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
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51
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52
45
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Hi
74
67
65
79
67
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75
81
64
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Fri.
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53
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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
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Hi
79
80
83
80
82
69
79
80
81
86
Fri.
Lo
45
51
55
54
53
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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
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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
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Fri.
Lo
53
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47
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50
60
42
73
54
60
55
55
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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