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Highland Wonders Field Trip: Mushroom Mosey, Fall Edition!

Back for a new season!

After leading a fascinating introduction to mushroom ecology, characteristics and foraging practices this spring, Elliot Phillips and Amber Kauffman are excited to come back for a second fungi-focused forest frolic, featuring the fungi of the Fall!

Curious about the location? So are we! All we know at this time is that we will be in the Okanogan Highlands. The details will be revealed by the mushrooms themselves the week of the event.

If you are interested in learning more, please send us a quick email at info@okanoganhighlands.org and we will keep you updated (via email) with all the details as the date nears.

Action Alert! USFS Buckhorn Project 30-Day Public Scoping, August 5, 2024

We encourage you to seize this opportunity to share your voice with the Forest Service! It is not often that we are able to contribute to management planning on such a local level, and the outcome of the planning will impact the Okanogan Highlands and larger region for many years to come. 

The scoping letter outlines the planned management activities, which are related to projects involving restoring forest conditions, reducing hazardous fuels, and recreation.

Many of the planned forest management activities are being classified under an Emergency Action Determination, which means that there will be less opportunity for public input for these activities. This is why your input is especially important now!

Your letter does not need to be perfect, just clear, and as specific as possible. It’s great to encourage the strengths you found in the plan as well as point out the weaknesses, missing pieces, and your concerns. 

Thank you for participating, your voice matters! 

Where are we in the process? SCOPING

Scoping is required by federal agencies considering actions in order to determine the scope of the issues to be addressed in the environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS). Scoping helps the agency determine the likely significance of action impacts. 

The agency must consider:

  1. Direct impacts: these are impacts “caused by the action and occur at the same time and place.” (these might be things like: impacts of roads used in timber removal on riparian ecosystems)
  2. Indirect impacts: these are impacts that “are caused by actions and are later in time or farther removed in the distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable.”  (these are things like: impacts of ATV traffic on wildlife habitat)
  3. Cumulative impacts: these are impacts that “result from the incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions, regardless of what agency or person undertakes such actions.” (these are things like: the combined impact on the environment of the Buckhorn Project together with mining exploration in a similar or the same area)

During SCOPING, it is important to include everything you can think of that might be worth studying in preparation for this project. Make sure to describe how and why the impacts you’re concerned about may be harmful.

  • Consider impacts on: people, water quality, subsistence, habitats, sensitive species, etc.
  • Consider impacts that are significant: they will affect a lot of people or a few people severely
  • Consider impacts that are reasonably foreseeable: they are likely to result from the proposed project.

Links to More Information:

USFS Buckhorn Project Website

Okanogan Land and Resource Management Plan (1989)

Okanogan County Community Wildfire Protection Plan

Executive Order 14072 “Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies” (2022)

USDA FS Draft EIS “National Old-Growth Amendment” (June 2024)

Suggested outline for your letter:

Impact: Introduce yourself, explain why you are writing, and the potential impacts that concern you. Remember, these impacts could be things such as: recreation, wildlife, visual quality, water quality or quantity, forest health, etc. Here are some tips:

    1. Be as specific as you can be by stating the direct, indirect, or cumulative impact you want studied. Examples might include:
      • Analyses of the habitat requirements for canada lynx, pileated woodpecker, white tail deer, or other wildlife that you value in the project area
      • Analyses of the cumulative impacts of mining pollution (from existing mines) and mining exploration in the project area.
      • Analyses of and plans for control for noxious weeds in the project area.
      • Analyses of the impacts of planned actions on the quality and quantity of recreational opportunities in the project area.
    2. Avoid stating an opinion (i.e. “I oppose…”, “I do not believe that…”, “I fear…”)

Significance: Describe the significance of the impact.

    1. Define the breadth of the scoping necessary to adequately address the significance of the impact in terms of time, geography, and populations impacted. Examples might include:
      • Consideration of impacts on indigenous peoples’ rights to hunt, fish, and gather on the “North Half” of the Colville Reservation.
      • Consideration of impacts of planned actions on sensitive habitats (e.g. wetlands and riparian habitats) and sensitive or rare species.
      • Consideration of the different management strategies that are necessitated by geographic or topographic variations in habitats (e.g. south-facing cliffs will support a different species composition than a nearby north-facing meadow)
      • Consideration of impacts on quality of life for residents and visitors in terms of forest health, recreation, landscape beauty, and livelihoods.

Foreseeable: Provide support as to why this impact is foreseeable.

    1. Link the proposed project to effects that are reasonably foreseeable. For example: 
      • Current conditions that warrant concern, such as tree/wildlife disease, wildfire, noxious weeds, impacts of a changing climate.
      • Examples of impacts of similar actions that have been undertaken in other areas.
    2. As much as possible, provide supporting information or relevant research when arguing potential harms of the impact.

Alternatives: Discuss alternatives that you want the study to consider, including: (a) other reasonable courses of action, (b) the proposal with mitigations, (c) no action.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): Traditional ecological knowledge can be used to evaluate the environmental impacts of a proposal and to develop alternatives. Some examples include subsistence harvest practices, subsistence resources that may be affected by the project, knowledge of migratory patterns of fish wildlife, etc.

As you write your letter, if you have questions or ideas that you would like to share or run by us, send us an email at: info@okanoganhighlands.org

Highland Wonders Field Trips: April-June, 2024

We are so excited to explore the Okanogan Highlands, learning about the marvels of local species and ecosystems! We hope you can join one or more of these field trips. Please RSVP to info@okanoganhighlands.org to  let us know you are coming, and we will send along ALL the details about the day.

Podcast! Eager Beavers S4:E3

…with Alexa Whipple, director of the Methow Beaver Project

 
Our furry, toothy friends, nature’s flat-tailed engineers, the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) is native throughout this continent, and once populated our region in great numbers. Over the last two hundred years the fur trade and the general perception that beavers are pests have decimated populations. The future is looking brighter for beavers, however, as people like Alexa Whipple and organizations like the Methow Beaver Project are making great strides in demonstrating the value of beavers for the many ways they support communities, livelihoods, and biodiversity. The life history of beavers and the ways that they change their habitat to meet their own needs also happens to contribute to water conservation, improve water quality, restore and maintain habitat for countless other species, contribute to wildfire resilience, mitigate climate change, and more. As beavers gain more positive attention for their ecological values, policy makers are looking to do their part to change the way beavers are perceived and managed on a Washington State-wide level. Have a listen!

Methow Beaver Project: https://methowbeaverproject.org/

 

This podcast is produced by Okanogan Highlands Alliance. For more information or to support OHA, visit our website: okanoganhighlands.org

Find the Highland Wonders Podcast:

   
Episode Art by Diana Weddle

Podcast! Birdwatching Is For You (Who Me? Yes, You!) S4:E2

…with Alex Feinberg, birdwatcher and software engineer with Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird Program

 
This episode is inspired, in part, by the Great Backyard Bird Count, a worldwide citizen science effort organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Audubon Society and Birds Canada to observe and record wild birds all over the world. It doesn’t matter what level you are, everyone is welcome and encouraged to join a worldwide community of bird fans and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which takes place mid-February each year. This podcast episode will help you prepare to participate or to take on birding adventures of your own any time of the year!

Over the course of the next 20 minutes, Alex Feinberg, avid birdwatcher and software programmer with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program, shares his experiences learning to birdwatch, and how the vast and varied bird resources developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology can help you learn. By the end you will be ready to let your birding career take flight.

We hope that you are inspired to get outside, watch birds, listen for birds, and join the worldwide community of bird fans, not just for the Great Backyard Bird Count, but for a whole lifetime of birdy adventures!

For more about The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and to explore their resources, check out their website: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home

To get involved, check out the Great Backyard Bird Count: https://www.birdcount.org/

This podcast is produced by Okanogan Highlands Alliance. For more information or to support OHA, visit our website: okanoganhighlands.org

Find the Highland Wonders Podcast:

Podcast Art by Martina Graves

Our Native Bees (and Other Pollinators) with David Jennings

 

Event Details:

  • Friday, March 29, 2024 at 6:30 pm
  • Dinner, benefitting the CCC from 5-6:15 pm $15/plate
  • Community Cultural Center of Tonasket, 411 Western Ave. Tonasket, WA
  • Presentation is Free to the Public

Event Description:

Most of our native bees are so small and fast-moving that we often don’t notice them, or if we do, we don’t recognize them as bees. Estimates are that we have upwards of 650 species of native bees here in Washington State, but only about 500 have been identified to species. Yet bees are a keystone species: without them, whole ecosystems falter. David will provide an overview of pollination, explain why native bees are vital, and share identification tips for common bumble bees. Join in a discussion on how we can meaningfully support our local pollinators.

David Jennings has an academic background in wildlife ecology and conservation from the University of Georgia and a MPH in Biostatistics from the University of Oklahoma. He is a former WA State Fish and Wildlife Commissioner. David is the current President of the Washington Native Bee Society, and a past president of the Washington Butterfly Association and the Gifford Pinchot Task Force. Currently, he also serves on Black Hills Audubon Society’s conservation committee.

If you missed this event, you can catch it on OHA’s Youtube Channel! Click here to go straight to David’s March, 2024 presentation.

Selected Slides featuring Local Bumblebees from David Jennings’ Talk, March, 2024

Questions? Send Jen an email: jen@okaonganhighlands.org

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