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• 1. [Article] Historical and Existing Vascular and Bryophyte Flora, Former Blue Heron Paper Mill, Willamette Falls, Oregon City, Oregon

  Willamette Falls has long been a focus of botanical interest, but industrial development at the site has limited public access for over a century. The closure of the Blue Heron paper mill on the south ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Historical and Existing Vascular and Bryophyte Flora, Former Blue Heron Paper Mill, Willamette Falls, Oregon City, Oregon Author: Christy, John A., Gaddis, Philip Year: 2015 Willamette Falls has long been a focus of botanical interest, but industrial development at the site has limited public access for over a century. The closure of the Blue Heron paper mill on the south bank of the river, and proposed redevelopment of the site, has given planners an opportunity to revisit this part of the falls and identify its current flora. As part of the preconstruction planning process for public access to the falls, Metro contracted John Christy to document the historical and existing vascular flora on the site, and Philip Gaddis joined us to document the bryophyte flora. For millennia, the falls has been a magnet for fishing, settlement, and more recent industrial development. Photographs by Carleton Watkins show that the south bank of the river at Willamette Falls had been modified for industrial uses as early as 1867. Infrastructure included dams and spillways to create a boat basin, and millraces to power a sawmill, gristmill, and woolen mill. Later, paper mills and electrical generating stations were built on both sides of the falls. These activities concentrated at the falls have impacted all native habitat except vertical cliff faces on basalt outcrops along the river. Significant portions of the shoreline at the Blue Heron site have been modified by fill. Remaining habitat in natural or semi-natural condition includes areas hydrated by tidal action of the Willamette River, areas of seasonal or perennial seepage below spillways and the old grinders, and basalt outcrops with varying exposures. The basalt outcrops are a relic of the Bretz or Missoula Floods (Allen et al. 1986), and exposures along this part of the Willamette River provide outlier habitat for both mesic and xeric species more common in the Columbia River Gorge (Detling 1958). Willamette Falls has a similar history to that of Niagara Falls in terms of industrial development, presence of a rock substrate supporting disjunct populations of rare plants, and botanical exploration that occurred primarily between 1885 and 1915 (Eckel 2013). Title: Historical and Existing Vascular and Bryophyte Flora, Former Blue Heron Paper Mill, Willamette Falls, Oregon City, Oregon Author: Christy, John A., Gaddis, Philip Year: 2015 Willamette Falls has long been a focus of botanical interest, but industrial development at the site has limited public access for over a century. The closure of the Blue Heron paper mill on the south bank of the river, and proposed redevelopment of the site, has given planners an opportunity to revisit this part of the falls and identify its current flora. As part of the preconstruction planning process for public access to the falls, Metro contracted John Christy to document the historical and existing vascular flora on the site, and Philip Gaddis joined us to document the bryophyte flora. For millennia, the falls has been a magnet for fishing, settlement, and more recent industrial development. Photographs by Carleton Watkins show that the south bank of the river at Willamette Falls had been modified for industrial uses as early as 1867. Infrastructure included dams and spillways to create a boat basin, and millraces to power a sawmill, gristmill, and woolen mill. Later, paper mills and electrical generating stations were built on both sides of the falls. These activities concentrated at the falls have impacted all native habitat except vertical cliff faces on basalt outcrops along the river. Significant portions of the shoreline at the Blue Heron site have been modified by fill. Remaining habitat in natural or semi-natural condition includes areas hydrated by tidal action of the Willamette River, areas of seasonal or perennial seepage below spillways and the old grinders, and basalt outcrops with varying exposures. The basalt outcrops are a relic of the Bretz or Missoula Floods (Allen et al. 1986), and exposures along this part of the Willamette River provide outlier habitat for both mesic and xeric species more common in the Columbia River Gorge (Detling 1958). Willamette Falls has a similar history to that of Niagara Falls in terms of industrial development, presence of a rock substrate supporting disjunct populations of rare plants, and botanical exploration that occurred primarily between 1885 and 1915 (Eckel 2013). Close

• 2. [Article] Wet Meadow Plant Associations, Double O Unit, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon

  This report summarizes vegetation data collected in July 2015 in wet meadow and marshy habitats on the Double O Unit of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR). Because vegetation sampled at the Double ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Wet Meadow Plant Associations, Double O Unit, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon Author: Christy, John A. Year: 2016 This report summarizes vegetation data collected in July 2015 in wet meadow and marshy habitats on the Double O Unit of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR). Because vegetation sampled at the Double O was wetter and more alkaline than wet meadows sampled at the south end of the refuge in 2012 and 2013 (Christy 2014), data from the Double O Unit were analyzed and summarized separately. A total of 83 plots were sampled in 2015, and analysis of the data identified 14 plant associations: Alopecurus aequalis - Juncus balticus, Alopecurus pratensis - Potentilla anserina, Carex praegracilis - Juncus balticus, Cicuta douglasii - Carex nebrascensis, Distichlis spicata - Amphiscirpus nevadensis, Distichlis spicata - Nitrophila occidentalis, Eleocharis palustris - Juncus balticus, Eleocharis rostellata, Juncus balticus - Glaux maritima, Hippuris vulgaris - Triglochin maritima, Leymus triticoides - Juncus balticus, Schoenoplectus americanus, Spartina gracilis, and Triglochin maritima. Plant associations spanned a wetland gradient from seasonally moist to seasonally or perennially flooded, but surface water had left most stands at time of sampling. Mean Wetland Indicator Status scores and species composition help to place the plant associations within gradients in soil moisture and alkalinity. Seven of the 14 plant associations are listed in the International Vegetation Classification, and the remaining types are provisional Title: Wet Meadow Plant Associations, Double O Unit, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon Author: Christy, John A. Year: 2016 This report summarizes vegetation data collected in July 2015 in wet meadow and marshy habitats on the Double O Unit of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR). Because vegetation sampled at the Double O was wetter and more alkaline than wet meadows sampled at the south end of the refuge in 2012 and 2013 (Christy 2014), data from the Double O Unit were analyzed and summarized separately. A total of 83 plots were sampled in 2015, and analysis of the data identified 14 plant associations: Alopecurus aequalis - Juncus balticus, Alopecurus pratensis - Potentilla anserina, Carex praegracilis - Juncus balticus, Cicuta douglasii - Carex nebrascensis, Distichlis spicata - Amphiscirpus nevadensis, Distichlis spicata - Nitrophila occidentalis, Eleocharis palustris - Juncus balticus, Eleocharis rostellata, Juncus balticus - Glaux maritima, Hippuris vulgaris - Triglochin maritima, Leymus triticoides - Juncus balticus, Schoenoplectus americanus, Spartina gracilis, and Triglochin maritima. Plant associations spanned a wetland gradient from seasonally moist to seasonally or perennially flooded, but surface water had left most stands at time of sampling. Mean Wetland Indicator Status scores and species composition help to place the plant associations within gradients in soil moisture and alkalinity. Seven of the 14 plant associations are listed in the International Vegetation Classification, and the remaining types are provisional Close