SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2019 | 7A
MURRELET from page 1A
Nelson, a researcher at Oregon
State University, has been study-
ing the marbled murrelet since
the 1980s. Often referred to as a
mysterious seabird, the murrelet’s
nesting behaviors were unknown
until about the ‘70s, when the first
murrelet nest was found in Cali-
fornia. Despite nearly 50 years of
study, breeding behavior and other
details about the murrelet are still
unknown. In fact, it was the last
North American bird to have its
nest officially discovered.
It was 1991 when Nelson and
her survey crew were with Paul
Engelmeyer, a member of the
Portland Audubon Society and a
tree climber by profession, who
climbed a tree to set up a camera
for bird watching. It was then that
he found the first murrelet nest in
Oregon.
Native to the North Pacific, the
marbled murrelet has been listed as
threatened on the Endangered Spe-
cies Act in Washington and Oregon
and state-listed as endangered in
California since 1992 — and pop-
ulations continue to dwindle. For
Oregon in 2018, the marbled mur-
relet population ranged between
5,800 to 12,000.
The Central Oregon Coast has
the largest population of murrelets,
with Cape Perpetua being home
to the largest reserve for murrelets
anywhere, according to Nelson.
The nearby forests provide good
nesting habitats and right offshore
of Cape Perpetua is a marine re-
serve, which allows fish to survive
and grow into prey for seabirds,
creating the best scenario for mur-
relets. For this reason, Nelson and
her team hold the annual commu-
nity science survey at Cape Perpet-
ua.
In addition, every year the team
surveys from Alaska to California
at the same locations to get a year-
by-year comparison for how the
murrelet populations are doing —
but at the Cape Perpetua location,
they invite the public to join.
Nelson says this is her favorite
part about the surveys.
“The murrelet is a mysterious
and hard-to-see bird, so for many
this might be their only chance
to see the bird,” she says. “People
get to learn and participate in sci-
ence, and it’s really fun to share this
knowledge. When someone gets
excited about seeing the bird, it’s
really fulfilling.”
This year, the first survey took
PLASTICS from page 1A
Precious Plastic, a world-
wide movement, essentially
provides communities with
the tools they need to im-
plement a method to deal
with excess plastic that they
are unable to recycle local-
ly. Started by Dave Hakkens
in 2013, the Precious Plastic
website includes blueprints
and informational videos on
how to build machines that
will shred various plastics,
melt the plastic and mold it
into reusable items such as
bowls, tile backsplashes or
anything else that won’t come
into contact with heat.
Today, there are hundreds
of Precious Plastic branches
globally that are working to-
wards a solution to our plastic
pollution, including one here
in Florence.
“We are using this as a
demonstration project to
place July 22 to
changes in the
23, and the next
jet stream don’t
one will be July
allow for up-
29 to 30.
welling.
After
30
“The
best
years of re-
ocean condi-
searching mar-
tions for the
bled murrelets,
past two years
Nelson has only
have been down
found 78 nests
in California —
in Oregon.
and the worst
“It’s hard re-
conditions were
search and ev-
off Oregon and
ery year we end
Washington,”
up with more
says Nelson.
questions than
On land, the
answers,” Nel-
murrelet only
son says.
nests on large
The
team
old-growth tree
PHOTO COURTESY PHOTO DAN CUSHING AND KIM NELSON, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
annually con- The marbled murrelet is a seabird that dives up to 100 feet into branches
in
ducts popula- the waters of the Pacific Ocean to catch fish. Numbered at just 6- conifer trees,
tion
surveys to 12,000 in Oregon, the birds are considered threatened or making
old-
of
murrelets
growth forests
endangered in California, Oregon and Washington states.
during
their
here in Oregon
egg-laying season, which is April faster, thus creating more habit- vital to the murrelet’s survival; the
through July. As part of the Oregon able trees for the bird. However, older the tree, the larger and more
Marbled Murrelet Project, which is Engelmeyer fears that during this stable the branch. Murrelets don’t
funded by the Oregon legislature, time of only 40 percent coverage, actually build nests, but rather mash
Nelson and her team focus on de- murrelets will be susceptible to in- moss on large branches to create a
mographic monitoring. They go creased predation.
nest. The birds fly as far as 50 miles
out on OSU’s research vessel, the
“I want to err on the side of con- inland to nest and can fly at speeds
Pacific Storm, launching out of servation,” says Engelmeyer, who up to 100 mph, which makes bird-
Newport and going north or south recommends maintaining a buffer watching for the murrelet a bit of a
along the shore at night to briefly or screen that will help keep pred- challenge.
capture any murrelets they find for ators of the murrelets out of the
Adding to that challenge is the
measuring, tagging and tracking newly thinned canopy.
fact that murrelets tend to fly during
populations.
The marbled murrelet is in the low-light times, such as early morn-
On land, her team conducts puffin, auks and murres family of ing, in order to avoid being sighted
surveys to determine if part of the birds. About the size of a robin and by predators — peregrine falcons,
forest is “occupied,” which means weighing about 8 ounces, they have various hawks and owls, ravens,
murrelets exhibit behaviors point- a 15- to 20-year lifespan within Steller’s jays, American crows and
ing to a possible nest. Behaviors their major ecosystems of both the Canada jays. That’s why Nelson
that might indicate a nest include ocean and forest. Murrelets forage surveys the murrelet so early in the
circling the area and flying low in the ocean, diving up to 100 feet morning.
through the tree canopy, as the to find food such as anchovies and
Last Tuesday, the fog made mur-
murrelet wouldn’t take these risks crustaceans.
relet watching ideal, due to the birds
of being hunted by predators with-
Nelson says that ocean condi- being forced to fly closer to the
out a reason, such as feeding a tions lately have been horrible for ground because of the fog.
chick.
“I like birds because, if you pay at-
murrelets because of a lack of what’s
This is crucial research as it de- called “upwelling,” which brings tention, any day is special. It makes
termines where Oregon loggers are cold water from the deep ocean my life richer,” says Em Scatterajia,
allowed to cut down trees. Cur- towards the surface to replace the a camper at last Tuesday’s survey,
rently, logging is a major threat to water that has been pushed away who was eagerly awaiting a marbled
the murrelet, which depends on by winds. This cold water is rich murrelet sighting. “I introduced my
a dense tree canopy within old- in nutrients that fertilize the sur- two boys to birdwatching when they
growth forests to hide them as they face waters, making it perfect for were little. Now, they’re expert bird
fly to and from their nests feeding schooling fish to feed, and typically watchers. It’s a way to stay connect-
their young.
ed to my boys even though they’re
occurs in the spring and summer.
The Portland Audubon Society,
Murrelets feed on these schooling far away.”
the Sierra Club and Oregon Wild fish normally within a half mile of
Marbled murrelets are unique in
brought their concerns about the shore during breeding season. Be- that they don’t begin breeding until
reduction of the tree canopy to the cause they can only dive up to 100 two to three years of age, and only
Forest Service last week; the Forest feet into the water, they rely on these lay one egg per season — unless the
Service is looking to reduce the tree fish coming close to the surface.
egg fails early enough in the season,
canopy to 40 percent coverage in
Research indicates ocean tem- such as May or June, at which point
the Deadwood Creek area, begin- peratures are rising, primarily due they will lay another. However, 70
ning near Mapleton.
to climate change. This affects the percent of all murrelet nests fail an-
Forest Service representatives distribution abundance of prey as nually primarily due to predation,
say this reduction helps grow trees warmer water temperatures and and Nelson says this is not sustain-
show others that those with
an entrepreneurial spirit can
take this and run with it.
Here’s what can be done with
minimal resources and it’s
not that difficult. It doesn’t
take that much of a capital
investment and there’s no
reason that plastic cannot
be repurposed locally,” said
McSweeney, who sees PPF
as an example of a long-term
solution that can be imple-
mented locally and in other
communities as a solution to
plastic waste.
The group in Florence was
started by Ruth Miller, Eileen
Angilletta, McSweeney and
two other women who are no
longer involved in the group.
“Our steering committee
was five women over 50,”
McSweeney said.
PPF holds a nonprofit sta-
tus and debuted at the 2018
Power of Florence, where the
group raised $2,300 in di-
We’ve got you
COVERED
rect donations; a donor has
pledged to match the first
$5,000 they bring in, which
means the group has had
$4,600 to work with for its
first year.
“We currently have no
way to utilize plastic waste
products. Apart from bottles,
there is no place to send our
recyclable plastics,” McSwee-
ney said.
PPF aims to fix this.
The Precious Plastic web-
site also includes access to the
worldwide network of Pre-
cious Plastic branches, where
anyone can sell the plastic
shredders to others, exchange
ideas or sell the items they’ve
made out of recycled plastic.
Precious Plastic is a nonprofit
and offers resources for any-
one who wants to start upcy-
cling plastic to do it afford-
ably. This is how PPF was
able to get started.
“We have persevered in
the face of some discourage-
ment with the slowness of
the process. We would like
to be able to tell the public,
‘Yes, we make all these things
and you can order them on-
line’ but we are not there yet,”
McSweeney said. “We just
really hope that the commu-
nity has patience with the
slow pace of our progress be-
cause it does represent for-
ward motion.”
With the money PPF
raised at last year’s Power
of Florence, they were able
to order a full-size plastics
shredder, which will arrive
in August; an injector which
melts plastic and injects it
into a mold; a hexagonal
mold for making tiles; a
small shredder for demon-
strations with the public; and
six months of rented space
inside the Florence Maker
Space on Kingwood Street,
as well as liability insurance
for the remainder of the year.
“We now have a place to
put our equipment when we
get it,” McSweeney said.
PPF participated in a plas-
tics round-up with the Mas-
ter Recyclers in September
2018 and again in March of
this year, using it as a blue-
print for what they hope to
help the Florence commu-
nity implement within each
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able for the population.
So far this year, she has found
only four nests in Oregon; one con-
tains a chick, but the other three
have failed.
Meg Ruby, another survey attend-
ee last Tuesday, says the marbled
murrelet is especially interesting
to her because of its connection to
both the forests and the sea.
“The marbled murrelet occupies
a special niche of the sea with their
food and nesting in the old-growth
forests. I find that fascinating,” she
says. “I love learning about the eco-
systems through birds, and Oregon
is rich in ecosystems.”
Fortunately, campers were able to
spot murrelets easily during Tues-
day morning’s survey.
“I hear one!” Nelson says. Short-
ly after, straight down the middle
of the clearing between the trees,
a small brown body with pointed
wings zooms across. Volunteers
who had been waiting anxiously
craned their necks, turning in cir-
cles slowly to not miss a single angle
where a bird could fly by.
“Oh wow, there’s one! Oh my
gosh there’s three!”
Searching for life in the sky,
campers spent about two hours
helping Nelson to record any detec-
tions of murrelets, whether through
a sighting or hearing a call.
“These birds are important be-
cause we know very little about
them,” Nelson adds. “It’s exciting
when we have new questions and
when we continue to learn new
things about them.”
To participate in the next com-
munity survey on July 29 and 30 at
the Cape Perpetua Campground,
contact Engelmeyer at 541-547-
4227 or Lon Otterby at ottercruz@
aol.com for more information about
camping with the group.
Because the area provides the
ideal land-sea connection, the
Cape Perpetua Marine Reserve has
formed a collaborative with numer-
ous state parks, Audubon’s Ten Mile
Creek Sanctuary, U.S. Forest service
areas such as the Siuslaw National
Forest, and many other organiza-
tions and sites that provide habitats
for seabirds, marine animals, native
fish and wildlife.
Together, they plan to coordi-
nate conservation efforts and help
inform the public about the value
of the region to Oregon and all its
beings. More information on Cape
Perpetua and how to get involved
can be found at www.oregonmari-
nereserves.com/reserves/cape-
perpetua/.
VICTORIA SANCHEZ/SIUSLAW NEWS
Precious Plastics Florence’s booth at Power of Florence
helped show residents how they can reduce their plas-
tic usage, save plastic waste and recycle it into reus-
able products.
neighborhood.
Because of the recent re-
cycling restrictions for the
Pacific Northwest, many
plastics have to be thrown
out, further worsening the
Earth’s plastic pollution up-
surge. PPF plans to designate
willing community members
as individual neighborhood
organizers who will plan
with others in their neigh-
borhoods to collect these
unrecyclable plastics. Once
each neighborhood has a
large enough load of plas-
tics, they will contact PPF to
schedule a drop off. PPF will
then shred the plastics, sort
them by color and upcycle
them into new items.
Short-term goals for PPF
include educating the public
on which plastics are cur-
rently able to be recycled by
Lane County, helping to im-
plement neighborhood plas-
tic collections and showing
Florence how it can redesign
the community’s plastic con-
sumption.
As for the long-term hori-
zon for PPF, plans involve
eventually buying an extrud-
er that will allow members
to make beams out of plas-
tic that can be used for park
benches and other, larger
structures that will benefit
the community on a larger
scale.
“Our goal is to be able to
shred any type of cleaned
plastic,” Miller said.
PPF sees the possibility of
Florence being an eco-tour-
ist destination, which means
tourists visit not only for
the food, sites and culture,
but also for the fact that the
city is focused on finding
eco-friendly solutions to the
plethora of environmental
hazards that currently plague
the planet.
“If we all did a little, it
would make a huge differ-
ence,” McSweeney added.
This year, PPF set up a
booth at the Power of Flor-
ence Party in the Parking
Lot, where members played
the Precious Plastic videos
and handed out more in-
formation to visitors. They
raised $77 and a donor
matched that amount for a
total of $154 in donations
from this year’s Power of
Florence — which means
their goal of removing plas-
tic from Florence’s waste is
still on track.
For more information on
Precious Plastics Florence,
visit www.ppflorence.org.