Portland, OR

So, I am in Michigan, visiting family for the holidays, and never in a million years did I anticipate having to postpone my return to Portland due to too much snow.

gajproductions.com

No, Portland does not salt the roads. And as another installment of lulu’s love of trivial facts…

A Short History of Road Salt

New Hampshire was the first state to employ the use of (a measly 5000 tons of) salt to melt ice and snow on its roads back in 1940-1941. Before salt, everyone used sand or cinders to create an abrasive surface on ice and snow in order to allow car tires to grip the surface and not slip and slide all over the place. However, salt took off in popularity after World war II and the building of the nation’s interstate system, and by the end of the 1960’s, 10 million tons of salt were used throughout the US.

Much like adding salt to a pot of water before boiling it to lower the boiling temperature, salt also lowers the temperature at which water freezes. Road salt can effectively lower water’s freezing temperature to around 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Any colder than that, and salting is pointless.

So why doesn’t Portland salt the roads?

Ever heard the term, salting the Earth? Supposedly, after the Punic Wars, Rome salted the farmlands around Carthage as punishment and as a way to prevent Carthage from rebuilding. Salt kills vegetation, and prevents anything from growing on that soil for years to come.

Well, road salt acts in the same way. Of course, the salt is diluted with all that snow and ice, but over the years, that salt accumulates, and detrimental effects come to the surface.

Not to mention the damage that salt, a corrosive, causes to vehicles, roads, bridges, etc.

Portland, snow, winter, storm, roads, ice, sand, salt, de-icing, transportation, New Hampshire

I always seem to miss Portland’s coldest weather. Not to say I am sorry about that, but as I am in Michigan, where it is always a snow day or should be considered one, it’s not like I am missing out on the cold and snow. I just really wanted to experience a Portland Snow Day.

First, this is a classic video of another snow day from 2007. It is just too funny.

For all those bundled up indoors, here’s some random weather facts courtesy Oregonphotos.com. Mostly.

The absolute coldest temperature recorded in Oregon was 54 degrees below zero (and yes, that’s Fahrenheit). And get this, that temp was recorded not once, but twice in two different places (Ukiah and Seneca), though the dates were consecutive days, February 9th and 10th back in 1933.

That’s about as cold as Antarctica’s coastal areas get in the winter. Granted, the elevations of Ukiah and Seneca are much, much higher than Portland, so I doubt that kind of cold could come to Stumptown.

However, the lowest temperature on record for Portland is 19 below zero, which occurred on February 2, 1950. That’s more like an Antarctic summer…

And for those of you lamenting the snowfall Portland received yesterday and coming later this week, just be glad it’s not 1892. That winter, Portland received more than 60 inches of snow.

According to the National Weather Service, the heaviest snowfall that Portland received in one day was 8 inches. Gee, that’s not so bad, but it was during the winter of 1950, and in that January, Portland had 22 inches during that blustery blizzard. The NWS has it that Portland had 15 inches as the greatest snow depth that month. My question is what happened to the other 7 inches (ha, that’s what she said — wow, cannot believe I wrote that).

Anyway, Portland, enjoy the snow. At least you are not in Minnesota…for more reasons than just the snow, right. Sorry, Minnesota.

Portland, weather, snow, snowfall, winter, temperature, cold, snow day, Oregon, Antarctica, Ukiah, Seneca, National Weather Service, Minnesota

My standard response to the inevitable “How’s Portland” question from my non-Oregon-dwelling friends is “It’s clean.” I stand by that remark, for the most part, as this city is pretty clean when it comes to litter. However, my mind got to thinking and I pulled up the scorecard website. And really, Portland is not all that clean…

If you are not down with Scorecard.org, it could be one of your favorite sites or a rather nightmarish experience. It depends on whether you are the sort of person that wants to know things, or believes that ignorance is bliss.

Scorecard tracks environmental pollution. All businesses are required to file a Toxic Release Inventory to the Environmental Protection Agency, and TRI’s are an important source for Scorecard among other sources.

Anyhoo, I plugged in my zipcode of 97202.

Portland, Oregon ranks among the top 20% of dirtiest/worst counties. In total environmental releases, cancer risk score, non-cancer risk score, and in air releases of recognized carcinogens, Portland (I plugged in six or seven different zip codes, and they all came back the same ranking) ranks in the 80-89th percentiles among all US counties. Multnomah County ranks in the 90th to 100th percentiles among counties in number of air releases of recognized reproductive toxicants. Some good news is that Multnomah only ranks in the 70’s for air releases of recognized developmental toxicants.

See, I told you this could be nightmarish.

However, if I choose the Clackamas County portion of 97202, then the numbers are very different.

So, some good news there, I guess.

For fun, I plugged in some other zip codes from other major metropolitan areas of the country.

I chose 90037, which is in the middle of the Los Angeles Sprawl. Dirtier than Portland.

How about somewhere in the middle of Houston, Texas? That is a notoriously dirty city. Across the board in the 90-99th percentile. Dirtier than Portland.

Hm, let’s try a similarly sized city, and a West Coast city. Bakersfield, California is a bit bigger than Portland. Bakersfield’s score is a mixed bag, slightly worse in total releases and cancer and non-cancer risk, but better in recognized toxicants released into the air.

I know, I will pick my old zip code in Chicago, 60622. Just like Houston. Glad I moved.

And get this, I tried NYC, because I always have problems with my asthma as soon as I arrive there. It’s got to be dirty, right?

I chose 10016, Lower East Side of Manhattan. Quite clean. But then I tried Queens county, and it is still pretty clean. What is up? Newark has to be bad, right? Nope.

Huh, guess I will stop telling everyone how clean it is here.

pollution, Portland, Oregon, clean, toxicants, air releases, cancer, risk, toxic release inventory, EPA, scorecard, Multnomah, Clackamas, Los Angeles, Houston, New York City, NYC, Newark, Bakersfield, Chicago, Queens

And what do those two have together? Phytoplankton.

I watched NOVA on OPB last night, an episode called “Ocean Animal Emergency”. It was a very good episode — inspiring if not disheartening — and something that came up in the show was a little something called domoic acid. It is a toxin that is killing sea lions. Naturally, I wondered if domoic acid affects Oregon?

Yes, it has, and could at any time. And domoic acid doesn’t just kill sea lions. You see, domoic acid comes from phytoplankton called Pseudo-nitzschia, and this is what Pseudo-nitzschia looks like (right).

Pseudo-nitzschia is the genus and there are only some species within that genus that produce the toxin. Clam and mussels are filters, if you will, when they eat. The bivalves strain water for phytoplankton, and some of that phytoplankton is Pseudo-nitzschia. Pseudo-nitzschia exists in most coastal areas, and when an algae bloom happens, Pseudo-nitzschia will almost always be involved, but hopefully not dominant, and if it is, hopefully not the toxic variety. The trick is to identify it as toxic or not before humans start eating clams and mussels.

In a quick google search, I found out that the entire Oregon coast was closed to all shellfish harvesting due to high levels of domoic acid as recently as 2005. Currently, the Oregon mussel harvest has been closed due to the toxin.

The problem is that you cannot “close” the harvest for marine mammals that fed on clams, mussels, and other shellfish.

Now, you may be asking, what causes phytoplankton or algae “blooms”? Usually, blooms occur when nutrient-rich waters from the deeper parts of the ocean rise up to the surface. Blooms feed many marine creatures and provide the backbone to the food chain, but there is always the downside…

“Harmful algal blooms are the negative side of coastal upwelling,” [Peter] Strutton [an assistant professor in OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences] said. “There is growing evidence that these blooms have been increasing over the last 20 years and not only are becoming more frequent, but more intense and with longer duration. We also are starting to record toxic events in places that haven’t had them, so there is a concern that they may be spreading.

“The spreading could be caused by the transport of phytoplankton in the ballast water of ships,” he added.

Strutton said global climate change leading to warmer ocean waters is one theory behind the increasing incidents of harmful algal blooms. Human activity, including the release of nutrients into the oceans from agriculture fertilizers that leech into river systems, may also be a cause. –OSU’s Ocean Air

Hypoxia, or low oxygen levels in the water, occur after big, gigantic blooms. When all that algae dies, it consumes oxygen in the decomposition process. And if the area is hit every year, or several times a year, it can turn into a “dead zone.” Dead zones are present in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Southern California Coast, off the East Coast, and across the world as you can see in the map below.

If you will notice, most dead zones are at the delta of many rivers that flow through agricultural land, picking up nitrogen, phosphorus and other fertilizers. Oh, they are fertilizing something, just not crops. One more reason to go organic…

Related link for Nerds: Coast Watch

OPB, Nova, marine, mammal, toxin, domoic acid, fertilizer, phytoplankton, dead zones, ocean, sea, water, sea lions, seals, Pseudo-nitzschia, Oregon, organism, species, genus, bivalves, algae bloom, clams, mussels, harvest, food chain, hypoxia, oxygen

It is true that I am a nerd that enjoys the study of nature and all of its creatures, and part and parcel of living in Portland, Oregon is enjoying nature. So today, I will bring you the fruit of my research and study. I like bad things, dangerous things, and poisonous things, so today I bring you…

Giant Hogweed — Friend to Neither Skin Nor Eyes

The Giant Hogweed is hard to miss. It can grow taller than you and I. Here’s a picture from the King County, Washington website.

It kinda looks like a Queen Anne’s lace that grew outside a nuclear power plant, doesn’t it?

Giant Hogweed is a member of the carrot and parsley family, believe it or not. I have to wonder how deep the root grows, if it is more like carrots than parsley, but it looks more like parsley, so maybe it doesn’t have a large taproot. According to Wikipedia (which I hate using but come on, its so easy sometimes to write stuff without proper documentation — but this is a plant we are talking about, so the information is probably just fine), giant hogweed has tuberous roots, like a potato, so maybe it is more like a carrot after all.

Oregon counties where giant hogweed has been found.

Like some invasive species, giant hogweed was brought to Europe by the British and their fondness for flora. The giant hogweed soon escaped, because if you will notice the flowerheads, the plant gives itself an advantage to multiply by producing anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 seeds. And those seeds can survive for up to 15 years, so even if you think you have destroyed the mother plant, new babies can give you headaches for years to come.

Now, what is really all that bad about giant hogweed, you may be asking youself, it’s kind of pretty, and definitely interesting. Well, yes, it is kind of pretty and interesting, but it is also poisonous. Not that you’d eat giant hogweed, but the plant manufactures this toxic sap, that can irritate your skin. But the best part is that if sunlight hits the sap-kissed skin, the irritation will turn into painful, burning blisters that can leave purple scars that can last for years. Neat.

Oh, and if the sap gets in your eyes, you can go blind. Yeah, super. Not so pretty now, huh?

noxious weed, invasive species, poisonous, giant hogweed, carrot, parsley, Portland, Oregon, British, Europe, toxic, toxicity, plants, weeds, sap, skin irritation, blisters, blindness

So, I finally broke it to my family today, that I will not be returning home for the holidays this December. There are many reasons for this but number one is…I don’t want to deal with a Midwest winter, even for a week.

Other reasons…

1. I don’t like flying around the holidays. Way too many kids. Too much carry-on stuff to fight.

2. Flights are more expensive, and more likely to be delayed or canceled due to inclement weather. Not to mention, I really hate hanging out in an airport for more than thirty minutes, after an eight-hour delay from Midway (possibly the lamest of all airports — wait, Grand Rapids is the absolute worst, so I am not taking into consideration minor markets, so Midway is the lamest of the big market airports) to La Guardia.

3. I actually don’t enjoy Xmas or any of the holidays, except Fourth of July. What can I say, I like to light things on fire and then they go boom.

Not to mention, this is a busy time of the year for me and my video game addiction. It’s hard to explain to loved ones that sorry, I’d love to talk about that one time when I was little, but I am so close to finishing another level of Ninja Gaiden.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that commercials for video games have gotten pretty badass lately? Of course, you don’t watch television.

And again, my number one reason for not returning to the cold, continental winter season of the middle of the country is the cold, continental winter of the middle of the country. I hate to sound so callous and perhaps shallow, but seriously, winter can suck in those areas without mountains or something cool to ski down.

I remember everyone asking me, “How was your first Portland winter? Did it just rain the whole time?”

Myths dispelled…

1. It does not rain all of the time. Just most of the time, and even then it is a softer, constant rain, rather than hard, driving rain coupled with a windchill below freezing.

2. It is quite temperate here. For instance, last winter, I had calendula blooming throughout. It is November 17th, and I have zucchini coming in. It doesn’t freeze here, that often or for long.

3. If you dress appropriately, winter in Portland can be a lovely experience. The smaller streams are running high, and the light quality is reminiscent of Rivendell from the LOTR movies.

Portland, Midwest, winter, weather, rain, continent, holidays, Midway, La Guardia, Grand Rapids, family, Fourth of July, NInja Gaiden, mountains, calendula

Portland is surrounded by rivers. Sure most people just think of the Willamette and the Columbia, but you’d be missing out on the extensive river systems of our part of the Pacific Northwest.

There’s the Sandy, the Clackamas, the Deschutes…and in addition to the Columbia and the Willamette, these rivers are dammed and generating electricity for the residents of Portland. Portland General Electric operates eight dams on the aforementioned rivers except for the Columbia. However, PGE does buy power from the Bonneville Power Administration, so the Bonneville Dam is one of the many dams in the Bonneville Power Administration vast collection of dams that also powers Portland.

The Bonneville Dam, or if you prefer its full name, the Bonneville Lock and Dam, was named for Captain Benjamin Bonneville, who did a lot of exploring of the American West during the early 1830’s that paved the way for the Oregon Trail migration. The Bonneville Dam is the closest major dam to Portland, situated about 40 east of the city. Beyond the Bonneville Dam is The Dalles Dam and then the John Day Dam. They are all a part of the Bonneville Power Administration, so Portland gets power from all three dams (as well as many other, see map below).

The Bonneville Dam was built in two stages. During the Great Depression, the Army Corps of Engineers was responsible for building the first dam and lock. Meanwhile, it provided a lot of jobs to people in the area, as well as producing cheap, clean electricity. This cheap electricity attracted industry, and the Pacific Northwest grew. At the time of the Lock’s completion, it was the largest single lock in the world. The second powerhouse was built in the late 1970’s and completed in 1981. Both powerhouses can generate 1,000 MW of electricity.

Of course, as we all know now, a hydroelectric dam does have its downsides. Salmon and other native fish are inevitably disturbed when a river changes its habits. Today, less than 30% of fish habitat is accessible due to the extensive damming of the Columbia.

The true cost of electric power…

Portland, power, electricity, electric generation, power plant, Bonneville Dam, Lock, Dam, Columbia, Willamette, Sandy, Deschutes, Clackamas, rivers, river system, salmon, fish, habitat, The Dalles, John Day

Supreme Court Justices…

With the disappointing decision today to overturn two court orders that had tried to restrict the use of sonar around whales and other marine mammals by the Navy while conducting “war games” in the Pacific, I was again reminded how lucky we are to have a liberal/moderate going into the White House.

Naval sonar has been found to cause whales to beach themselves.

The average age of the United States Supreme Court is 68.5 years. The median age is 70.5 years. And we were bitching about John McCain being too old. Justice John Paul Stevens is 88, for goodness sake. He is the oldest, fo’ sho’, but 5 out of 9 Justices are older than 70. Chances are that President Obama will need to appoint a new Justice or two.

Other than Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, all other Justices were appointed by Republican Presidents. Not that Republicans always appoint in “conservative” Justices, as George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford found out once they appointed David Souter and Stevens, respectively — Souter and Stevens fall into the “liberal” wing of the Supreme Court, along with Ginsburg and Breyer.

In fact, the way the voting went in the Navy-Sonar case shows you the liberal versus conservative wings of the Supreme Court.

From Reuters via Planet Ark:

Liberal Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer dissented in part and agreed in part with the ruling, while Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter disagreed with the entire decision.

Now, I could go on about who voted what, and why, but instead I prefer to think pro-actively. I know (and don’t understand) that many people in this country feel that liberals are going to take things away from them. It’s the real trick behind the Republican/Conservative sleight-of-hand. If you look down the list of most Republican/Conservative issues, they tend to think in terms of taking certain rights away (think abortion, capital punishment, privacy) or at least curtailing them to the extent that those of us who are not conservatives must play their game with their rules.

Even if you disagree with liberalism or progressive politics, you can at least rest assured that no matter what, you will not be shoved into a corner. I mean, liberals think everything is ok, as long as you are not hurting anyone.

Which is why it is important to have balance on the United States Supreme Court. Obama is not the liberal that all those Joe’s out there are afraid of, but instead quite moderate (at least I think he will end up a moderate President when all is said and done). He is also perhaps uniquely qualified to appoint new Justices. He taught Constitutional law at the University of Chicago, one of the absolute best law schools in the country, if not the world.

That teaching gig is one of the reasons I was in favor of Obama winning the Presidency (among many, many reasons). After eight years of Bush bashing the Constitution and blacking out the parts he and his puppet masters didn’t find agreeable, this nation needs to revisit our foundation and founding principles.

If you would like to read more about today’s Supreme Court decision to overturn restrictions on Naval sonar exercises in the Pacific, you can follow this link to a pretty good article outlining the issue and the outcome. It came down to the decision that the Navy and national security are way more important than 37 species of marine mammals and the effects they will suffer despite the fact that the restrictions were not all that onerous and simply wanted the Navy to shut down the sonar when whales were within view.

Supreme Court, United States, courts, Justices, Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, Souter, age, appointments, Obama, Bush, George H W Bush, Ford, mammals, whales, marine, Pacific, California, Constitution, constitutional law, University of Chicago, John McCain, Navy, war games, training, sonar

Did you know that Portland’s drinking water is supplied by rain rather than snow melt?

You’d think living so closely to Mount Hood would mean that Portland’s water supply would come from the melting snows and glaciers of Mount Hood, but no, Portland’s water comes from our annual rains. And as there is a ridge between Mount Hood and the Bull Run Watershed, snows directly from Mt Hood cannot enter the system. Actually, a little bit of groundwater enters the system, but not much, maybe 5% of the total water.

Portland’s source for water is called the Bull Run Watershed. Portland first tapped this valuable source for clean water in 1895, and it has been providing the city with some high quality drinking water ever since that time. So high quality, in fact, that the city does not filter the water. The water may, however, take on a tint by late summer, as the reservoirs are at their lowest and running into the sediments of smaller creeks, according to the Portland Water Bureau.

The pale tint this year results from the first flush of organic material from vegetation that has been washed from the forest floor and stream channels into the reservoirs in the Bull Run watershed. Each summer the reservoirs levels diminish as the metropolitan area uses drinking water from this stored supply in the Mt. Hood National Forest. In the fall, rains return and refill the reservoirs. The Water Bureau anticipates that these rains will in turn flush the colored water from the reservoirs.

Typically, when the fall refill occurs, the reservoir levels are at their lowest. Streams flowing into the reservoirs travel farther along the creek beds to reach the reservoirs, running through sediments that are not exposed in other seasons. This can also add color to water.

And that is from a press release from 2005, so it is not clear whether this tinting happens every year. I’d suspect so. Especially now that water levels are down in general, you know, global warming and all. Then again, warmer air means more precipitation, so it could mean more water in the reservoirs at the beginning of the summer.

Now, what makes this particular watershed so clear as to not need filtration? A couple of things. First, the geology of the area is volcanic basalt that is 10 to 20 million years old and that basalt is not prone to erosion like other rock. The Bull Run River flows over this basalt from Bull Run Lake, a natural reservoir, to the City’s reservoirs. Basalt’s stability means less sediment in the water. Additionally, the area has not been over-logged. Old growth forest accounts for more than half the total area. Old growth and forestation in general hold down the soil on the hillsides, which means… less sediment in the water.

We are very lucky in Portland to have such quality in our drinking water. I can tell you, living in Chicago, after the clean waters of Michigan, Portland’s water is mighty nice. However, there are impending issues for Portland’s drinking water supply. The biggest issue for Portland, and most of the world, is of course growth.

Portland, Oregon, water supply, public, city, watershed, Bull Run, Mount Hood, Mt Hood, volcanic, basalt, growth, drinking water, reservoirs

If you live in Portland, chances are that you know someone who makes wine, or at least makes their living off of wine. Portland lies in the middle of two rather important wine regions, the Willamette Valley and the Columbia Valley. The Willamette Valley is known for top-drawer pinot noirs and the Columbia, being a bit hotter, produces some truly brilliant syrahs and cabernets, along with pinots. Please note I am generalizing for the purposes of not making this post a two-thousand word essay on Oregon and Washington wine. Both regions produce many other grapes, in addition to there being other regions within both Oregon and Washington that I am not intending to omit for any reason other than brevity.

I spent my Sunday sorting grapes at a winery out in Yamhill County. In the picture to the left, I would have been standing on the left side of the table from the point of view of the camera, but obviously, I am missing as I am taking the picture. The others in the picture include (from left) Bob, Chris, Mike and Andrew. Andrew, a Brit, is one of the interns working this harvest, or crush, as they call it in the wine-making biz, with the rest of the sorting crew being volunteers, working for the sheer pleasure of being involved in the process. Also, as the winemaker is our friend, it is also a pleasure to help out a friend. As the winery is a smallish one (producing approximatiely five to six thousand cases of wine a year, depending on the year and the amount of grapes coming in), the extra hands are usually only needed the days that the grapes come in.

This is the time of year that many of my friends are either paid employees of a winery or a particular winemaker working at a “studio” or winemaking facility, or day-volunteers working for wine and food. It really is a fun process, although getting up early in the morning on a Sunday may not sound like a whole lot of fun. And of course, it is actual work, but work in a very good, honest way. You know, getting back to our agrarian roots, becoming more acquainted with the land and its bounty, and any other cliche about farming you can think of.

We had a full day yesterday, processing about nine tons of grapes. The morning started with chardonnay grapes, and then we moved onto the pinot noir grapes that took up the rest of the day. Sorting grapes means picking out underripe and damaged grapes, leaves, stems, sticks, and stones. White wines are generally easier when it comes to the grapes, as the white grapes tend to be less finicky and fragile, whereas pinot noir grapes are very fragile due to their think skins, and they are more susceptible to water damage. And as it is the beginning of the rainy season, it is crucial to pick the grapes before too much water causes them to burst. Some years, rot plays more of a role in damaging grapes, but the “veterans” at the sorting table were happy to see so little rot, if any at all. Rain is a major factor in rot, but even with the rains we had in the last two weeks, a rainy day was usually followed by a dry day or two, thus allowing the grapes to dry out and avoid rotting on the vines.

We did have a longer-than-intended lunch break, as the last batch of grapes, about four or five of the nine tons, were late in arriving. This is what happens when the grapes are late. I love this picture. It’s Leonardo (another intern, from Argentina), Andrew, and Bob, catching a few z’s in the afternoon sun.

If you are interested in volunteering at a winery, you should contact a winery and offer your services. Obviously, this year is taken care of, and I would recommend contacting a winery during the summer, maybe in August. You can also check out craigslist. Not all wineries need the extra hands, as some of the larger wineries already employ pretty big staffs, but you never know unless you ask. It is a interesting process that can illuminate the winemaking process that perhaps many of us boozers take for granted.

Portland, Willamette Valley, Columbia Valley, wine, winemaking, Oregon, Washington, harvest, crush, sorting grapes, pinot noir, pinot, pinots, syrah, cabernet, white wine, red wine, chardonnay, intern, volunteer, Argentina, winery

A friend of mine, an almost recent transplant from Salt Lake City, told me an alarming tale. She had flipped her mattress found spots of mold on the side that had been on a floor. She scrubbed the spots with bleachy water, and decided to keep the mattress off the floor now. She’s 28, and finally bought her first bed frame when she found the mold. She joked that she’s finally an adult. No more college decor schemes using cinder blocks, either.

This isn’t my friend’s place. I just really dig this picture. Gross.

Anyway, it underscores the problem of mold, a spore-borne growth, in our homes. Some of us are quite sensitive to our little green, orange, and black friends, and my friend reported that she had been really lethargic lately and prone to sleeping all day, uncommon for her normally.

Personally, I cannot breathe out of my nose due to severe congestion, and I have totally lost my sense of smell since moving here to Portland. Also, when I moved here, I ended up in the hospital within ten days of my arrival due to a severe asthma attack (not having health insurance, the most awesome people at Legacy Good Samaritan took excellent and generous care of me — another post, another day). So yeah, I would think it is safe to say that Portland has it’s fair share of allergens.

My last summer in Chicago was also a tough time for me and my nose. I pretty much stayed inside an air-conditioned apartment for an entire summer. Lame. My doc there said that a mild winter failed to kill off the molds and the counts were astronomical that summer. Super.

Well, guess what? I moved to Portland, and it is always a mild winter that fails to kill off molds. If I am wrong about that, please correct me. I am simply using logic to develop this hypothesis.

When I look back on my life, I see a pattern. I lived in Southern California, twice, for a touch less than a year each time. I didn’t like it the first time, but thought maybe it was just my bad attitude, so tried it a second time — no, it just sucks. But one thing I never had a problem with while residing in that dry Mediterranean-like climate were allergies nor did I have any issues with my asthma. Even on the really smoggy days, but then I lived in the hills, close to the Pacific, and most of the smog seemed to settle inland in the valleys.

No matter. I am not moving back to SoCal. Ever. Ever.

I really love Portland, don’t get me wrong, but come on with the mold and fungi and lichen and moss everywhere. It is really, really lush here. Is that why my darn allergies are crazy here?

I did meet someone recently who told me that she had bad allergies for her first year here and then got over them…so maybe I just need to be patient. Or move closer to the ocean…

mold, spores, fungal growth, allergies, asthma, Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Southern California, Pacific

Scientific name: Araucaria araucana.

This is a picture of a Araucaria Araucana that can be found on 39th Avenue, south of Hawthorne in the SE. I took this picture from underneath the huge tree that is missing it’s tip-top.

I had been told that the tree was the Umbrella Pine, which it most definitely is not. The Umbrella Pine is a Japanese pine that looks very much like a pine tree. Unlike the araucaria aruacana. Which is a far removed relative from the pine family, despite the rest of the Araucaria genus does look rather pine-like.

When I moved into the Reed neighborhood, I noticed this tree on SE Schiller between 35th Ave and the Trader Joe’s on 39th Ave. It is a striking tree. Instead of needles, the tree has these terrifying scales with razor-like tips. I have kind of fallen in love with these seemingly prehistoric trees.

So today I bring you what I have discovered about this very unique tree.

The Araucaria araucana is native to Chile. It is in fact the national tree of Chile. And yes, it is indeed prehistoric, tracing it’s origins back to the The Araucaria araucana’s home range also spills over into western Argentina. The tree likes to live in temperate rainforests. And yes, you can say that Portland, Oregon is a temperate rainforest. Additionally, it likes acidic and volcanic soils. No wonder the monkey puzzle enjoys it here.

It was in botanically-obsessed Victorian England that the Araucaria araucana got its common name, Monkey Puzzle. The story goes that someone looked at the tree and commented on how the tree would be a puzzle for a monkey to climb. Good thing that monkeys do not live in the same area as araucaria araucanas. Another common name is the Chilean pine. The native people in the habitat range, the Pehuenche, that have a long history with these trees and their delicious pine nuts call the tree the Pehuen, with an accent over the second ‘e’. The tree’s pinones, the seeds contained in the female cones that grow upright on the outer ends of the tree’s branches, are a valuable source of carbohydrates for the Pehuenche.

Due it’s odd and striking appearance, the monkey puzzle has become a cultivated garden species in Europe and here in the US. In it’s native habitat, the monkey puzzle can be in mixed deciduous and evergreen forests and also in stands by themselves or even alone along cliffs like in these images. The monkey puzzle can live up to a thousand years, and can provide valuable information about the climate during the trees lifetime.

The Araucaria araucana is listed as a “vulnerable” species by the Global Trees Campaign and other conservation groups. The problem is loss of habitat due to logging and also increased pressure from fires. Fires have destroyed large portions of the forests and some say that the fires were started intentially by loggers trying to get protections lifted. The tree produces really strong wood that is naturally resistant to fungal decay in its straight trunk that can reach 50 meters or over 160 feet in heighth.

As the monkey puzzle belongs to the Araucaria genus, I checked out the 18 cousins spread across the Southern Pacific, especially in New Caledonia, and there doesn’t seem to be any other tree that quite looks like the araucana. Maybe the Araucaria hunsteinii when it is a young sapling, but most other Araucaria species have more exposed wood instead of being covered in the scales. However, when I first noticed the trees, I thought they rather looked like Norfolk pines (which my mom used to decorate around Xmas) in the tree’s shape. Wouldn’t you know it, the Norfolk Pine is a species of the Araucaria genus.

Most species of the Araucaria genus are vulnerable, threatened or endangered. It’s trade and export are regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). You can find responsible sellers of seedlings if you would like to preserve your own part of prehistoric flora.

monkey puzzle, araucaria araucana, araucaria, pine, Chile, Argentina, Oregon, temperate rainforest, Norfolk pines, Chilean pine, endangered species, genus, species, vulnerable, threatened, tree, trees, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES

I think it is safe to say that living in Portland, Oregon, or just Oregon in general, usually includes more than just a little political activism, and so today I bring to you news of impending changes to the Endangered Species Act.

If you remember as far back as your HS civics/government course, or even a US history class or two, you may have heard the term, Lame Duck. If I am going a little too elementary for you right now, I apologize, I am simply trying to add some context to what is happening in our federal government right now and for the next few months (as of this writing, that’s 133 days, 19 hours…courtesy the Official Bush Countdown clock). Lame ducks can be either of the benign and benevolent variety, a la Bill Clinton, or of the ignorant and downright irresponsible variety as we are seeing in George Dubya Bush.

By the way, has anyone seen this yet? I love it. There are others, but I think this one is really well-done, for the most part.

Back to the subject, as the issue of endangered species and their protection has come in in regards to our newest, extremist Vice presidential candidate (if you didn’t hear, she doesn’t think the polar bear should be listed as endangered since it would be inconvenient for oil and gas companies in the Arctic), I come to you today with a little advocacy. It would not be a Portland blog without some advocacy.

There is one week left to comment on proposed changes to regulations pertaining to interagency checks and balances within the Endangered Species Act. Here is a paragraph from a letter drafted by the Center for Biological Diversity for their members to send to the Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne.

The regulations you recently proposed would eliminate interagency consultation on thousands of federal projects that pose a risk to endangered and threatened species each year. The changes will almost certainly result in detrimental impacts on endangered and imperiled species and a higher propensity to overlook opportunities to avoid such impacts.

The problem with this change in particular is that the Department of the Interior or Bureau of Land Management can lease out mineral rights to the highest/lowest but someone’s friend’s coal-mining company so that public lands can make someone rich with kickbacks to whichever congressman got the company the job. Well, as the rules stand now, the BLM would have to consult with other agencies, like the Fish and Wildlife Service in order to approve mining or digging operations. That interagency “checks and balances” is a great way to ensure that a mine doesn’t open up upstream from a rare species of salmon’s spawning grounds. But if these new rules do go into effect, that requirement for multiple agencies to weigh in on what could be environmentally-devastating projects is thrown out the window. Other rule changes would limit and re-define what “effects” may be deemed harmful as well as reducing the scientific input period from 90 to 60 days. If scientists cannot or do not give an opinion in that 60-day period, the project is automatically greenlit.

This may not seem to be a big deal, but then you are living in a fantasy land if you think that oil, gas, gold, coal, silver, and anything-else-that-can-make-someone-a-profit companies would stop raping the earth because they may be harming or killing a rare and endangered bird or fish, mammal or reptile.

If you want to add your email to what should be a flood of emails to Kempthorne’s office, visit the Center for Biological Diversity here. By the way, Kempthorne cut the usual 60-day comment period to only 30-days, and he said emails wouldn’t be accepted. Why does he hate the Earth so much? Screw that guy. Email him over and over. Copy the letter from CBD and re-send it again and again.

Portland, Oregon, politics, advocacy, activism, Endangered Species Act, Department of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, Bureau of Land management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Center for Biological Diversity, lame duck, Bill Clinton, George Bush

I was trying to find out what percentage of Oregon farmland is organic, and I stumbled across the recent report from the Oregon Department of Agriculture. It’s law in Oregon to report commercial use of pesticides, and Oregon is trying a new system for reporting. More than 5,000 reporters submitted counts of almost 300,000 pesticide use.

Hmm, I wonder what the most popular pesticide is? Metam-sodium takes number one with 42 percent of all pounds used. The next two came in with nine percent and seven percent, glyphosate and copper naphthenate respectively.

Applying Metam-sodium.

Metam-sodium is a soil fumigant, which means that the chemical creates a gas that kills pests living in the soil. That’s right, a gas, like a bug bomb. The last time I checked gas doesn’t usually stay in one spot, so that leads to a fumigant being dangerous to those applying the pesticide or anyone working in that field, as well as anyone living nearby.

Checking on the toxicity of Metam-sodium, the Pesticide Action Network lists Metam-sodium as highly toxic. In fact, the PAN uses a skull to categorize Metam-sodium. The Environmental Protection Agency lists Metam-Sodium as a B2, probable cancer agent. Oh, and Metam-sodium is volatile enough to completely dissipate into the air and soil, which means no residue on your food, but that stuff is going somewhere. Metam-sodium has been in use since 1975, so I assume it is safe, right?

The weeds are fighting back!

Glyphosate is RoundUp, from our good friends at Monsanto. The patent has expired, so the glyphosate is the generic name for it. It is mostly used in forestry management. The problem is that glyphosate is non-selective (same with metam-sodium), which means that it is not selective about what it is killing. And we are using this stuff in the forest?!

This is what copper naphthenate looks like. Good thing we don't eat it, just breathe it.

Copper Naphthenate has been used since the late 1800’s as a wood preservative, in that it kills off fungi and bacteria that can destroy lumber. So again, it’s got to be safe, right? If you check out Scorecard for copper naphthenate, it is listed that four or eight basic tests have not been conducted on the chemical in order to determine safety. Also, there are gaps in coverage and data in studies on copper naphthenate. It’s moderately toxicity to humans, and very toxic to aquatic creatures, and it does contribute to indoor air pollution, as wood treated with it can release it into your home.

Just wanted to brighten everyone’s day!

Oregon, farms, organic, pesticide use, metam-sodium, glyphosate, copper naphthenate, toxicity, EPA, PAN, Scorecard, indoor air pollution, cancer agent, RoundUp, Monsanto, fumigant

Oh, heavens to Murgatroyd, I have found some ants in my metaphorical pants. I refuse to use poisons around my place, as I have cats and another person to worry about. Also, I tend a small vegetable garden so the idea of spraying something out of New Jersey around my peaceful and organic Oregon garden and yard fills me with abject fear.

So, I have done a little digging and this is what I found.

Did you know that Queen Elizabeth I used borax to bleach her skin to she could be/stay so virgin-ly white? I learned that on Jeopardy years ago.

There is a good reason that no plants are growing here.

But also and more to the point today, borax can be used as an ant killer, or deterrent. However, please note that too much borax can be just as dangerous as any other pesticide, so use wisely.

Borax is the salt of boric acid, and boric acid is known as a great way to kill things like roaches. Borax and boric acid does kill plants, so this borax trick shouldn’t be used directly in the garden.

If you mix equal parts borax powder (20 Mule Team brand borax is 99.5% straight borax and thus a good choice) with sugar, you can make a clever little drink for ants that will kill them and drive them from your house. This is the basis of the Terro ant bait/killer that is available commercially.

You can also sprinkle a little borax around the door frame to be even more uninviting to ants, but obviously, if you have kids or pets, this may not be a good idea.

There are other variations on this Sugar and Borax recipe. I found some of these tweaks on the Garden Web forum here.

Obviously, if you take care, you can avoid having to go so far as to kill ants. Keeping your kitchen clean is the best way to avoid an ant problem. Also, when you do clean around your house, use white vinegar and borax. Both options are great little cleaning agents, so this is an easy way to “go green,” per se, but also, ants don’t like the acid in vinegar and the borax will kill them. So, you see how this works. Use cleaning products that ants hate and the ants won’t hang out at your house.

Ants in the actual garden? Remember borax is technically an herbicide (that’s what makes it such a kickass cleaner, kind of like bleach — also technically an herbicide). You can try my coffee ground trick. Or go with diatomaceous earth (which is just crushed up seashells) which will kill the ants by dehydrating them from the inside. Gruesome, I know. Don’t they say that most serial killers start out by killing insects or small animals?

Ants are also adverse to other smelly things like cloves, cayenne, mint, lemon or orange oil, so you can always experiment and discover your own recipe for keeping those ants at bay.

Or plant herbs like mint or tansy to further make your garden and home uninviting.

Whatever you do, don’t buy and use products like Raid or any other pesticide that clearly states that whatever is inside the bottle is extremely dangerous to your health, your child’s health, your pet’s health, your soil’s health, the water’s health, the air’s health…

Ants, Oregon, house, borax, boric acid, organic, natural, deterrent, pesticide, herbicide, sugar, diatomaceous earth, mint, cayenne, tansy, 20 Mule Team, Terro, Raid, health