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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2011)
Page 10 The INDEPENDENT, May 19, 2011 Between the Bookends by Nancy Burch, Librarian Vernonia Public Library Summer is fast approaching and plans are being finalized for an action-packed summer for youngsters and adults. Crafts and stories reflecting the theme of “One World, Many Stories” will take place at the library on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. beginning June 28 and ending July 26. Special events, including presentations by the Knights of Veritas, Hart’s Reptile World, Washington County Historical Society and storyteller Chris Leebrick, will help make this an eventful summer for youngsters. Complete schedules and registration information will soon be available in the library. Adults will be exploring a few of Vernonia’s businesses, learn- ing some its history and touring the water plant. A theme of “Nov- el Destinations” will lead participants to France and Australia, via movies filmed in these countries. During planning for these events, discussion led to the realization that it would be enjoyable to visit some places of interest outside of Vernonia, including the Tillamook State Forest Center, Valley Art Gallery in Forest Grove and The Rice Rock Museum. These excursions would be extras, with the goal being to simply enjoy the outings as a group. Any le- gal or personal responsibility, including transportation, fees, food, etc., would necessarily be placed on participating individuals. The first outing will be to the Tillamook Forest Center and will take place on Wednesday, June 1st. Anyone wishing to join the group for this trip needs to leave a name and contact information in the library to ensure that they will receive information regarding the outing. Both the after school program and the preschool story time will cease at the end of May so youngsters can take part in the sum- mer reading program, and to allow for family vacations. Both pro- grams will resume after the start of school in the fall. New acquisitions for your summer reading enjoyment include The Bride’s House by Sandra Dallas, 44 Charles Street by Danielle Steel, The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen, Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris, The Wedding Shawl by Sally Goldenbaum, A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber, Buried Prey by John Sandford, Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, and Those in Peril by Wilbur Smith. For the reader who prefers reality, a remarkable memoir of the Holocaust entitled The Seam- stress by Sara Bernstein, and a chronicle of wild Alaskan life in the first half of the last century entitled On the Edge of Nowhere by El- liott Huntington, are available. A recommendation by Robin Cody prompted the purchase of Sam McKinney’s book, Reach of Tide Ring of History. McKinney was Cody’s boatbuilder friend who gave him “The Turtle”, the flat- bottomed wooden boat on which he wrote most of the reflections he recounted in Another Way the River Has — Vernonia’s Com- munity Reads for 2011. McKinney has written a “big short” book about what a river is – how life on the Columbia River has changed since Lewis & Clark, how it hasn’t changed and how it is still alive with possibilities. If you enjoyed Robin Cody’s book, be sure to read this one by Sam McKinney. Youngsters and young adults will also find that bright, exciting State Farm ® Providing Insurance and Financial Services Home Office, Bloomington, Illinois 61710 Bunny Girt, Agent 1229 N. Adair PO Box 543 Cornelius, OR 97113-0543 Bus 503-357-3131 Fax 503-357-9667 bunny.girt.b71g@statefarm.com new books await them as they visit the library. Young adult read- ers will enjoy Behemoth (second in the Leviathan trilogy) by Scott Westerfeld, and The Scorch Trials (sequel to The Maze Runner) by James Dashner. New picture books, including Three Hens and a Peacock and It’s a Book, should delight even the youngest chil- dren. Remember, the library is here for you. Keep that in mind as summer approaches and you are looking for entertainment for your family. All of the programs and materials are selected with the goal of bringing both pleasure and information to our community. Vernonia Public Library: 701 Weed Avenue Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Tues., Thu. 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Sat. 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Preschool Story Time: Mondays, 10:30 a.m. when school is in session. Phone: 503-429-1818 New invasive species database After two years of surveying scientists and land managers, and engaging the help of part- ners across the United States, Oregon has launched iMapIn- vasives (http://www.imapinva- sives.org/orimi/map/), an on- line, GIS-based invasive spe- cies reporting and querying tool. iMapInvasives, developed through a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, Na- tureServe, the New York Natur- al Heritage Program, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, and the Oregon Biodiversity Infor- mation Center, will help land managers, regional planners, and others who are working to prevent, control or manage in- vasive species to accurately and quickly record and track where all types of invasive plants, animals, fish, and dis- eases are found. “This is a huge step forward for Oregon,” said Northwest Weed Management Partner- ship Coordinator and Oregon Invasive Species Council member, Vern Holm. “There are other tools that provide im- portant functions for organiza- tions such as ours, but iMapIn- vasives provides a very com- prehensive package to meet the needs of public and private land managers and citizen sci- entists, and it’s exciting that Oregon is one of the first west- ern states to use the program.” iMapInvasives provides trained users with their own in- teractive GIS data base, where they can enter and retrieve site information, share data with partnering organizations, and plan for future activities. In the future, iMapInvasives will also allow users to record and re- trieve treatment data. The initial list of species in- cluded in iMapInvasives was developed from the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s “A” and “B” noxious weed lists, the Oregon Invasive Species Council’s 100 Worst Invaders, noxious weeds listed in neigh- boring states, and any species that partner agencies are track- ing. The tool has launched with over 85,000 observations of in- vasive species, and the list will continue to grow as species are recommended. The Ore- gon Biodiversity Information Center is managing iMapInva- sives for the Oregon Invasive Species Council. The Center will review each species before adding to the list to ensure the species is invasive and its tax- onomy aligns with Nature- Serve’s standards. One of the greatest benefits to iMapInvasives is that, while an organization can upload large batches of information at once, anyone with data entry access can add observations at any time. “One of the reasons our or- ganization provided financial support to iMapInvasives is be- cause of the many functions it can provide,” said Sam Leininger, WeedWise Program Manager at the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation Dis- trict. “…instead of using fifty- plus databases to manage in- vasives, we now have one cen- tral location [to] input data, share data with partners, and have access to real-time infor- mation.” iMapInvasives leverages the utility of the Oregon Invasive Species Hotline (http://orego- ninvasiveshotline.org/), the go- to place for questions about species people are seeing that they think might be invasive, or for those who have an obser- vation to report but do not want or need an iMapInvasives ac- count. When a suspected inva- sive is reported, Hotline ex- perts for each county review reports in their area to deter- mine if the observation is in- deed an invasive species. Confirmed observations from the hotline will be downloaded twice yearly to iMapInvasives. The public will be able to view general distribution data of invasive species, while those who request an account will be able to see point obser- vation data, as well as detailed assessment/treatment poly- gons when this feature is added later this year. We’re…“pleased to have played an important role in ini- tiating a fundraising effort, and doing the legwork to offer a great product,” said Rian Hooff of the Oregon Invasive Species Council. “We look for- ward to continued strong part- nerships with groups through- out Oregon that manage inva- sive species.” iMapInvasives will comple- ment WeedMapper (http://www. weedmapper.org), a collection of information managed by the Oregon De- partment of Agriculture, on the distribution of noxious weeds in the state. Weed-Mapper fa- cilitates identification, report- ing, verification and early de- tection and rapid response for noxious weeds. An updated version of Weedmapper will be available the first week of May. For more information about how to use iMapInvasives, vis- it Portland State University’s Oregon Biodiversity Informa- tion Website at http://orbic.pdx.edu /inva- sives.html. The site contains background information, fre- quently asked questions, and training videos. The Oregon Invasive Species Council was estab- lished by the Oregon Legisla- ture in 2002. Its mission is to conduct a coordinated and comprehensive effort to keep invasive species out of Oregon and to eliminate, reduce, or mitigate the impacts of inva- sive species already estab- lished in Oregon. Members of the council include both punlic and private oranizations.