Witch Hazel is an early blooming bush. It looks a bit like a forsythia with raggedy flowers. I took the photo this morning. While I was taking pictures, I was photo bombed by this male Anna’s hummingbird.
About Paul Snoey
Coho Eggs Hatching
This morning’s visit to the incubator was a surprise. The fish are emerging from their eggshells. It’s a little sooner than expected. Although chances are small, these could become awesome fish that could live in the Pacific Ocean, and then come back to spawn in a few years.
By Paul Snoey
Stream Bank Erosion
The area below Heron Ridge Bridge and just upstream from the bridge, has had some extreme erosion in the past few years. The photo above was taken yesterday. The “cube” seen in the photo is one square yard and gives a perspective about how bad the erosion is. If you are standing on the Heron Ridge Street Bridge and look downstream you can see it.
The picture above shows the other side of this area. Gee Creek takes a long meander and comes back to this side. Both sides have had increasing erosion in the past few years. The trees I’ve planted have some value in preventing erosion. However, they need 5 to 10 years to be effective. Here the bank is almost vertical, and trees will not be able to prevent erosion. Some of the trees I had planted on both sides have fallen into the creek. If nothing is done here, then it is likely that this entire meander may be lost. This is the case downstream as well where some of the meanders have already been lost. Gee Creek is wider, deeper, and straighter than in the past and it’s all due to stream bank erosion. The cause is changes in flows due to development of the watershed.
Coho Eggs in Incubator
On Thursday, January 6th, I went to the State hatchery on the Lewis River and picked up 10,000 Coho eggs. The incubator is located on property owned by Raul and Claudia Moreno and is across the street from the Carty Unit. The photo taken Friday, shows that the eyes are beginning to be developed. Growth and hatching of eggs depend on the temperature of the water. Based, on a temperature of about 50 degrees, we expect the eggs to hatch on February first or a few days later.
We had planned to have students visit the incubator last year but covid prevented that. As for this year, that is yet to be determined. Raul and I both enjoy caring for these eggs. It’s a pleasure to watch them develop into little fish.
by Paul Snoey
Covid: Jan 13th, 2022
The above graph was published Thursday on the Clark County Covid web site. It shows the exponential increase in Covid cases/100,000 for a two week period ending on January 6th. Thursday and Friday, Clark County posted more than 1000 new cases for both days. This means that next week’s activity level will likely be much higher. There must be many cases more as many people have no symptoms and some simply are unable to be tested. A friend of mine tested positive but was asymptomatic. He was only tested because he wanted to fly. The level of covid in Clark County is likely much higher than the numbers show. It means the chances of being exposed to covid are higher as well.
The most optimistic outlook, epidemiologists say, is that the omicron mutation will burn through us quickly and then recede, leaving us with a higher level of population immunity. Perhaps the pandemic phase could even end.
In the meantime, things could be tough. People will still get sick and can’t work. Teachers may not be able to teach, drivers may not be able to drive, and pilots may not be able to fly. The question is, how socially disruptive is it going to be? How much of an impact will this have on our medical community?
We could be characters in some dystopian science fiction novel. A badly written one at that.
by Paul Snoey
If a tree falls…..
Last March, on a calm day with no rain, a large cedar fell from the top of a failed slope in Abrams Park. The top landed over the trail next to the creek. Public works cut and removed the top but left the tree over the creek. The trunk is above water but the branches have caught debris that floated with the heavier flow on November 12th. The log jam dam has directed the stream flow directly into the base of the slide and is undercutting the stream bank. This could further undermine the slope putting more trees into the creek and sending sediment into the refuge.
The view from the top of the slope shows how the stream has been redirected so that the main channel flows into the bank. It is critical to restore flows so that the bank is no longer undercut. The city is looking at what can be done now that the state would permit. Hopefully, there can be a project later that can stabilize this slope.
By Paul Snoey
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