Environment - Page 23

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com Tens of thousands of people, glued to a live-streamed video feed, watched in horror three months ago as one peregrine falcon chick after another fell from their nest on a rock face near Yaquina Head lighthouse just north of Newport. But only falconer Dave Cherry saw all of what happened next as he guided the transformation

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com Since 2013, only seven humpback whales are known to have become tangled with commercial crabbing gear in Oregon’s coastal waters. The number seems small, but humpbacks are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. So unless Oregon creates a plan to monitor and limit future entanglements, the federal government could move to shut down the state’s

By MICHELLE KLAMPE/OSU News Service The National Science Foundation has selected Oregon State University and the University of Washington to lead a research program focused on increasing resiliency among coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest coastline is at significant risk of earthquakes from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which stretches nearly 700 miles along the coast from

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com NEWPORT — In the inky darkness a couple hundred miles off the Oregon coast, Lisa Ballance slept soundly as the research expedition she led sailed toward Hawaii in search of a species of whale never before identified alive in the wild. Then, just after 4:30 a.m., Ballance awoke with a start when the constant thrum of

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com Two types of swallows enjoyed more housing options in Yachats this year, thanks to the work of residents Jim Welch and Wally Orchard. In early spring, as part of project SWIFTY (Swallows In Flight To Yachats), the pair installed 54 new nesting boxes designed for use by tree and violet-green swallows. In addition to these, the

By Victoria Sanchez/OU News Service The University of Oregon has partnered with the state to build a web-based platform that directs Oregon coastal communities to evacuation routes in the event of a tsunami. The UO InfoGraphics Lab and Location Innovation Lab have been working with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries and the Northwest Association of Networked Oregon Observing Systems to develop the platform. The website is now live and ready for residents to

By MICHELLE KLAMPE/OSU News Service NEWPORT – Core samples taken from a stand of old growth Douglas-fir trees in an area just south of Newport show reduced growth following the 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the Pacific Northwest in 1700. The physical evidence from the Douglas-fir tree rings confirms modeling that depicts the reach of the January 1700

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com NEWPORT — The 50,000 people who visit the Hatfield Marine Science Center annually are introduced to all kinds of cutting-edge research, which touches on everything from aquaculture and climate change science to ocean acidification and bio-invasives. What they don’t see, however, is the complex web of pumps and pipes that provides multiple agencies with the 1

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com An improved forecast for returns of fall Chinook to central coast streams means that daily and season bag limits are increasing for the first time in two years. Poor forecasts by the Oregon Department Fish and Wildlife in 2019 and 2020 meant limits on most coastal streams were one wild, fall Chinook a day and five

By BRADLEY PARKS/Oregon Public Broadcasting Low oxygen levels measured off the coast of Oregon and Washington are raising fears of large “dead zones” that could wipe out crabs and bottom-dwelling fish within. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday that researchers have detected unseasonably low oxygen levels in a large area off the Pacific coast. Year after year