating one new position each in assess- ment and taxation, surveyor and building and grounds offi ces. The new positions increase the county’s workforce to about 207.5 full-time workers. Timber revenue from state forest lands is expected to total $3.5 million in the proposed Astoria April 1, 1933 — April 30, 2016 Donna Faye Taylor was born April 1, 1933, in Liberal, Kansas. She passed away at home on April 30, 2016. Her husband of 54 years, Hugh “Buddy” Taylor, preceded her in death in September 2009. They married Sept. 8, 1955. Donna’s two sisters, two brothers, a sister-in-law and a son-in-law, Jerry Oldberg, also preceded her in death. LOTTERIES OREGON Wednesday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 9-3-7-4 4 p.m.: 9-3-5-0 7 p.m.: 4-6-8-1 10 p.m.: 0-1-8-7 Wednesday’s Megabucks: 11- 18-29-39-42-43 Estimated jackpot: $3.4 million Wednesday’s Powerball: 30- 47-57-66-69, Powerball: 3 Estimated jackpot: $415 million WASHINGTON Wednesday’s Daily Game: 7-8-5 Wednesday’s Hit 5: 02-04-08- 16-23 Estimated jackpot: $230,000 Wednesday’s Keno: 08-14-18- 19-20-23-26-27-28-29-30-31- 44-52-60-61-67-68-76-78 Wednesday’s Lotto: 06-17-26- 31-35-40 Estimated jackpot: $2.2 million Wednesday’s Match 4: 09-16- 19-21 She is survived by three sisters, Elaine, Nancy and Juanita; fi ve children, Dicksie Har- ris (Glenn), Linda Oldberg, Mark Taylor, Cindy Harris (Greg) and Ladonna Weisbach; 12 grand- children; and 15 great-grandchildren, all of Missouri. She moved to Knappa, Oregon, in 2010, where the people grew to love her and called her “mom” or “grandma.” PUBLIC MEETINGS THURSDAY Astoria Design Review Com- mittee, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. MONDAY Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District, 6 p.m., Fire-Rescue Main Station, 188 Sunset Blvd. Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. ON THE RECORD Theft • At 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, Astoria Police arrested Carlo B. Soler, 27, of Ocean Park, Washington, for theft at Video Horizons. OBITUARY POLICY The Daily Astorian publishes paid obituaries. The obit- uary can include a small photo and, for veterans, a fl ag symbol at no charge. The deadline for all obituaries is 9 a.m. the business day prior. Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style. Death notices and upcoming services will be published at no charge. The Daily Astorian Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503- 325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 www.dailyastorian.com MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 34912 HWY 101 BUS • ASTORIA 503-325-0792 • 1-800-220-0792 budget, less than the $4.3 mil- lion projected for the current fi s- cal year but slightly higher than the previous 10-year average, according to the county. In addition, the proposed budget sets aside $905,510 for a contingency fund reserved for future possible unfunded liability costs from the Public Employees Retirement System. The entire fi scal year 2016- 17 budget can be viewed online at www.co.clatsop.or.us. Donna Faye Taylor Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W s sh s s s s s pc pc s s t t s s s s r s r s t t s r SALES • SERVICE • RENTALS Wetland cycle Wetlands experience differ- ent phases throughout the year. Water levels are highest during the winter and lowest during the summer, which is mostly common knowledge, Sayce said. During stretches of low precipitation, the ground can get so dry that when it fi rst rains after a period of time, the water builds up rapidly on the sur- face. Tides also play a role by pressing on groundwater and causing hourly level changes. Sayce saw the hydrological cycle in action when she spent a year checking three wells at her house in Willapa Bay. The wells sit in different areas of varying elevation and dis- tances from the wetlands. She sampled the wells during high tide and recorded her fi ndings. She learned the groundwater levels were “very responsive to other conditions,” she said. OBITUARY TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER NATIONAL CITIES Today Lo 49 45 40 50 50 45 64 41 73 44 48 59 55 50 65 48 60 49 51 51 48 59 54 54 51 Lakeview 44/66 Ashland 50/71 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2016 Tonight's Sky: Cor Caroli, the brightest star of Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. Hi 65 49 60 80 71 66 90 60 86 63 72 85 65 72 85 63 79 56 79 56 68 85 62 68 58 Burns 41/72 Klamath Falls 45/66 Wetlands form where the water table is “near, at or above the surface” in the low areas between the dunes, or the recharge areas, where water collects in the porous sandy ground after precipita- tion to perch until gravity pulls it down into the ground, Sayce said. “The dune fi elds, because they’re predominantly sand, have a great structure to hold a lot of water, so they com- prise this big aquifer system,” she said. The comprehensive water system in the wetlands also includes lakes or ponds and drainage systems, which often The Daily Astorian Ontario 53/81 Bend 46/67 Medford 52/75 May 29 Baker 45/74 John Day 51/72 Roseburg 51/80 Brookings 52/68 UNDER THE SKY High 9.7 ft. 8.4 ft. Prineville 46/73 Lebanon 48/81 What’s in a wetland? are referred to as streams but actually are sloughs, an old English term meaning “a tid- ally dominated, slow-fl owing freshwater drainage,” Sayce said. As new dunes form in the area after natural events, the sloughs can alter direction to fi nd new channels out. Over time, the fens fi ll in with organic debris that can vary from fi ne mosses to coarse fi brous peat, mak- ing them a great area for stor- ing carbon. Eventually, so much peat forms that the fens become forested wetlands. This process can take hun- dreds of years. “Topography is very important in determining how diverse the wetland is going to be,” Sayce said. For instance, areas with steep slopes have small fring- ing areas of wetland plant communities while low gra- dient slopes often have larger areas of wetland plant commu- County budget meetings scheduled La Grande 51/74 Salem 50/82 Last May 21 Pendleton 53/80 The Dalles 55/87 Portland 53/83 Eugene 49/79 Sunset tonight ........................... 8:29 p.m. Sunrise Friday ............................. 5:54 a.m. Moonrise today ........................... 5:35 a.m. Moonset today ........................... 7:20 p.m. City Atlanta Boston Chicago Denver Des Moines Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Honolulu Indianapolis Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Memphis Miami Nashville New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Philadelphia St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC A shower in the morning; otherwise, cloudy Tillamook 46/72 SUN AND MOON Time 1:13 a.m. 2:09 p.m. 61 46 Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs. ASTORIA 48/70 Precipitation Wednesday ....................................... Trace Month to date ................................... Trace Normal month to date ....................... 0.50" Year to date .................................... 36.36" Normal year to date ........................ 30.79" May 6 Pleasant with plenty of sun MONDAY 59 48 REGIONAL WEATHER Astoria through Wednesday. Temperatures High/low ....................................... 59°/52° Normal high/low ........................... 59°/43° Record high ............................ 82° in 2013 Record low ............................. 33° in 1969 New SUNDAY 65 49 make a lot of sense,” Sayce said, adding, as a result, the wetlands are getting wetter with each event. “It’s an amaz- ing additional complexity in why our wetlands look the way they do.” nities fi lled with more species. Wetland plant communi- ties can be divided into differ- ent categories, such as aquatic bed plants, fl oating mats, marsh emergent plants and others. During her presenta- tion, Sayce shared photos and descriptions of various wet- land plant species found in the area, such as slough sedge, bog laurel, sphagnum moss, arctic starfl owers, cranberries, russet cotton-grass, fragrant bog can- dles, skunk cabbage, buckbean and many others. The Gearhart Fen, which is at least 4,200 years old, is a good example of a wetland with numerous features that defi ne fens. “It is, from a species diver- sity point of view, fantastic,” Sayce said. “It’s got more spe- cies in it than any other wet- land in the area.” The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper. SUBSCRIBER TO THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. 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