September 17 Proclaimed “Oregon Sea Grant Day” by Governor Kitzhaber

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Joe Cone

Oregon Sea Grant, the coastal and marine research and education program based at Oregon State University (OSU), celebrates its fortieth anniversary September 17, and Governor John Kitzhaber has proclaimed the date “Oregon Sea Grant Day.”

(Read the proclamation – .pdf format)

The proclamation recognizes the program for forging a “dynamic partnership” with the Oregon University System, the State of Oregon, Oregon coastal communities, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since September 1971.

“Oregon Sea Grant funds top-quality research with high relevance to society,” the proclamation reads, “as part of an integrated program of research, education, Extension, and public science communication.”

Many Oregonians come in contact with the program at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, through the public education and free-choice learning activities which Sea Grant leads. Over the last 40 years these programs have engaged more than 11 million visitors and hundreds of thousands of Oregon school children.

Still others are familiar with Sea Grant from contact with its OSU Extension faculty, many of them located in coastal communities. The program also produces publications, videos, and Web-based media on a wide range of ocean and coastal topics, from tsunamis to fisheries and from healthy ecosystems to the effects of climate change.

“Everything we do is intended to help Oregonians understand, conserve, and wisely use ocean and coastal resources,” said Stephen Brandt, Sea Grant director. “That mission has been a constant.”

OSU President Ed Ray acknowledged the Governor’s day, offering Brandt his congratulations “for this most appropriate recognition of such an important and accomplished program.”

Although Sea Grant had begun in Oregon in 1968, in 1971, when the program was officially designated a “college program” under NOAA, OSU President Robert MacVicar journeyed to Washington, D.C. to meet personally with federal officials, among them Robert Abel, then director of the national office of Sea Grant. Abel lauded Oregon Sea Grant for the “highest degree of effectiveness in its program.”

Oregon’s federal funding was the largest of the four programs designated in 1971 (others were in Washington, Texas, and Rhode Island.) Today Sea Grant programs are found in every coastal state; and Oregon’s is still widely considered one of the very top programs.

View a slideshow of historic Sea Grant photos on Flickr

West Coast Sea Grant Fellows Launch Blog

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Eric Dickey

Four West Coast Governors’ Agreement (WCGA) Sea Grant Fellows, hired in the spring of 2011 for two-year assignments, have launched a blog at www.westcoastoceans.wordpress.com to share their perspectives and relevant news about the region’s coastline and marine resources. The blog launches with several articles, ranging from coastal and marine spatial planning to the WCGA meeting held in Seattle in June of 2011 to a National Ocean Council listening session held in the state of Washington.

Outside magazine profiles Sea Grant’s Pat Corcoran

Posted on September 8, 2011 by kightp

PITY POOR CASSANDRA, blessed by Apollo with the power of prophecy, cursed with the fate of disbelief. She tells the people what’s coming. She suffers their laughter, absorbs their scorn. Then she watches her prediction come true. Yeah, you told us so, they’ll say as they bury the dead. Congratulations, jerk.

Patrick Corcoran feels her pain. It’s his job. Every day, he rises at dawn and goes out into the world to tell people to prepare to meet their doom. Or, rather, to prepare to escape it.

Corcoran is a professional geographer in Astoria, Oregon, a misty fishing port where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. He’s a high-energy guy, 50, with a little Billy Bob Thornton to his look. Loves his job and loves his coffee. Drives around in his Toyota Tacoma all day with an 11.5-foot-long Takayama paddleboard strapped to the rack. He’s a coastal natural-hazards specialist with Oregon Sea Grant, a marine version of an agricultural extension service affiliated with Oregon State University. Corcoran prophesies earthquakes and tsunamis five days a week. …

(Read the whole article at Outside Online...)

A Tsunami on the Columbia

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Nathan Gilles

What might happen if a nearshore tsunami caused by a local earthquake were to travel from the Oregon coast up the Columbia River? That was the focus of a recent research workshop funded by Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University (OSU), August 15-16.

“We know tsunamis can penetrate along rivers for long distances,” said OSU tsunami expert Harry Yeh, the workshop organizer. But, said Yeh, tsunami penetration up rivers has been largely unexplored until now.

“In the coastal plain they [tsunamis] can penetrate 2 to 5 kilometers [about 1 to 3 miles], but with the river they can penetrate up to 10 kilometers [about 6 miles] no problem.”

The Oregon Coast lies along the Cascadia subduction zone, a fault line that stretches from Northern California to British Columbia. The Cascadia subduction zone is similar to the subduction zone that caused Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurs along the Cascadia subduction zone once every 300-500 years. It had its most recent earthquake in 1700. This expected earthquake would most likely be accompanied by a tsunami, which could affect the Columbia River, said Yeh.

The 18 workshop attendees were asked by Yeh to model a section of the Columbia that stretches from Astoria, Oregon at the coast all the way to the Bonneville Dam. Yeh said the idea was to gather general data that could be used in future tsunami modeling.

“We are not trying to do detailed models of say Astoria or Longview, for instance,” said Yeh. “Though, I think that’s next step.”

Many of Oregon’s coastal communities could one day feel the affects of a tsunami. Communities that could be flooded or inundated by tsunamis have been mapped by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries into inundation zones. But these inundation maps don’t include the Columbia, said Yeh. Instead the maps stop at Astoria, which lies at the mouth of the Columbia. The workshop’s exploration of what might happen if a Tsunami penetrated the Columbia could change how tsunami inundation maps are made in the future, said Yeh.

“This work is very theoretical, very academic, but it has direct consequences and real applications, which is why I feel like this is important work,” said Yeh.

Events at the recent workshop included presentations by Yinglong Joseph Zhang of Oregon Health and Science University on how far a tsunami could penetrate the Columbia, as well as a presentation by David Jay of Portland State University, on the hydrodynamics of the river. Workshop discussions also included comparing different tsunami modeling techniques including those used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and those used by the Japanese government.

Of particular interest to Yeh himself is a stretch of the Columbia that starts at Astoria and follows the Columbia until it turns south toward Portland at Longview, Oregon. Yeh says the bathmetry, or depth of the water in this area is very complex and includes marshes, and islands and other complex topography, which makes modeling complex. The islands, marshes, and other elements of the river’s landscape will play into what is known as the friction effect, which Yeh lead a discussion on during the workshop.

Yeh’s workshop also examined the affect the movement of the tide could have on a tsunami traveling from the Pacific Ocean to the Columbia River. Whether the tide is coming in or out could be very important, said Yeh.

Of particular interest to researchers at the workshop was whether a tsunami could reach Portland, Oregon.

“Even in the Portland area residents could feel the affects of a tsunami,” said Yeh. “Although this affect is going to be very small, it is going to be measurable.”

Yeh recently returned from Japan where he witnessed the results of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country, including how the recent tsunami traveled up the Kitakami River.

Yeh, who started studying tsunamis in 1985, saw the results of a tsunami first hand in 1992 after a large tsunami hit Nicaragua. His past research has included Oregon Sea Grant funded work with fellow OSU Professor Daniel Cox. In 2009, Cox created a model of the coastal Oregon city of Seaside that he, with the help of Yeh, then inundated with a simulated tsunami using the university’s O.H Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory, a facility that contains a wave machine capable of creating scaled facsimiles of tsunamis. The model town received a scaled-down version of a tsunami that could hit Seaside if the Cascadia subduction zone experiences a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

Yeh said the workshop went well and has resulted in a further collaboration between himself and several workshop attendees.

New on DVD! Cascade Head / Scenic Research Area

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Stevon Roberts

Grab your hiking boots and binoculars! This video will take you on a scenic and historical walk through the beautiful prairie headlands, forests, and grassy marshes of Cascade Head and the adjoining Salmon River estuary.

Ever heard of Pixieland? Kami Ellingson, from the Siuslaw National Forest, will take us on a guided tour of the complex history of commercial and residential developments that once threatened to pave paradise.

Stay on the trails, because that little blue violet up on the headlands feeds the Oregon silverspot caterpillar, one of four threatened or endangered animal species that live here. The Nature Conservancy’s Debbie Pickering tells us the butterfly’s story.

Back in the marshes, NOAA Fisheries scientist Dan Bottom describes the history of a massive habitat-restoration project, in which dikes were removed from the estuary in the hope of improving salmon runs. Western Oregon University Professor Karen Haberman shares her Sea-Grant sponsored research in the marsh–an unusual focus area with surprising consequences.

And finally, Eric Vines gives us a tour of the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, one of the many recreational opportunities at Cascade Head.

The full program is available on DVD from the Oregon State University Marketplace

Exclusive: Watch a short featurette not included on this DVD: Salmon River Marsh / Undergraduate Field Experiences (about 2 mins)

NOAA and community dedicate new Marine Operations Center

Posted on August 20, 2011 by kightp

NEWPORT – From federal dignitaries to small children – with lots of uniformed NOAA Corps officers, local fishermen and shop keepers, retirees, scientists, Oregon State University administrators and construction workers thrown in – Newport turned out under dazzling blue skies today to formally dedicate the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Marine Operations Center – Pacific.

About the only ones who didn’t make it to the party were the research and survey vessels that will call the new facility home. It’s the height of the research season for them, and they and their crews are out at sea.

When they return to port, they’ll find a $38 million, state-of-the art facility with everything needed to support and maintain NOAA’s high-tech Pacific research vessels – and a community that seems absolutely thrilled to have them here for at least the next 20 years. If the “Welcome NOAA” signs that have popped up all over town during the past two years weren’t enough proof of that, the enthusiastic crowd was.

The formal dedication took place in a tent big enough to seat 560 people. Every chair appeared to be filled, and the overflow stood outside in the sunshine and listened as speakers – from Port of Newport General Manager Don Mann to US Congressmen, Oregon’s governor and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco (herself an Oregonian) praised the community for its unified support of the project, the contractors and engineers for bringing it in on time, under budget and with a stellar safety record, and NOAA for bringing jobs and economic development that will bolster the community’s already strong reputation as a center for marine research.

Then it was back outside, where those who’d spoken pulled the ropes to unfurl a banner labeling the facility’s headquarters building – almost. One corner got stuck, despite Dr. Lubchenco’s best effort to yank it free, and finally had to be freed by a NOAA Corps officer who went inside, opened a window and freed the stuck corner, to applause from the crowd.

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to tours of the facility, its small museum of precious NOAA artifacts, exhibits by NOAA’s component organizations (the National Weather Service, NOAA Fisheries, etc.), and strolling out onto the huge new docks and enjoying the sunshine. Dr. Lubchenco boarded a crabbing boat, the Delma Ann, for a quick trip over to the Port of Newport, where she was briefed on the success of a lost-gear retrieval project funded by a $790,000 NOAA grant. (An Oregon Sea Grant pilot project in 2007 helped pave the way for that effort.)

The weekend celebration continues on Sunday, with an open house from 11 am to 4 pm. It’s a rare opportunity for the public to see the facility, which will be closed to the public except for special occasions and organized tours.

Oregon Sea Grant video cover wins Silver Award

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Rick Cooper

The cover for Oregon Sea Grant’s video Preparing for Coastal Climate Change: What Oregonians Are Asking has won a Silver Award in the “Best Cover—Print/Other” category of the 2011 Magnum Opus Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Custom Media. There were 560 entries in this year’s competition, and the Silver Award was the top award given in the “Best Cover” category.

According to Magnum Opus, professors from the Missouri School of Journalism, along with leading custom-publishing professionals, judge the awards based on “informational and entertainment value, quality of writing and display copy, creative use of imagery and typography, and consistency of color palette and style.”

David Murray, director of the awards competition and editor-in-chief of ContentWise, said, “Your entry shone bright among an incredibly competitive field and bested the work submitted by your peers in the practice of marketing communications from around the globe. You should be proud.”

The jacket and label for Preparing for Coastal Climate Change were designed by Patricia Andersson of Oregon Sea Grant. The video was produced by Joe Cone, assistant director of Oregon Sea Grant; edited by Stevon Roberts; and supported in part by a grant from the NOAA Climate Program Office.

Copies of the video are available for $3 each plus shipping and handling from Oregon Sea Grant, 541-737-4849; or through Oregon Sea Grant’s e-commerce site at marketplace.oregonstate.edu. You may also view excerpts of the video on Sea Grant’s website.

Oregon Sea Grant fact sheets win Apex Award of Excellence

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Rick Cooper

A set of nine Oregon Sea Grant fact sheets about low impact development has won an Award of Excellence in the “Green” Electronic Media and Video category of the 2011 Apex Awards.

According to Apex, there were 3,329 entries in this year’s competition. Awards were based on “excellence in graphic design, editorial content, and the success of the entry — in the opinion of the judges — in achieving overall communications effectiveness and excellence.”

The fact sheets, which cover low impact construction techniques to enhance water quality and quantity, were written by Derek Godwin and Marissa Sowles of Oregon Sea Grant Extension, along with Maria Cahill of Green Girl Development. Oregon Sea Grant’s Patricia Andersson designed the layout template, and Rick Cooper edited the publications and coordinated production.

All nine low impact development fact sheets are available for free download from Oregon Sea Grant at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpubs/onlinepubs.html#new.

Campground education helps slow spread of invasives via firewood

Posted on June 24, 2011 by kightp

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon Sea Grant researchers have found that a focused education and outreach campaign targeted at something most people can easily relate to – campfires and the firewood burned in campgrounds – contributes to behavioral changes to slow the spread of invasive species.

The study, the first of its kind in the U.S., was part of a two-year campaign led by invasive species councils in Oregon, Idaho and Washington to encourage people not to transport firewood.

Many insects and diseases that threaten natural resources in the Pacific Northwest can lie dormant, on or in firewood for up to two years, and researchers discovered that some firewood sold or brought to Oregon originated from as far away as the East Coast of the U.S., New Zealand and Russia.

Before the study started, entomologists associated with the project found 20 specimens of live invasive species in just six bundles of firewood purchased at grocery stores.

The study assessed the effectiveness of the educational campaign, as well as how much campers know about firewood as a vector of invasive species, the sources of firewood transported to campgrounds, and how campers can play a role in slowing the spread of invasive species.

“We wanted something that would clearly represent the problem, and we felt that firewood is so iconic that using it as an educational tool would help people better understand that humans are vectors of invasive species,” said Sam Chan, Sea Grant’s invasive species and watershed health specialist at Oregon State University. “Campers transporting firewood across borders and ecosystems can unknowingly spread invasive species.”

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