Here’s how we manage soils and water quality here in the Tualatin Valley: This isn’t some aberration, it’s the norm for Washington County farms. Gouged-out, sprayed-out ditches are the standard of treatment to keep the water flowing off roadsides and farm fields. Meanwhile, taxpayers spend tens of millions of dollars annually to protect soil and … Read more

You gotta hand it to life…wow..is it tough! From trees to toadstools, living beings on this planet have an arsenal of weapons to guard themselves and promote their progeny in the face of every imaginable threat, the legacy of billions of years of selection which has weeded out the vast, vast majority of lineages. If … Read more

Willows are a marvelous subject for ecological study. The distribution of willow species in our region relates to phenology, form, root morphology, palatability and who knows what else that we can’t see yet. As I have noted before, hybridization is rampant in willows, and yet these species maintain their integrity as a result of intense … Read more

The concept of “native” is a human construct. There’s no such thing in biology. There is only current occupancy, with the species occupying any landscape changing over time. Sometimes turnover is very slow, and at other times very rapid. We are in a period of rapid change right now, driven largely by human activity. Species … Read more

It is indeed a new year, and what a strange year it is starting out to be, on so many levels. Who could have guessed we’d be all cozy with Russia? Huh..maybe they’ll stop pointing their nukes at us. Ya think? As soon as Putin signs onto the new Board of Peace, I’ll sleep easier. … Read more

Lily bulbs are probably the best stocking-stuffer around for any local naturalist, gardener or bee enthusiast, and for a mere $300, you can buy enough bulbs to stuff a bunch of stockings, or put several nice packages under the tree. Or you can just treat yourself or a friend to a long-lasting gift of spring … Read more

In a word, and at best – chaotic. It would probably be easier if it didn’t exist at all. What we have now is equivalent in some ways to the field of medicine in the late 1800’s. Medical practitioners in 1890 included a very few science-based MD’s who were beginning to see the future of … Read more

Nothing says it’s Christmas time better than the brilliant crimson fruits of the lowly swamp rose. This workhorse of wetland diversity hangs onto its hips later into the season than any of our native roses, and they are truly just at the peak of ripeness, now that a few frosts and buckets of rain have … Read more

Of all of the eight common species of willow in the Willamette Valley, Salix prolixa – MacKenzie willow – is perhaps the least common, the most “climate-adapted” and also the most overlooked. Even most restoration practitioners don’t know it exists as an option. So I’m here to tell you more about it. MacKenzie willow, as … Read more

Feliz Navidad! I dolled up one of the coyote brush out front, and presto! A beautiful Christmas display for our soggy, 60-degree December holiday season. But Baccharis is perfectly happy with this weather, being largely a Pacific dune plant. It pops up and over the Coast Range, showing up on logging landings and other openings, … Read more