The Next G.R.O.W. Meeting

The next G.R.O.W. meeting will be on January 10 at the Bromley Room/Siuslaw Library, at 5:30 PM.  This will not conflict with a Co-op Board meeting.


Notes form the November 29the meeting:

John discussed having non-structured boards and staying as creative as possible in how it is run. Whenever there is a vote which needs to be taken regarding some important issue, we will need a quorum in order to vote, so we should decide how many people we need to make that vote count. Since our group is not run by any one particular person, it is important that we all share and have the ability to freely express our ideas, opinions and passions. As we work on the structure of this group, agendas will be formed. Anyone who wishes to be put on an agenda can contact Joann at 997-2997.

Steve informed us that Cynthia has sponsored a 1 year subscription to a web page and they have entitled it Grow-Share.org. They spent quite a bit of time trying to find something that was not being used and which kept with what this group is about. Thank you to Cynthia for this generous contribution and to Steve for working on this with her. 

Most of the group can be contacted via email, however, there are a few who do not have access to computers. Communication with them must be made by phone or mail. A phone tree has been set up with Joann, Ann and Karen. Rene also said she would help with that. Let's all talk.

John discussed a little bit about global warming and how Florence will be less affected by it. He has been doing some research on this subject and you may want to talk to him further about what he has learned. 

As we discussed, starting July, 2012, Miller Park will be closing. What this means is that there will not be the funds to upkeep the park in the same manner as it has been for many years. There will remain one full time employee who will manage the park but all others will be volunteer. As swing sets, etc. start to deteriorate to the point of becoming dangerous, they will not be replaced but taken out. It is important that all of us show our faces and support at City Hall meetings regarding this issue and what it will mean to our town. Matt Kennedy was present at the last town hall meeting and brought up the idea of creating a community garden in the park, which was met positively. How this will be accomplished requires much discussion along with creative ideas. Much good can come when we all gather together and show our support for this community garden by attending these city hall meetings. At our next meeting, we can discuss going to the next town hall meeting and being put on the agenda.

Joann will be contacting David Armstrong who might be able to offer counsel us as to how to proceed. John mentioned that creating an experimental garden in the park would help us to see what will work in that micro-climate as well as helping us to learn about new types of food we can grow here on the coast. Because the park has so few trees, creating windbreaks would help to protect the plants as well. Schools in the area could see firsthand how the garden is doing and possibly want to create their own garden, which would give the children a hands on approach to growing their own food. 

Fertilizer and compost will be ordered in January and can be picked up at Food Share. Ann and Bart will be organizing this. We will receive this in pallet lots at cost and it comes in large square bales. John and Maria will get us the pricing.

John & Maria are putting together an order for plants. He discussed a few:

1. Cornelian cherries (Dogwood), which are frost hearty, tear dropped fruits

2. Aronia bushes ($4.50 ea.) are great plants to grow. Not overly sweet but better nutritionally than cranberries. 

    "No food is more nutritious", says John.

3. Sea Buckthorn

4. Goumi Bush (Autumn Olive family) can be made into raisins when dried.  It is a nitrogen producing plant, has no mold problems, is easy to grow and very productive.

5. Mulberry- requires no pollination. Fruits in 3-4 years. When good angled limbs are maintained, the branches will not break and they product abundant fruit. ($8.00 ea)

To avoid slugs, copper tape placed around the bottom of trees works well.

Interesting books to read:

"The Gerson Therapy" - Charlotte Gerson

"Creating a Forest Garden" - Marin Crawford

"The Healing Intelligence of Essential Oils" - Kurt Schnaubelt, PhD.

We all thought showing interesting movies about the latest theories on food, etc. would be nice to incorporate in some of our meetings. 

Moderator for next meeting:  Pat Stutzman

Please come and bring your thoughts and ideas.

Climate Change Causing Tree Migration

This article was sent to me by a friend.  It is significant in that it is a larger indicator of what is happening on a smaller scale in our personal environments.

Contact: Richard Waring

richard.waring@oregonstate.edu

541-737-6087

Oregon State University

Climate change causing massive movement of tree species across the West

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A huge "migration" of trees has begun across much of

the West due to global warming, insect attack, diseases and fire, and

many tree species are projected to decline or die out in regions where

they have been present for centuries, while others move in and replace

them.

In an enormous display of survival of the fittest, the forests of the

future are taking a new shape.

In a new report, scientists outline the impact that a changing climate

will have on which tree species can survive, and where. The study

suggests that many species that were once able to survive and thrive

are losing their competitive footholds, and opportunistic newcomers

will eventually push them out.

In some cases, once-common species such as lodgepole pine will be

replaced by other trees, perhaps a range expansion of ponderosa pine

or Douglas-fir. Other areas may shift completely out of forest into

grass savannah or sagebrush desert. In central California, researchers

concluded that more than half of the species now present would not be

expected to persist in the climate conditions of the future.

"Some of these changes are already happening, pretty fast and in some

huge areas," said Richard Waring, professor emeritus at Oregon State

University and lead author of the study. "In some cases the mechanism

of change is fire or insect attack, in others it's simply drought.

"We can't predict exactly which tree (species) will die or which one

will take its place, but we can see the long-term trends and

probabilities," Waring said. "The forests of our future are going to

look quite different."

Waring said tree species that are native to a local area or region are

there because they can most effectively compete with other species

given the specific conditions of temperature, precipitation, drought,

cold-tolerance and many other factors that favor one species over

another in that location.

As those climatic conditions change, species that have been

established for centuries or millennia will lose their competitive

edge, Waring said, and slowly but surely decline or disappear.

This survey, done with remote sensing of large areas over a four-year

period, compared 15 coniferous tree species that are found widely

across much of the West in Canada and the United States. The research

explored impacts on 34 different "eco-regions" ranging from the

Columbia Plateau to the Sierra Nevada, Snake River Plain and Yukon

Highlands.

It projected which tree species would be at highest risk of

disturbance in a future that's generally expected to be 5-9 degrees

Fahrenheit warmer by 2080, with perhaps somewhat more precipitation in

the winter and spring, and less during the summer.

Among the findings:

    Some of the greatest shifts in tree species are expected to occur

in both the northern and southern extremes of this area, such as

British Columbia, Alberta, and California.

    Large declines are expected in lodgepole pine and Engelmann

spruce, and more temperate species such as Douglas-fir and western

hemlock may expand their ranges.

    Many wilderness areas are among those at risk of the greatest

changes, and will probably be the first to experience major shifts in

tree species.

    Some of the mild, wetter areas of western Oregon and Washington

will face less overall species change than areas of the West with a

harsher climate.

    More than half of the evergreen species are experiencing a

significant decrease in their competitiveness in six eco-regions.

    Conditions have become more favorable for outbreaks of diseases and insects.

    Warming will encourage growth at higher elevations and latitudes,

and increased drought at the other extremes. Fire frequency will

continue to increase across the West, and any tree species lacking

drought resistance will face special challenges.

"Ecosystems are always changing at the landscape level, but normally

the rate of change is too slow for humans to notice," said Steven

Running, the University of Montana Regents Professor and a co-author

of the study. "Now the rate of change is fast enough we can see it."

Even though the rate of change has increased, these processes will

take time, the scientists said. A greater stability of forest

composition will not be attained anytime soon, perhaps for centuries.

"There's not a lot we can do to really control these changes," Waring

said. "For instance, to keep old trees alive during drought or insect

attacks that they are no longer able to deal with, you might have to

thin the forest and remove up to half the trees. These are very

powerful forces at work."

One of the best approaches to plan for an uncertain future, the

researchers said, is to maintain "connective corridors" as much as

possible so that trees can naturally migrate to new areas in a

changing future and not be stopped by artificial boundaries.

###

Also collaborating on the research was Nicholas Coops at the

University of British Columbia. The work has been supported by NASA,

and the study is being published in two professional journals,

Ecological Modeling and Remote Sensing of Environment.