_By Rowan Steele, CSCC volunteer
(note from the editor: I should have gotten this in before the holidays- sorry Rowan)

The SMILE Station was at full-capacity on the evening of December 1st for Crystal Springs Community Workshop—an event intended to encourage dialog around the unique natural resources in our backyard and generate momentum for the multi-pronged effort to bring healthy native salmon runs back to Crystal Springs Creek through a community-directed vision.

_The event was hosted by SMILE's new Stewardship of Natural Amenities Committee (SNAC), the Crystal Springs Creek Community Partnership (CSCCP), and Portland State University's Neighborhoods and Watersheds Senior Capstone. In addition to the 14 students who organized and facilitated the workshop, 45 interested community members came out to participate and partake in the fun.

_ The program for the evening began with a brief overview of the of the Crystal Springs watershed and a rundown of the history of the area, a topic highlighted by a brief video documenting local oral histories. The unique attributes of the watershed were covered in addition to the upcoming projects to restore fish passage and improve overall watershed health. A number of these projects are being conducted by the Bureau of Enverionemental Services (BES) in partnership other agencies, while other projects are conducted solely through local community efforts (for example Friends of Crystal Springs Creek restoration of the Westmoreland Union Manor and Reed's effort to improve the quality of Reed Canyon).

After the presentation the students facilitated four breakout groups:

• Salmon in the City — explored the multiple meanings and significance of salmon in an urban setting.
• Community Resource Investment — was a discussion about how community resources should be directed.
• Crystal Springs as an Educational Tool — identified different educational aspects that relate to the creek.
• Everyday Stewardship — looked at ways to reduce one's impact on the watershed.
  

_Participants were able to choose three of the four twenty-minute stations. In addition, there was an interactive timeline that encouraged people to help document the story of Crystal Springs by noting personal stewardship efforts, exciting wildlife sightings, or other relevant aspects of community and natural resources.

This venue was a wonderful example of how a community can come together to share thoughts and ideas about how natural resources can be used as a focal point to improve local livability and create a sense of place. The hope is that this is just the beginning of a continued effort to use local energy and enthusiasm to shape the future of Crystal Springs.

__ By Patrick Norton, CSCC volunteer
 
    A few days ago I took my daughter for a walk in the canyon, and I took a few photos of recent animal activity along the shoreline.

LEFT:  As we were passing over the Cross Canyon bridge (the one with the blue lights) I noticed a collection of shells in the cavity of a rotting log down along the shore.

RIGHT:  These shells are the remains of freshwater mussels- probably either the western pearlshell (Margaritifera falcata) or the Oregon floater (Anodontia oregonensis), both of which occur in the watershed.  The log was apparently used recently as a feeding platform by a predator which had collected the mussels from the lake bottom.  There are three predators in present in the watershed which take mussels: North American river otters (Lutra canadensis), muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), and mink (Mustela vison).  I have not heard of otters being present in the canyon recently, though they are certainly spotted lower down the watershed, and I have not seen muskrat in the canyon for over a year, so it was probably a mink, which have been spotted recently a few yards west (see Zach Perry's post of 11/ 18/2011).  Too bad the shore next to the log didn't have a mud or sand substrate to show tracks.

C'mon Daddy!

The other thing we saw was evidence of some recent beaver activity along the south shore.  Usually beavers select small-diameter trees to cut for food, eating the inner bark (cambium) and the leaves, as well as herbaceous plants.  I'm told that when beaver go after mature trees it may be due to insufficient access to normal food sources, since the amount of work required to sever a large tree trunk is very great compared to the amount of food derived.  Some of these trees have been girdled (which is fatal to them) and others have been injured only on one side. 

_Since none of them have been actually felled it is a mystery to me what the beaver were after, as they must have expended a great deal of energy while not succeeding in gaining access to the small branches which would have given much more food than the small amount of cambium removed in the process.  Cutting so deeply into the wood was certainly not required in order to get at the cambium. 

RIGHT: This bigleaf maple was cut so deep that the weight of the already leaning tree caused it to split up the trunk about ten feet. 

LEFT:  Even the trees protected by wire are fair game for the hungry beaver.  I wonder what the cause is.  I find it hard to believe that there is not more suitable food to be found nearby, but I suppose that is a question for a wildlife biologist (or Zach Perry- see his blog entry I just found here: http://blogs.reed.edu/reed_canyon/2011/12/welcome-to-beaver-country.html

                            Time to go home!

Editor's note: although this post is not specifically about Crystal Springs Creek it is pertinent not only to assessment of fluctuating bird populations by biologists but to our appreciation of the value we have to protect in the Crystal Springs Creek watershed.  The diversity of species is dependent on the cumulative effects of both positive and negative factors in habitat quality, including many that residents can improve upon.  For more information on how you can improve wildlife habitat in your neighborhood check out this link: http://audubonportland.org/backyardwildlife/backyardhabitat

By Bob Wilson, CSCC Volunteer
On New Year’s Eve, a cadre of intrepid birders scattered throughout Portland to count birds. The Christmas Bird Count is a hundred-year tradition, developed in 1900 in reaction to the “Christmas Side Hunt,” a Christmas Day bird killing extravaganza. The first Portland Christmas Count took place in 1926.

This year, the Southeast Portland group, led by Dan Strong, surveyed Oaks Bottom, eastern and western Milwaukie, Mt. Tabor, Eastmoreland and Westmoreland.

Below is a list of the birds found in Eastmoreland and Westmoreland, and should give a pretty good idea of what birds were hanging out in the Crystal Springs Creek watershed on a given day in December.

2011 Portland Christmas Bird Count Results for SE Portland December 31, 2011
(Eastmoreland and Westmoreland neighborhoods)