This spring, with the help of amphibian expert Katie Holzer, our urban land stewards Megan and Kaegan have launched an amphibian survey program to monitor amphibian populations on six of our urban preserves. Together, they trained and developed a dedicated amphibian survey team of about 20 people for a season-long search for the egg masses
This year the December King Tide (highest tides of the year) followed several days of big storms. On December 22, TWC GIS Analyst John Bauer, Photographer Ben Friedle and LightHawk volunteer pilot Tony Carson found a break in the storm to fly above the Tillamook, Siletz, Sand Lake and Salmon River estuaries to get an
It was a cloudy/hazy day and the Dec 22, 2014 king tide mission was nearly aborted, but the clouds broke through and TWC staff John Bauer, photographer Ben Friedle of Outlier Solutions Inc. and pilot Tony Carson sailed down the Van Duzer corridor to document the expanse of the King Tides in the Siletz, Salmon, Neskowin,
Amphibians are a key indicator species of ecosystem health. Their presence or absence can tell us a lot about the general health of a wetland or riparian area in addition to giving us a sense of site water and habitat quality. When climatic and hydrologic changes occur in an ecosystem, amphibians are often the first to react. Their thin skin makes them vulnerable to temperature increases, chemical pollutants, disease, and radiation. The combinations of pollutants, habitat fragmentation and development in urban areas have had a negative impact on amphibian populations. In the Portland Metro area, everything from mutations of extra legs to complete absence of native amphibians has been documented.
TWC is improving forest health and wildlife habitat quality of the forest lands of our Upper Yaquina Preserve, in Poole Slough, Newport Oregon. This exciting project that began in June includes thinning the over abundant conifers and creating snags and wildlife trees in portions of the preserve forest lands. By removing some Douglas-fir, other conifers