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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service news release, June 12, 2003
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the Washington populations of the western gray squirrel do not warrant protection as a distinct population segment under the Endangered Species Act.
The Washington populations do not meet the regulatory criteria for being treated as a distinct population segment under the ESA, the Service concluded, and therefore, do not warrant consideration for listing.
The Service's Distinct Vertebrate Population Segment Policy, published in 1996, stipulates that a vertebrate population segment must be both discrete and significant to qualify for consideration for listing under the ESA. As such, the Service considers information on genetics, behavior, distribution and ecology in making a determination of whether a population is discrete and significant.
"This finding is primarily based on the fact that the available information does not demonstrate that the Washington populations are significant to the rest of the western gray squirrel subspecies in California, Oregon and Washington,"said Dave Allen, Regional Director of the Service's Pacific Region. "They lack the marked genetic, ecological, or behavioral differences that would qualify them as a distinct population segment."
The Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and the Tahoma Audubon Society petitioned the Service in 2001 to list three geographically isolated populations of the western gray squirrel subspecies (Sciurus griseus griseus) in Washington as a threatened or endangered distinct population segment. One population is found in Thurston and Pierce counties, one in eastern Skamania County and Klickitat and Yakima counties, and one in Chelan and Okanogan counties.
On Oct. 29, 2002, the Service determined that the petition presented enough information for the agency to initiate a status review of the three populations. The finding, published in the June 10, 2003, Federal Register, is the result of that review.
The western gray squirrel is the largest native tree squirrel in the Pacific Northwest. It is the only member of the genus Sciurus native to Washington. Two other members of the genus, the eastern gray squirrel and the fox squirrel, have been introduced into the State from other areas.
Western gray squirrels are silver gray on the back and creamy white on the underside. The long bushy tail is edged with white, but dark hairs in the tail give it a pepper-gray frost effect. The ears are long, with a light reddish brown area on the back. Other common names include the silver gray squirrel, California gray squirrel, Oregon gray squirrel, Columbian gray squirrel, and gray squirrel.
Although further listing action will not result from this finding, the Service requests that the public submit new information concerning the status of, or threats to, the subspecies whenever such information becomes available.
Contacts: Douglas Zimmer, 360-753-4370
Joan Jewett, 503-231-6211
Drops of Water, April 2002, contained an article by Janet Strong on gray squirrels. You can read it at http://www.crcwater.org/newsltr/news200204.html#70
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By Chris Page, Triangle Associates
The Chehalis Basin Partnership was able to use grant funding from the State to monitor instream flow levels at sixteen control points from May through October 2002. The Partnership hopes to continue this gaging effort over the long term at all of these stations if possible, but we need your help.
Volunteers are needed to take readings of stream gauges, or perhaps even install data loggers if possible. The streamflow data we got last year is helpful but as most of you know, such records must be kept for more than one year to provide continuity and improve our knowledge of the range of flows we might expect. It is hoped that volunteers will consider assisting with this important effort over a long period of time, since records become more and more helpful the longer they are kept.
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We have already received several inquiries into this "Adopt-a-Gauge" program. With your help, we can make it a success! If you are interested in assisting with this interesting and informative project, even for a few months, contact Cynthia Carlstad at TetraTech/KCM at 206-443-3259 or cynthia.carlstad@tetratech.com
The control points where we need help are on the following rivers:
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by Pete Holm, Chehalis River Council
Holm Farm lies inside the curve of an oxbow in the Black River near Gate in the southwestern corner of Thurston County. My sister and brother-in-law, Margaret and Keith Rader, and I own about 100 acres of land here with close to a mile of frontage on the river. This land was passed down to us by our parents, Paul E. and Ruth Holm, and grandparents, John I. and Anna Holm.
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Gate is just a dot on the map today; at one time, when the Black Hills were being logged for the first time, it was quite a substantial community. Even when Margaret and I were children, there was not only a post office but a railroad station. You could get on the Northern Pacific and take the train anywhere you liked. Today it's just a rural area with a Rochester address.
Our paternal grandparents immigrated for the usual reasons, to find more opportunity, but also to avoid grandfather's being conscripted into the Russian Army (Finland was in those days under the Russians). At first they settled in South Bend, but about 1920 they purchased the farm. There was already a settlement of Swedish-Finnish people in the area who were drawn here because it was wooded, like the old country, and there was plenty of water. For several years the family went back and forth between Gate and South Bend where Grandpa worked in the shingle mills. For a while the family had a business delivering milk in South Bend.
During the depression there was no work at the mills so they moved to Gate and did subsistence farming to survive. They were quite poor. Before my grandfather and uncle Walt built today's main farm house in the early 1930's they lived in a shack. The chimney was in such bad shape that our grandmother preferred to cook over an oil drum in the yard instead of firing up the cookstove. As cash was scarce during those times, they built a house using the lumber our grandfather was paid for work he did at the Bordeaux Sawmill. He was self-educated and loved to read history and literature in both Swedish and English. He was famous for saying "I've got so much to do, so much to do" and then picking up a book and sitting down to read.
Margaret and I grew up on the 100 acre farm, milking the cows, haying, and doing all the things that farm kids do. We worked hard. There was not a lot of money, but we always had everything we really needed. Mom was a teacher in the Littlerock School who retired in the 70's before she got "too crabby". Dad was active on the Rochester School Board and the Soil Conservation Board. Both parents taught us a respect for the land and the Black River.
Dad appreciated the natural beauty of the land and the importance of leaving a buffer between the land and the river. He left trees in the pasture to provide shade for the animals. He rotated crops to avoid exhausting the soil. In short he practiced what we now call Responsible Stewardship. Lots of neighboring farmers also had the conservation ethic. They based their actions on years of experience and plain old common sense.
Margaret is now Chairman of the Chehalis River Council, a grass-roots organization dedicated to protection of the resources for the Chehalis River Basin, and I am a board member. Living on the river, we know the importance of protecting the native plants on its banks. I'm also on the board of the Capitol Land Trust, a private, non-profit organization that seeks to conserve and protect threatened lands and waterways in and around Thurston County, and we both also belong to a similar organization called the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust.
We learned about a strategy called a conservation easement, and it caught our interest. This would provide a way to pass on the farm to our heirs, yet preserve its natural beauty and role in protecting the Black River forever. With a conservation easement (a legal agreement accomplished with the help of a land trust) we can decide exactly what activities will be allowed on our land in the future. It can be designed any way we want. Our children will still inherit the property, but development that might harm the farm's conservation values would not be permitted. This way we protect for posterity the same land that our parents and grandparents protected for our use and enjoyment A conservation easement also protects the welfare if not the actual survival of the muskrat, beaver, mink, and otter, who, along with many other creatures, have lived on our land and in the river for as long as we can remember.
We will allow farming, grazing, and light recreational use (such as horseback riding), but not heavy residential or industrial development of any kind. I love my grandson, but I don't want him to build a dirt bike track on the property. In our specific case, we have chosen Capitol Land Trust to have the responsibility to monitor our property to ensure that specifics of the easement agreement are being observed. Fortunately, our children agree with the easement. Most people get a tax benefit of some sort when they preserve their land. For us, that was not the deciding factor, but for some it's a major motivator.
There is a lot of property in and around Thurston County that needs to be preserved in its natural state before it's too late. Capitol Land Trust has been around since 1987 and has protected nearly 1000 acres. Another land trust active in this area is the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust. Thousands more acres need to be protected to preserve native plants and wildlife and their habitat. A conservation easement is one way to protect the land. Holding a conservation easement is not a passive event. It requires legal services, scientific monitoring, and a strong organization to educate the community about conservation options for landowners. While environmental regulatory agencies accomplish a lot, they can't do it all. The activities of land trusts are strictly voluntary. They achieve substantial long-term "quality of life" benefits that are not subject to changing land use fashions or politics.
If you're interested in a legacy that involves saving some of the last great places in the Chehalis River Basin or if you want to find out more about voluntary conservation options for landowners, please call Diane Lloyd or Eric Erler at Capitol Land Trust, (360)943-3012 or Janet Strong at Chehalis River Basin Land Trust, (360) 807-0764. Individual memberships in CLT start at $20, in CRBLT also at $20. Both organizations need all the members they can get to help us protect Thurston County's and the Chehalis River Basin's special places, so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy them as we did.
Margaret and I also chose to add to the conservation values of the farm by participating in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). This has been arranged through the Thurston Conservation District. This enables us to fence a large buffer along the river, ranging from 120 to more than 180 feet, plant it with thousands of trees, and protect it for fifteen years. We are reimbursed for the costs of this with federal and county funds and receive a modest rental to compensate us for the value of what otherwise could be pasture and crop land. The requirements of the CREP program will be written into our conservation easements. If you are interested in this program, contact you local conservation district.
(Note: A slightly different version of this article appeared in the Senior News last year.)
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By Alayne Renee Blickle, Program Director, Horses for Clean Water
Perhaps you've ridden and owned horses all your life, but now you just bought your first small farm so you can keep your horse at home. Or, maybe you've had your horse at your place for years now and even have a boarder or two. You may board your horse at that nice "place in the country" – the one with a subdivision going in behind the barn, next to ol' Mount Manure.
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If any of this relates to you, have you thought about what to do with that big pile – or potential big pile – f manure sitting behind the barn? Have you considered what to do when the new neighbors in the expensive subdivision start complaining? Maybe you've wondered about the impact on horse health when they stand in mud all winter. Or have you considered the impact on the neighboring creek or wetlands when the rain washes the mud and dirt from your bare pastures into the surface water? Possibly you'd just like some ideas on how to have more birds and wildlife on your little place "in the country."
If any of these issues have crossed your mind then you're ready for environmentally sensitive horsekeeping!
The quality of water in local streams, lakes and other water bodies affects and is affected by all people. No matter where we live or what we do, the runoff we each produce affects water quality. This is what scientists refer to as "non-point pollution." Non-point pollution – run-off from homes, streets, parking lots, forests, and farms – can be from such activities as logging operations, development, traffic, construction and agriculture, as well as everyday activities such as washing your car, spraying your lawn or (mis-) managing your horse's manure pile.
All runoff, be it oils, chemicals, sediments, septic tank wastes or animal waste has potential for reaching surface waters through storm drains, streams and waterways. Non-point pollution affects the quality of life we all enjoy.
As horseowners, we need to be especially aware of how we impact the environment and take the necessary steps to minimize this impact. The end result will help preserve the equestrian way of life that we as horseowners enjoy in the Northwest. Runoff from livestock manure reaching streams and wetlands causes a heavy impact on the environment. Sediments cloud the water and nutrients can cause unbalanced vegetation growth. This reduces water quality and creates a poor environment for fish and other aquatic life. Bacteria from manure can make waters unsafe for recreation and can even contaminate the shellfish living there. Even if you don't have a stream or waterbody on your property, contaminated runoff from manure and soil erosion can still make their way into a local lake or creek or affect your ground water. Poor farm management practices can also cause other damage to the environment such as eroded stream banks and slopes, overgrazed pastures, soil compaction, and weed invasion.
Sounds pretty awful, doesn't it? Well, hold on because the truly good news is that what's good for the environment also turns out to be good for you, your horses, your farm and your neighborhood as well.
Environmentally speaking, the golden rule for horse farms is to "keep clean rainwater clean." When you do this you keep nutrients and sediments (from manure and mud) out of our surface waters as well as reduce mud on your farm. Other environmental practices beneficial to your horses and you include maintaining healthy pastures, following a manure management plan and creating vegetative buffers to act as filter strips for any runoff that is produced.
By now you are probably beginning to see that if you can reduce mud on your farm and make your pastures more productive you will be helping your place look nicer and your horses will be healthier and happier, too. Let's take a look at some examples of environmentally sensitive horsekeeping techniques that we as horse farm owners can implement:
Creating a sacrifice area or paddock area to be used to keep your pastures from becoming overgrazed and during the winter. This area should be on higher ground and away from wetlands. Using a sacrifice area keeps horses from destroying pastures. It also confines the wastes to an area surrounded by a grassy buffer or pasture that can act as a filter for contaminated runoff. Using a footing such as hogfuel (wood chips) or crushed rock in a sacrifice area will help cut down on mud problems. Hogfuel has the added benefit of helping to breakdown the nitrogen in the horse's urine and manure.
Installing rain gutters and roof runoff systems on all barns, sheds and outbuildings and diverting the clean rainwater away from high traffic areas. This will reduce the amount of nutrients and sediments washed into the surface waters. This also has the added benefit of substantially reducing the amount of mud created in your sacrifice areas.
Cross fencing pastures and rotating animals in order to keep pastures from becoming overgrazed and soils compacted. At least three inches of leafy material is needed for rapid regrowth and for the biofiltration of nutrients and sediments. Compaction of the soil makes water filtration and plant growth very difficult. Poor pasture management results in reduced quality and quantity of grass, soil erosion, nitrogen runoff, increased weeds and increased feed costs.
In the winter keeping horses off saturated and rain soaked soils and dormant or frozen pasture plants is critical if you want to maintain a healthy pasture next summer. Soggy soils and dormant plants simply cannot survive continuous grazing and trampling in winter months. Horses are particularly hard on pastures the pounding of their hooves compacts the soil and suffocates plant roots. In addition, when the soils are wet, horse hooves act like plungers by loosening fine particles of topsoil that are then washed away by the rain.
Covering manure storage facilities to prevent rainwater from leaching nitrogen from the manure pile and reaching waterways. The material used to cover your manure pile can be as simple as a tarp or sheet of plastic. In the late spring and summer, when the ground is no longer soggy, the manure can be applied as a soil amendment to your growing grasses.
Keeping fill, especially manure and garbage, out of wetlands and wet meadows. These areas serve as natural filters for water moving into our streams and groundwater supply. They cannot function properly when they are clogged with debris.
Fencing off streams to limit livestock access. The direct input of animal waste and sediment into streams degrades water quality and destroys the aquatic environment. Horses and other livestock tend to trample down streamside vegetation. Trees and undergrowth are nature's system for filtering contaminants from runoff. They also help prevent soil erosion and provide food and shelter for fish and other aquatic wildlife. The overhead canopy that trees provide keeps the water cool. When these natural elements are destroyed a toxic environment is created for fish and other stream life since cool water is able to carry more oxygen than warm water, which benefits fish.
Planting native trees and shrubs to provide habitat for wildlife such as birds and small animals. More and more wildlife habitat is being lost as land is subdivided and developed. Even pastures don't provide good habitat for most wildlife. Farm owners can help offset this loss of habitat by planting or growing a diversity of vegetation that provides food and cover for wildlife. Consider incorporating native plants for landscaping and planting projects. Wildlife is better adapted to native plants and uses them for food and shelter.
In this age of more and more urbanizing and sub-urbanizing, we as horse owners need to consider the impact we are making on our neighbors and the environment. Are we contributing to reduced water quality in our watershed, creating an eyesore and a fly haven? Or is our horse operation pleasing to look at, healthy for our horses and a home for wildlife?
In order to insure horseowners a place in the future of our community, we need to take steps toward becoming an asset to our community, and not a detriment. Do your part as a responsible horse owner to protect your watershed, the environment, and the equestrian way of life in your community by making your horse farm a happier, healthier place for your horses and you as well! Good horsekeeping to you!
For more on HCW educational opportunities, contact Alayne by phone at 425-432-6116 or by e-mail at ARBlickle@aol.com. Visit the HCW Web site at http://www.horsesforcleanwater.com/ This article is copyrighted and reproduced by permission from Alayne Blickle.
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By Chris Page, Triangle Associates
The Chehalis Basin Partnership is beginning to see the fruits of some hard work, as draft sections of its Watershed Management Plan have been passed out for review. (The Partnership, as many of you know, is a volunteer, consensus-based organization of cities, tribes, counties and other local organizations. The Partnership meets from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the Lucky Eagle Casino between Rochester and Oakville on the fourth Friday of every month, and meetings are open to the public.)
These drafts include "issue papers" that explain the details of, and potential solutions to, water resource problems or areas of concern in the Chehalis Basin. Issue papers currently under review are covering subjects such as flooding, land use, and how public information will be made available about water resources yes, one of those outlets will be Drops of Water!
Issue papers accepted by the Partnership to date cover fish habitat, stormwater, protection of existing water resources, water quality cleanup plans, and hydraulic continuity (the connection between groundwater and water in streams).
Partnership members are also reviewing draft sections of the Watershed Plan such as
Other draft sections will be handed out to Partnership members for review at the July and August meetings. The complete Plan will be considered for approval by the Partnership at its meeting on October 24, 2003.
One Partnership task in the meantime is to review a report on stream flow levels in the Chehalis Basin (including tributaries), and consider whether or not to recommend new minimum stream flow levels be adopted into regulation by the State Department of Ecology.
Another recently completed technical report assesses options for storing some of the abundant winter rain water for use during the dry summer months. At its June 27 meeting, the Partnership reviewed this report and decided on water storage recommendations to include in the Watershed Plan.
The Water Quality Committee of the Partnership has been working to develop a plan to coordinate monitoring of water quality throughout the Chehalis Basin. The Partnership will be asked to consider adoption and implementation of this monitoring plan sometime this summer.
The completed Chehalis Basin Watershed Plan must be approved by October 31, 2003. Please consider attending a Partnership meeting if you are interested. Or, for more information, contact Lee Napier at Grays Harbor County, 360-249-4222 or lnapier@co.grays-harbor.wa.us.
Water Words from Carl Sagan: "Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet."
(http://www.rivernetwork.org/library/index.cfm?doc_id=125)
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You will find these facts – and more – at River Network: http://www.rivernetwork.org/library/index.cfm?doc_id=127.
1. An elephant's trunk can hold 2 gallons of water!
2. Cockroaches can survive under water for up to 15 minutes.
3. In 1848, Niagara Falls stopped flowing for 30 hours because of an ice jam blocking the Niagara River.
4. It's against the law to get a fish drunk in California.
5. The density of the sun is 1 ½ times that of water.
6. Graupel is snowflakes that have become small rounded pellets (usually two to five millimeters in diameter). It is sometimes mistaken for hail.
7. All porcupines float in water!
8. Mexico City is shrinking at a rate of 18 inches per year as a result of draining the water table for human consumption.
9. Rivers are the source of drinking water for 70% of the people in the United States.
10. The underwater mating song of the toadfish is so loud that sometimes humans on the shore can hear it.
11. Irrigation accounts for 81 percent of water use nationwide, but 50 to 80 percent of that supply leaks or evaporates before reaching crops.
12. Annie Edson Taylor, the "heroine of horse shoe falls" was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The 63-year old woman thought the stunt was a good way to make money. However, it wasn't the financial windfall she expected. Annie worked as a Niagara street vendor for 20 years and died penniless.
13. Elephants can smell water up to 3 miles away.
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by Bernadette Gardner John
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