May 13, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
Fens, sloughs,
marshes and more
Cascadia Subduction
Zone shapes landscape
By Katherine Lacaze
For the Seaside Signal
What is the difference be-
tween a fen and a bog?
Field ecologist Kathleen
Sayce answered this and
other questions during her
presentation “Into the Fens:
Exploring Clatsop Plains
Wetlands” in April at the Sea-
side Public Library. Sayce’s
program was the fourth in-
stallation of Listening to the
Land speaker series, present-
ed by the North Coast Land
Conservancy and Necanicum
Watershed Council and fo-
cused 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 collec-
tion of fens, which means
they are mostly level, cover
a broad area and all are con-
nected below the surface by a
uniied groundwater supply,
according to Sayce. Fens are
not very acidic and are high in
nutrients so they have diverse
lora. In contrast, bogs are
isolated from a groundwater
supply, so they tend to be very
acidic, low in nutrients and
have specialized lora that
can tolerate such conditions,
Sayce said.
Referring to the Clatsop
Plains wetlands, Sayce ad-
vised the audience to “amaze
everybody — call them fens.”
Shaped by
earthquakes
The Clatsop Plains’ to-
pography is shaped by its
proximity to the Cascadia
Subduction Zone and earth-
quake events, which are ac-
companied with shaking,
major erosion, subsidence
and, sometimes, tsunamis.
The subsequent formation of
dunes after an event is rapid
in geological time, from one
to ive years, Sayce said.
Dunes are formed through
two processes that deine their
nature. The young ephemeral
outer dunes on the Clatsop
Plains will not be there after
the next Cascadia Subduction
Zone event. Further inland,
the durable dunes are not as
affected by earthquakes, 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 nev-
er 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
make a lot of sense,” Sayce
said, adding, as a result, the
wetlands are getting wet-
ter with each event. “It’s an
amazing additional complex-
ity in why our wetlands look
the way they do.”
What’s in a
wetland?
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 wa-
ter collects in the porous san-
dy ground after precipitation
to perch until gravity pulls it
down into the ground, Sayce
said.
“The dune ields, 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.
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR THE SEASIDE SIGNAL
Field ecologist Kathleen
Sayce talks about the
water systems on the
Clatsop Plains wetlands
during her presentation
“Into the Fens,” part of
the Listening to the Land
speaker series, at the
Seaside Public Library.
The comprehensive water
system in the wetlands also
includes lakes or ponds and
drainage systems, which often
are referred to as streams but
actually are sloughs, an old
English term meaning “a tid-
ally dominated, slow-lowing
freshwater drainage,” Sayce
said. As new dunes form in
the area after natural events,
the sloughs can alter direction
to ind new channels out.
Over time, the fens ill
in with organic debris that
can vary from ine mosses to
coarse ibrous peat, making
them a great area for storing
carbon. Eventually, so much
peat forms that the fens be-
come forested wetlands. This
process can take hundreds of
years.
“Topography is very im-
portant 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 com-
munities illed with more spe-
cies.
Wetland plant commu-
nities can be divided into
different categories, such
as aquatic bed plants, loat-
ing mats, marsh emergent
plants and others. During her
presentation, Sayce shared
photos and descriptions of
various wetland plant spe-
cies found in the area, such
as slough sedge, bog laurel,
sphagnum moss, arctic star-
lowers, cranberries, russet
cotton-grass, fragrant bog
candles, 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
deine fens.
“It is, from a species diver-
sity point of view, fantastic,”
Sayce said. “It’s got more
species in it than any other
wetland in the area.”
Wetland cycle
Wetlands experience dif-
ferent phases throughout the
year. Water levels are highest
during the winter and lowest
during the summer, which is
mostly common knowledge,
Sayce said. During stretch-
es of low precipitation, the
ground can get so dry that
when it irst rains after a pe-
riod of time, the water builds
up rapidly on the surface.
Tides also play a role by
pressing on groundwater and
causing hourly level changes.
Sayce saw the hydrologi-
cal 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 distances from the wet-
lands. She sampled the wells
during high tide and record-
ed her indings. She learned
the groundwater levels were
“very responsive to other con-
ditions,” she said.
D EL ’S O .K .
D EL ’S O .K .
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR THE SEASIDE SIGNAL
Volunteers helped build a new trail on the Circle Creek Habitat Reserve during the North Coast Land Conservancy’s Circle
Creek Trails Cleanup.
Spring cleanup time at Circle Creek
‘A great turnout and a
great day,’ director says
By Katherine Lacaze
For the Seaside Signal
The North Coast Land Con-
servancy’s Circle Creek Habitat
Reserve hummed with activity
in April when a small army of
volunteers helped clean up the
property in time for public vis-
its over the late spring and sum-
mer months.
The 35 volunteers were split
into groups who undertook
various tasks, such as building
and maintaining trails, cleaning
up and burning old wood de-
bris and planting salal, a native
plant species.
“It was a great turnout and
a great day,” Stewardship Di-
rector Melissa Reich said. “We
got a lot done and the trails are
looking in great shape for the
season.”
The annual project symbol-
ically marks the time of year
when the property gets used
more by the public. Adminis-
trative and Outreach Assistant
Lynette Villagomez said during
late fall and winter, the prop-
erty, which is part of an active
loodplain, is not accessible to
people because of precipitation.
The trails usually are opened
around Earth Day and closed in
late fall, depending on weather.
“Every spring, we’ll come
out here and do cleanup and
maintenance and make it more
inviting for people to visit,”
Villagomez said.
Of all the conservancy’s
properties, Circle Creek is “one
where we’ve chosen to wel-
come people,” because of its
location, accessibility and com-
position, she said.
Reich agreed, saying the
site has “been grazed for a long
time,” “has a history of human
use” and is one where the con-
servancy is doing active resto-
ration, making it a great spot to
have seasonal trails open to the
public.
“It is “a good example of the
old forest and the swamp,” she
said. “You can see them side by
side.”
Tessa Scheller, a local volun-
teer and member of the conser-
vancy’s Conservation Committee,
said she believes welcoming and
encouraging the public to spend
time on the habitat reserve is valu-
able as it leads to an increased
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR THE SEASIDE SIGNAL
Volunteers Judy and Paul Fairdig, of Portland, participated in the North Coast Land Conser-
vancy’s Circle Creek Trails Cleanup as their service project for the 2016 Yale Day of Service.
sense of ownership and, subse-
quently, stewardship and support.
“I think being out here helps
that,” she said.
Some people may suffer
from nature deicit disorders of
varying degrees, she said. The
conservancy wants to recon-
nect humans with the rest of na-
ture so they become “aware of
the rich diversity, even of plant
life, in their backyard,” said
Scheller, who also sits on the
board of the Northwest Coast
Trails Coalition.
Reich added that numerous
people have, at one point, done
a project or some volunteer
work on the property and they
are watching it slowly trans-
form over time because of their
efforts.
“A lot of people are able to
feel connected,” she said.
The timing of the cleanup
project also coincided with
preparation for the conservan-
cy’s annual event, “The Forest
Remembers,” held in late April.
The Circle Creek Trails
Cleanup was put on in partner-
ship with the North Coast Trails
Coalition.
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR THE SEASIDE SIGNAL
About 35 volunteers showed up to the North Coast Land Con-
servancy’s Circle Creek Trails Cleanup to prepare the habitat
reserve for the summer hiking season and upcoming events.
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