The Kingfisher Fall/Winter 2005

Newsletter of the Yamhill Basin Council working to improve our watersheds Volume 3, Issue 2

Support the YBC! Purchase a Kingfisher print (above), painted by local artist Terry Peasley. An unframed matted 8x10 costs only $15. Framed prints available as well. Call the

How can I buy a print?

Trout fishing fanatics living in Yamhill County need not travel to Central Oregon for quality trout fishing. For those willing to put in the effort, the Yamhill and its tributaries offer challenging catch and release for beauti-ful native cutthroat trout.

I have been teaching fly fishing and taking students and others on guided trips in Yamhill County for the past three years through Educational Recreational Adven-tures, a non-profit organization that conducts outdoor skills and environmental education programs. (Continued on Page 4)

Yamhill Basin Council Officers Patricia Farrell Chair Brandy Duff Vice-Chair Staff Jamie Sheahan Watershed Coordinator Denise Schmit Monitoring Technician Corrin Cunningham Outreach Coordinator (AmeriCorps Volunteer) Stakeholder Groups Agriculture Bureau of Land Management Business City Government Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Environmental Groups Industrial Forestry Land Trusts Students Small & Large Utilities Small Woodlands Assoc. Watershed Residents Yamhill & Polk Counties Yamhill SWCD

YBC Calendar Jan 12, 2006: YBC Meeting 6:00-8:00pm McMinnville Water Reclamation Facility

Jan 12, 2006: Yamhill Watershed Stewardship Fund Annual Meeting: McMinnville Water Reclamation Facility, 8:00-8:30pm

Feb 9, 2006: YBC Meeting 6:00-8:00pm McMinnville Water Reclamation Facility

Feb 4-5 & 6-11: Volunteers needed to help prep and run the Plant Sale.

Feb 9-11: Yamhill SWCD Native Plant Sale

Mar 9, 2006: YBC Meeting 6:00-8:00pm McMinnville Water Reclamation Facility

Greetings fellow Watershed Enthusiasts: While winter is working really hard to push autumn out of its way, I first want to reflect on what a great season this has been for the Yamhill Basin Council. This season was about the celebration of the past 10 years of the YBC and starting the next 10 years. The YBC 10th Anniver-sary Celebration was a huge success as a Friend-raiser and Fundraiser. You’ll read more about the event inside. I can’t express enough thanks to the Council Members and Volunteers who are truly responsible for making this event a success. In the last three weeks since the celebration, I’ve seen a surge of enthusiasm and ideas for future projects by council members, partners and residents. While the Celebration as an event has past, I hope that we all continue to value the people, places and spe-cies that make up our watershed every day. This issue of the Kingfisher is a small celebration of who and what is the Yamhill Basin today.

So what are we doing now? Well besides myself going off to venture for 3 weeks in headwaters of the Amazon, this coming winter, the YBC will be working towards developing a design plan for Deer Creek County Park Prairie habitat restoration, compiling a North Yamhill 2005 Interim Water Quality Monitoring Report; Identi-fying riparian reference sites; developing an inventory of watershed education pro-grams/activities in the Yamhill Basin, managing large wood placement projects on Gooseneck and Jackass Creeks, AND assisting with the development and obtaining 501c(3) status for the Yamhill Watershed Stewardship Fund. Thank you for read-ing this issue of The Kingfisher, see you next year. ~ Jamie

From the Coordinator

By Jamie Sheahan, YBC Watershed Coordinator

Comments, questions, submissions? Wish to be added or removed from the mailing list? Contact Jamie at (503) 434-7447 or sheahanj@co.yamhill.or.us.

Fishing the Yamhill

By Jeffry Gottfried, Educational Recreational Adventures

YBC 10th Anniversary Celebration a Hit!

A HUGE success was had by the Yamhill Basin Council and volunteers with pulling off our first ever event of this caliber. Approximately 130 people attended the YBC’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, held at the McMinnville Grand Ballroom on November 19th. 61 Local goods and services were purchased in the Si-lent Auction. Through the silent auction, beer and wine sales and donations at the door, the Yamhill Water-shed Stewardship Fund raised $3,923! All in all, this first time ever fund & friend-raising event was a huge success! Since the event, 3 weeks ago, I have received countless compliments and thank yous for put-ting this together. The truth is: I did not put this together, I just said “Let’s have a party”. It was all of YOU—council members, volunteers, event sponsors, and those that showed up who made this a success. More than 300 Volunteer hours were logged into putting this event on. Thank You!

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Supporters Oregon Watershed Enhancement

Board For substantial funding of council

operations, assessments and projects. Harvest Fresh Grocery

For consistently feeding YBC Volun-teers and support “The Kingfisher”

Partners Yamhill SWCD

(Special Recognition to Tim Stieber and Larry Ojua)

City of McMinnville & Yamhill County

For your support of the YBC

Council Members Patricia Farrell

Dave Hansen & Leonard Rydell

Who have each graciously dedicated their time and leadership as Council

Chair.

Volunteers John Betonte

Who has shown remarkable dedica-tion and leadership through his start

as a volunteer Terry Peasley

Rob Tracey & Jim Kreutzbender

Longtime volunteers who we can count on to pitch in a hand

& Linfield College For the countless interns, volunteers and class projects that have made

our assessments, monitoring, projects and education efforts

possible

Thank you to the generous sponsors who contributed funds to make this cele-

bration possible:

Spirit Mountain Community Fund McMinnville Grand Ballroom McMinnville Water and Light

City of McMinnville and Polk Soil and Water Conservation

District, Golden Valley Brewery, Stimson Lumber, Leonard Rydell, John Betonte,

Red Fox Bakery, Jake’s Deli & our local wineries.

What do Bend, Tucson, San Diego, Seattle, and now Dundee have in common? All of these western cities have adopted “dark sky” lighting ordinances or codes. Dark sky lighting aims to reduce “glare” and “uplight” by regulating the types of light fixtures used inside the cities.

Glare is the result of overly bright streetlights shining into the eyes of pedestrians and drivers, in effect temporarily blinding them. Too much glare can create a serious safety hazard on the road: brighter is not necessarily better.

Uplight happens when light shines up into the sky. Until we drive flying cars, though, streetlights shouldn’t illuminate the sky. Not only does this waste energy, but it also creates “light pollution,” pre-venting us from seeing the stars at night. And a bright light shining into a bedroom window can be more than a nuisance. The human body needs complete darkness in order to release the hormone me-latonin. Too much light at night, therefore a lack of melatonin, has potential health consequences such as depression.

Dark sky lighting also saves energy. The mere act of shielding a light directs all of the light to the ground where it is needed, thus requiring a lower wattage bulb, thus saving electricity and money.

Dundee planning commissioner Michael Sherwood and city councilor Jeannette Adlong have been preparing a dark sky ordinance for almost three years. Recently at an October city council meeting, their hard work paid off: the city council agreed to revise the lighting standards in the city’s public works code. The new standards, which will apply only to new construction, will require all outdoor area lights to be “full cut-off.” No light can be shone above a horizontal plane around the bulb. Hope-fully next year, after some community members’ concerns are worked out, the council will consider the full dark sky ordinance again.

For now, Dundee needs to decide how to deal with existing non-complying lights, especially street-lights. Said Adlong, “One of the focuses of our upcoming goal setting session will be to determine a timetable and funding to either change out or shield the lights,” She also added, “A major part of the process is going to be a public awareness campaign,” hoping that awareness of the issues will prompt homeowners to voluntarily shield their own lights. Already, some people in Dundee have done so.

Next time you go outside on a clear night, look up. Can you see the stars? Or does a glaring streetlight prevent you from see-ing the Milky Way? If there is an offensive streetlight nearby, you can contact PGE, which has a program to install shields on streetlights if people complain. Also, no matter where you live, encourage your elected officials to support Dark Sky lighting standards. It is a common-sense solution that protects people’s health and safety, saves money, and allows everybody to enjoy the starry night sky.

Illustrations by the Univer-sity of Texas MacDonald

The Good

The Ugly

The Bad

DDARKARK S SKIESKIES OVEROVER D DUNDEEUNDEE BBYY M MICHELLEICHELLE A ADLONGDLONG, C, COUNCILOUNCIL M MEMBEREMBER & N & NEWBERGEWBERG HS S HS STUDENTTUDENT

Are you interested in improving our watersheds? Do you value working as a team player? Do you represent one of the groups below? The Yamhill Basin Council is cur-

rently seeking new members to represent the following stakeholder groups: Agriculture/Vineyards

Business Land Trusts

Utilities Non-Voting Associate Members

Interested persons should have an interest in working to improve the Chehalem and Yamhill watersheds through a collaborative consensus based group. Member responsi-bilities include attending monthly YBC meetings and committee participation. Individu-

als with experience in fundraising, non-profit development, restoration, education/outreach or time to volunteer are especially desired. Non-voting associate member posi-

tions are open to all who wish to participate on committees.

Interested individuals are encouraged to attend the January 12th YBC meeting and contact Jamie Sheahan at sheahanj@co.yamhill.or.us for more information.

Seeking New Council Members for 2006

The Yamhill Soil and Water Conservation District’s 15th Annual Native Plant Sale is scheduled for February 9, 10 and 11, 2006. This year’s event will include 26 species of hardwood trees and shrubs, 7 conifers, and 10 additional species. There will be groundcover and bedding plants such as Big Leaf Lupine, Early Blue Violet, White Fawn Lily, Red Columbine, and Tiger Lily. Plants can be reserved by filling out a Pre-Order Form. Visit http://www.yamhillswcd.org for more information and to download pre-order forms and plant descriptions. A portion of the proceeds from this year’s sale will benefit the Yamhill Basin Council.

Native Plant Sale: February 9-11, 2006

Native plants benefit our watersheds

They use less water

They need fewer chemicals (like pesticides/fertilizer)

They provide bird & wildlife habitat

Fishing the Yamhill (continued from page 1) Over this time period, my students and I have caught and released hundreds of cut-throat trout in the South Yamhill sub-basin. The largest of these fish have been 16 inches and full of fight. More typically, the fish have been in the 8-11 inch range but just as challenging to catch. One observation makes me very optimistic: during summer, the small creeks of the Yamhill Basin are full of small cutthroat indicating to me that these are spawning creeks at other times of the year. My students and I have also been very pleasantly surprised by larger cutthroats, 12-16 inches that have hit our flies in the upper reaches of Yamhill tributaries during summer. We fish mostly dry flies, especially caddis flies and mayflies for cutthroat but occa-sionally are successful using streamers, especially muddler minnows and crayfish patterns. Cutthroat are aggressive feeders that at-tack surface insects especially if they are causing some disturbance in the flat water pools that the fish seem to prefer.

Yamhill River cutthroat trout seem to fit into one of two life patterns. Some are resident fish that live their entire life in the Yamhill. These include the fish that are trapped above waterfalls. Others migrate between the Willamette and the Yamhill, where they spawn in small tributaries in the late winter and spring. These fish are referred to as “potadramous” fish, which means they migrate be-tween a big river and a small creek. In the case of the Yamhill Cutthroat, the Willamette is their “ocean.” Potadromous cutthroats can grow to be 20 inches or more by taking advantage of the abundant food supply in the Willamette including crayfish, and then the superior water quality of the upper basin creeks for spawning. After spawning, they migrate back to the Willamette.

During the last week of October after the Yamhill Basin had experienced some cooling rains and increased river flows, I caught one of the largest cutthroats of the year. I plan to be out on the upper South Yamhill on opening day of trout season next year to see if big cutthroat are still present, having not as yet migrated back to the Willamette. For more information or to share Yamhill fish stories con-tact Jeff Gottfried at era@gottfried.net.

1PM to 5PM

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is currently accepting public comment on the following: Proposed NPDES Permit Renewals for:

• City of Carlton: Permit for wastewater discharge from Sewage Treatment Plant into the North Yamhill River: Written Public Comments accepted until 12/27/05

• City of Amity: Permit for wastewater discharge from Sewage Treatment Plant into Salt Creek: Written Public Comments ac-cepted until 12/27/05

• City of Dayton : Permit for wastewater discharge from Sewage Treatment Plant into the Yamhill River: Written Public Com-ments accepted until 12/27/05

Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period: DEQ is revising Water Quality Criteria for Turbidity, Temperature & Other Clean Water Act standards-. For more info, visit http://www.deq.state.or.us/wq/standards/WQStdsTurbidity.html

DEQ accepts comments by mail, fax and e-mail. For more information visit http://www.deq.state.or.us/news/publicnotices/ or contact:

DEQ - Salem Office 750 Front Street NE, Suite 120 Salem, OR 97301-1039 Fax: (503) 373-7944 E-mail: claussen.jennifer@deq.state.or.us

Public News & Information

NEW

River Network Publication Available:

Can’t grasp what TMDL’s and 303(d) lists really mean?

Not sure how you can use the Clean Water Act to solve real problems?

Confused on all the acronyms, legal and technical jargon?

If you answered YES to any of these, this book is for you!

The Yamhill Basin Council has ONE copy avail-able peruse through at our office or checkout on

loan . Additional copies can be purchased through the River Network for $40.00 at

http://www.rivernetwork.org

To place your AD in the next

issue of The Kingfisher, contact the YBC

for advertising rates,

. . .for the 2005 North Yamhill Water Quality Monitoring Project field season anyway. YBC staff and 21 Volunteers collected water quality, macro-invertebrete, stream habitat and flow data on the North Yamhill River and Baker, Panther, & Turner Creeks. Denise Schmit, is currently compiling and analyzing the data into an interim report, which will be made available to the public by April 2006. THANK YOU to the Volunteers who contributed 318 hours this summer! We hope to see y’all out there again next year!

OTHER LOCAL NOTES: The Future of Wild Pacific Salmon Conference. Jan. 25,2006, Portland, OR. Visit http://outreach.forestry.oregonstate .edu/salmon2100 for more info.

Conservation Program Funds Avail-able: Applications are currently being ac-cepted in Yamhill Co. by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for irriga-tion efficiency, nutrient management and sheet and rill erosion. Contact the NRCS or SWCD at (503) 472-1474, ext 3

Linfield Students, Corissa Kunze & Tomoko Kawaguchi, showing off their monitoring field gear and accessories.

Done with the Data

Above: Stonefly adult Right: Giant Stonefly nymph (Xerces Socieity)

Summer has passed, fall has fallen and the wa-ter quality monitoring season came to an end. This summer, many volunteers waded in Yam-hill’s crisp streams and battle fallen logs while collecting samples and data. I was among you, spending a late September day in the North Yamhill River digging through the stream substrate in search of benthic macro-invertebrates. In the end, our bucket was full of tiny insects hiding in the sediment we acci-dentally raked up. There were a handful of critters that caught my eye; too small to be crayfish and definitely not snails. I did a little research and found that we had uncovered some giant stoneflies.

The Giant Stonefly, also known as the Salmon Fly, of the genus Pteronarcys, is actually found throughout Canada and all over the United States near streams and rivers. These insects are common in a wide range of fresh water habitats with well oxygenated water in fast riffle areas and large cobble. The nymphs can be seen along the stream bottom while the adults are found on stream beds especially between April and July.

Stonefly nymphs are omnivorous, feeding on plants and detritus in the stream bed for three to four years before be-coming adults. In their adult stage, stoneflies do not eat at all and die within several weeks. These insects are also good pollution indicators because they are sensitive to low dissolved oxygen levels in water and the presence of or-ganic pollution.

You know you’ve found a stonefly when the nymph sample is between 30-50 mm (1.5-2 in) in size, has gills on the underside of the thorax and first couple abdominal segments and is gray or black in color. The adults look similar to nymphs, except they have distinctly colored bodies and wings. Stoneflies fly just a little better than they swim, so late spring features adult stoneflies skittering and splashing around, allowing for some the best dry fly fishing of the year. After the hatch, stoneflies live in surrounding brush for a while, mate and then the females return to the water to lay their eggs. In a few years, those eggs grow from nymphs to adults and the cycle begins again.

Sensitive to Pollution •About 500 species in North Amer-ica Are found in cool, clean streams with high levels of dis-solved oxygen

•Develop in the stream for period of three months to three years

• Either predators or feed on fungi and bacteria from rotting leaves

The Giant Stonefly BBYY C CORRINORRIN C CUNNINGHAMUNNINGHAM, O, OUTREACHUTREACH C COORDINATOROORDINATOR/A/AMERIMERICCORPSORPS V VOLUNTEEROLUNTEER

626 NE 7th Street

McMinnville, OR 97128

ph 503.434.7447

fx 503.472.2459

www.co.yamhill.or.us/ybc

Working to Improve Our Watersheds