The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has created an iNaturalist project to increase their knowledge of wildlife and biodiversity in the state, with special emphasis on the Oregon Conservation Strategy Species. The following is their description of the project and links to participate.
Have you ever taken a picture of wildlife in Oregon and wondered if anyone might want to know where you saw it? We do!
Help us improve our conservation efforts by sharing your wildlife observations! The Oregon Wildlife Conservation iNaturalist Project allows you to share your wildlife observation data directly with biologists. Even if you can’t identify what species you are looking at, odds are that someone in the iNaturalist community can. Participation in this project helps to enhance our understanding of wildlife in our state, and your data can help improve wildlife conservation efforts in Oregon.
It is not possible for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to survey all wildlife species, we need your help to monitor their presence and distributions across the state. The Oregon Wildlife Conservation iNaturalist Project was developed to collect wildlife observation data from community scientists like you on amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles across Oregon. While we are interested in all wildlife observations, we are particularly interested in your observations of the 109 wildlife Strategy Species, or species of greatest conservation need, and Strategy Data Gap Species that are missing key information needed to accurately determine their conservation status.
The information gathered will augment ongoing research efforts, conservation actions, and management plans for sensitive wildlife species by ODFW and our partners. Your help is crucial for the successful conservation of Oregon’s wildlife species! iNaturalist is a free online tool managed by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society that helps users to identify, report, and learn more about the plants and animals they observe.
We appreciate your contribution and ask that you help to spread the word.
The Oregon Coast has some excellent areas for tide pooling, which amazes and attracts visitors of all ages. Tide pooling is going out to rocky shores at low tides to touch and observe critters that live there.
During low tide,organisms that live in zones between the high and low tide are exposed from the water. They can be seen stuck to rocks or swimming and crawling in small tide pools of water.Some cannot withstand being exposed to air for very long.
As tides go out, more delicate organisms will be visible. Therefore, it is important to track low tides and times before planning a tide pooling trip.
Resources
There are many resources foridentifyingwildlife in tide pools and along the beaches, such as ID guides found in bookstores or that can be printed online. In addition, some Oregon State Parks offer interpretive walks and other programs open to the public.
Guides
There are also opportunities to hire guides fortide pooling, such asWavecrestDiscoveries. By going tide pooling with a guide, you get much more out of the experience than just being able to identify different species. You also learn more about the area, hear additional stories about the organisms, and gain more information that you could never learn independently.
Giant Green Anemones and Sea Stars are reveled at lower tides. Photo by Susan Dimock
When tide pooling, it is important to wear proper footwear, as many ofthe rocks arewentand covered with algae andcan be very slippery. The marine layer can also lead to variable weather, so wearing multiple layers will provide the most comfort.
Rocks covered in kelp provide habitats for many species that are fun to look at. Photo by Justin Myers
Some people just live large. Jedediah Smith was one of those people.
He had three ambitions which were to:
Serve his God Provide for his family, and Become a great American Explorer
He succeeded at all three and much more. He lived large. He changed Oregon.
No roads, no path. (Image Royalty free Unsplash.com)
You might wonder how a person, who lived back in the 1800’s, might have impacted our lives today. Let me tell you a short story about Jedediah Smith.
Oregon didn’t achieve Statehood until 1859, and we might not have if it wasn’t for explorers like Jedediah Smith. Smith was one of the first, and maybe the most important, trapper/explorer back in the 1820s.
Hearing the stories
He was born in 1799 and at 13 worked as a clerk on a Lake Erie freighter learning the basics of business. Smith undoubtedly had heard the tall tales the trappers brought back from their trips.
Jedediah most likely did what every normal 13-year-old would do… hang on every word and develop an intense interest in wilderness trade and nature. This interest was kindled even further by friend of the family Dr. Titus G. V. Simons, a pioneer medical doctor.
According to legend, Dr. Simons gave Smith a copy of Lewis and Clark’s journal from their 1804-1806 expedition to the Pacific. Smith carried this journal throughout his travels to the American west.
The Lewis and Clark journal demonstrated what Smith needed to do to be a successful explorer. He needed to report what he saw, draw maps, write letters, and create a journal of his own.
As it turns out, Smith’s journals, maps, and letters were key to kindling interest in the new Oregon Country. A place few Caucasians had ever traveled to, that almost fell into the hands of the British.
Shared occupation
The Treaty of 1818 allowed joint occupation of the Oregon Country between Britain and the United States. The region was dominated by the British’s Hudson Bay Company (HBC) at Ft. Vancouver on the Columbia River.
At this time, the British Chief Factor at HBC was responsible for one-quarter of the North American continent. Smith and company represented the American contingency.
From 1823 to 1828, Smith traveled extensively between South Pass in Wyoming to the Oregon Country, and twice south into Mexican California and back.
There was a lot of unrest on the west coast and conflicts between explorers, British and American, and Native Americans in 1826. Smith noted that beaver were becoming scarce in the region.
The 1828 trip from California to Oregon was fraught with escalating mistrust and violence between the explorers and Native Americans. Coastal tribes closely monitored the arrival of all newcomers to their region and were very wary of visitors. Violence was common.
The Umpqua Massacre
The story goes that Smith and company camped on the Umpqua River. Smith and three others left camp to scout the trail north.
A scuffle began when one of the Natives stole an axe from the Smith camp. Some of Smith’s party treated the Umpqua very harshly to get the axe back.
The violence erupted in the early morning of July 13. Coquille (Na-so-mah) tribesmen murdered the remaining 15 members of Smith’s group, and stole furs, horses, and gear.
Smith learned of the massacre and headed north to the HBC in Fort Vancouver for shelter and respite. In the fall, he mounted a rescue mission and was able to bury the dead, and recover 700 beaver skins, 39 horses, and journals.
In gratitude, Smith presented the HBC with a copy of his master map of the west which he had created over the years. (NOTE: This map was rediscovered in 1953 and subsequently published a year later.)
Smith was well connected and authored many letters describing his travels and observations. In 1830, Smith wrote then Secretary of War John Eaton of his concerns that the British were alienating the indigenous people against the Americans. He also felt that the British were attempting to establish a permanent settlement in the Oregon Country.
The last trip
Smith returned to St. Louis with hopes of drafting detailed maps and going into the mercantile business. That goal was not to be. An associate convinced him to take a load of supplies to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The company did not take adequate water supplies from St. Louis and was not able to find water along the way. Scouts were sent out in search of water each day.
Smith was scouting for water on May 27, 1831 when he was killed by a Comanche hunting party. He was 32 years old.
The story is not over
In 1836, President Andrew Jackson launched a Federally funded expedition. The expeditions goals were to explore the Pacific Northwest and lay claim on the Oregon Country previously explored by Smith.
This is not a story about how a brave explorer survived three massacres and a horrific grizzly bear attack or of how he explored and mapped much of the Rocky Mountains, American Southwest, American West Coast, or discovered the first east-west crossing of the Great Basin Desert. It is about the key role that Smith played in the development of Oregon as a State.
Without his work documenting and mapping Oregon we all might be drinking British tea right now. Would Oregon have become a State without the fur trade and emigration routes? Would there have been an Oregon Trail without Smith’s work describing the South Pass?
Tipping the balance of power
Jedediah Smith almost singularly tipped the balance of power to the United States leading to the permanent settlement of the Pacific Northwest and later to Oregon’s statehood.
His was not an easy life. It was harsh and full of danger, challenges, and wonder. Fortunate for us, it was large.
REFERENCES: –Oregon Encyclopedia (https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/smith_jedediah/#.X06bDO-SmUk) –History (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/commanche-kill-mountain-man-jedediah-smith) –Wikipedia, Jedediah Smith (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedediah_Smith)
