The Applegater

Applegater Spring 2015 1 SPRING 2015 Volume 8, No. 1 Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 10,500 Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine Photo by Dakota Kappen www.applegater.org Applegate Valley Community Newspaper, Inc. P.O. Box 14 Jacksonville, OR 97530 Celebrating Years Nonprofit Org US Postage PAID Permit #125 Medford OR ECRWSS Local Postal Customer In November 2014, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released their final recovery plan for our region's coho salmon. These southern Oregon and Northern California coastal coho, often referenced as the "SONCC Coho" to avoid top-heavy sentences, inhabit only the watersheds of our mythical State of Jefferson. e plan is heavy with nomenclature and population recovery modeling, and I've already had to use two acronyms in as many sentences just to introduce it. However, it is also the story of a survival struggle—within our watershed, on our properties, and by a neighbor whose family has lived in the area much longer than we have. Talk to an old-timer or read historic field journals on the Rogue Basin, and you will hear the stories of salmon "so thick you could walk on their backs and fish with a pitchfork." As this Final SONCC Coho Recovery Plan states: "Not long ago, these watersheds provided conditions that supported robust and resilient populations of coho salmon that could persist under dynamic environmental conditions." However, both inadvertently and by design, we have changed the conditions of our region's watersheds over the past 150 years, and today these populations have reached a tipping point. This point, labeled a deposition threshold in the NMFS plan, can also be called an extinction spiral. is is when a species goes from "limping along" to a dramatic decline, when the numbers of returning coho spawners are so few they can no longer find each other in our tributaries to mate. e deposition threshold for the Middle Rogue and Applegate Rivers is estimated at 734 High extinction risk for Applegate coho by jakob shockey spawners, while a healthy run would be at least 2,400. Two of the last four years surveyed have been well below that 734 spawners threshold, and there has been an 11 percent annual population decline for the past 12 years. ese and other data led NMFS to classify the Middle Rogue/ Applegate River population of SONCC coho as at "high risk for extinction." We are witnessing the tipping point for this region's native coho salmon. What went wrong? Salmon, after all, are known for being tough, resilient, and independent. In this, they have come to signify the spirit of the Pacific Northwest. Yet salmon are dependent on a functioning riparian habitat, and therein lies the problem. It's hard to visualize how much we've changed this habitat as we have settled into this watershed—how much our baseline for what a creek looks like has shifted over the generations of settlement. e native Takelma people once called the Applegate River valley "the beaver place." These beavers were trapped out and their ponds, once grouped along our streams like beads on a thread, disappeared. Gold mining further altered the hydrology of our streams, and conifers were cut away from the creeks as the most accessible timber. With agriculture came levees to straighten and contain our river and streams, and dams to divert water. Woody debris was cleaned out of the creeks to prevent logjams, while invasive species slowly crept into the riparian forests, choking out young trees and thus eventually increasing sunlight on the creek. e water heated up. Nitrogen runoff from fertilized fields, septic systems and cattle A Williams resident since 2007, Joshua Morton, artist and wrestler, Grants Pass High School art teacher and wrestling coach, is proof of Jimi Hendrix's declaration: "If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music." e status of art scholarships was something that needed to be changed, at least in the world of Joshua's community. e few art scholarships available were of $100 or $150 value. It was music that made Joshua act on that need. Joshua loves live concerts— the crowd, the waiting in the parking Joshua Morton: Hard-working artist-teacher gives back by diana coogle lots, the people he meets before the show, the festival atmosphere: "the whole amazingness of it all," as he puts it. "It's like Christmas—everyone is in a better mood. Everyone is more helpful, nicer." at atmosphere of generosity at the music concert made him want to be like that in the real world. So three years ago he started the One Sweet World Fund, under the umbrella of Josephine County Educational Fund, for an annual scholarship to be given to a Grants Pass High School graduating senior who has taken an art course from see joshUa MoRTon, page 23 Joint benefit for the Applegater and Cantrall Buckley Park Sunday, May 31 3 – 6 pm Applegate River Lodge LIVE MUSIC Lora Lyn Band Rainy and the Rattlesnakes FACE PAINTING and other kids' activities FOOD & BEVERAGES BBQ hot dog, cowboy beans and potato salad $1 Complimentary chips and lemonade Wine and beer available for purchase $15 Adult $5 Kids RAFFLE PRIZES TICKETS AVAILABLE AT Applegate Store • Hidden Valley Market Ruch Country Store • Ray's in Jacksonville Family Fun & Food! see coho eXTincTion Risk, page 2 Look Who's Reading the Gater! Dinner at Tony's Taverna in Malibu, California, was followed by a leisurely and thoroughly enjoyable read through the Applegater by none other than, left to right, Tony, the owner of this Greek restaurant, Josh Bratt, Greg Bratt, and Benjamin Bratt, movie and television star (seen recently in Modern Family and Private Practice).

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