West Linn Beaver Ambassadors

WLBA (West Linn Beaver Ambassadors) is excited to bring you the 2019 calendar of Full moon events! Below are the dates, locations, and some interesting facts about the full moons and why they have the names they have.

Full Moon Over West Linn is a Parks & Rec and Beaver Ambassadors event held on the night of the full moon. This informal event uses cycles of the full moon as a natural cycle everyone can easily relate to as a jumping off point to discuss other natural cycles! Did you know all the full moons have names? The March full moon is commonly referred to as the Worm Moon, but some indigenous Kalapuyan tribes related the March full moon to the digging of Camas – an extremely influential species to the area.

• Who: Hosted by West Linn Parks & Rec and Beaver Ambassadors
• What: An evening to connect to natural history by the light of the full moon!
• When: March 20th, 2019 beginning at 6:30pm
• Where: Camassia Nature Area

Guests and activities:

Cascadia Wild

• “By providing individuals with a greater understanding of the natural world, Cascadia Wild seeks to instill in people a sense of place in nature and to transform how they perceive their role in the cycle of life. It is our hope that by renewing our relationship with nature, we can inspire better stewardship of the environment and our communities for future generations.” Read more about Cascadia Wild and their Wolverine Tracking Project. Cascadia Wild has fantastic photography from trap cameras up on Mt. Hood. They’ll be showing us some tracking methods!

Amphibian expert Kacy Woodley

• Kacy Woodley works for the The Wetlands Conservancy based in Portland, Oregon. As an urban land steward, Kacy helps maintain, restore, and improve natural wetlands in the middle to lower Willamette Valley region. Kacy specializes in amphibian ecology, and will share fascinating tidbits about our native frogs, newts, and salamanders!

Bosky Dell Native Plant Nursery

• Lory, owner of Bosky Dell, will help lead tours of the nature area. As a local of West Linn and plant expert Lory will share special information about the prairie plants growing in and around the Camas!

The Nature Conservancy

• Linda Meng, a Nature Conservancy volunteer, will share info about the history of Camassia, the importance of the region to native species, and the unique processes that led to the creation of the Camassia Nature Area.

Directions from I-205 here:

The HUNTERS Moon – October 24th, 2018 6:45pm, Maddax Woods.

Exact location: at the river lookout.

Presenters:

SALMON/WATER QUALITY SPECIALIST

• World Salmon Council “experiential education and encounters with Pacific wild salmon to connect students and adults with nature and empower community engagement.” Salmon play an important role in the history, economics, and identity of our beautiful state. Without good water quality our salmon deteriorate. The World Salmon Council will help us better understand their role in benefiting salmon and the importance of water quality for healthy fish.

ARCHERY ACTIVITY

• Trackers Earth has been in Portland since 2004. Trackers “provide innovative education in nature connection and authentic outdoor skills. Camps and classes include outdoor skills, wild plants, archery, restoration and much more. Our organization and education models are collaborative. Our purpose is to create a village of connection to the land, accountability, common sense, and limitless enthusiasm.” Trackers does an amazing job of reconnecting our lives to the natural world by creating opportunities to experience the outdoors in ways we don’t typically consider. Their experts will be on hand to teach some basic archery skills and explain why the art of archery helps us focus, relax, and sense the world in a more absorbing way.

OTHER PRESENTERS TO BE ANNOUNCED.

 

The PINK Moon! March 31st, 2018, Mary S Young Park, event begins at 7pm, moon rises at 8:03pm.

Presenters:

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND URBAN WATER QUALITY

• Daniel Larson: Dan is a PhD candidate Hydrology and Water Resources lab in the Geography department at Portland State. The West Coast is lucky to have a keen researcher like Dan – he has studied at UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Chico, worked in Sacramento, and assisted Los Angeles with urban growth water quality issues. Topics of interest to Dan include ecosystem services, urban and rural links, and GIS research. GIS stands for Geographic information systems…aka maps!

AMPHIBIAN EXPERT

• Kacy Woodley works for the The Wetlands Conservancy based in Portland, Oregon. As an urban land steward, Kacy helps maintain, restore, and improve natural wetlands in the middle to upper Willamette Valley region. Kacy specializes in amphibian ecology, but knows much about wetland ecology.

Michael Vermeulen – All around Scientist

• Has a research background in glacial geology and and has spent a field season in Antarctica studying the recent deglaciation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. After his undergrad studies he worked for two years with the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center (CVEEC) teaching k-12^th grade students from the greater Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area about their local National Park and watershed. Michael is currently at Portland State University studying for his Masters in Environmental Science and Management, his thesis project focuses on neighborhood landscape connectivity and the connection people have to their local parks and green spaces.

LOCATION MAP:

PINK Moon facts and tidbits:

• The Pink Moon is the first full moon of spring. It is so named because an early spring flowering plant, called wild ground phlox, is popular and pink. The moon itself is not pink…
• Also known as the Grass Moon, Hare Moon, Egg Moon, and Fish Moon. These names are meant to refer to the return of growth and prosperity in nature that arrives with the return of spring.
• Algonquin tribes likely had the largest influence on early European settlers in America, and these settlers adopted the Native American tradition of naming the full moons.

 

 

 

March 1st, 2018 – the Snow Moon: Willamette Park Wetlands. Event begins at 5:30pm. Moon rises at 5:51pm.

• More accurately called the Worm Moon and also known as Crow Moon, Sugar Moon, Crust Moon, and Sap Moon.
• The Worm Moon is the last full moon prior to the vernal equinox (a fancy way for saying it is officially spring).
• On average February is the snowiest month in Portland (and we proved it this year!)

For the Snow Moon, we will be hosting:

• Jim Labonte from the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Jim has extensive collections of bugs from all over the nation and especially from right here in the Pacific Northwest. Media outlets, including OPB and the Oregonian, have featured Jim’s work. Although Jim has many entomology (put simply, the study of bugs!) interests, he gets much attention for the work he has done with invasive species, a topic we’ll hear more about on March 1st. Jim has discovered a number of new species as well and has named at least one after his wife. Jim will show us some of his techniques for catching bugs!
• Ashley Smithers received her Masters specializing in turtle ecology in the Portland metro area. She is one of the best identifiers of native turtles including the western painted turtle, western pond turtle, and the non-native red-eared slider. Ashley also has extensive experience working in wetlands across the region with many organizations including Metro, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW), Sandy River Watershed Council, Tualatin Soil & Water Conservation District, and many others. Because Ashley has established these connections she is able to bring live turtles from ODFW, and hopefully she can point out some other fascinating things in the wetlands! Ashley will be aided by Amber Basting, a representative of Metro.
• Alina Blankenship runs Perch, a 501(c)3 which provides ecological, physiological and conservation education for the public utilizing live birds of prey.  Perch also provides funding for federally licensed wildlife Oregon rehabilitators.  We fulfill this mission with three programs designed to reach as many different type of people that we can to cultivate a sense of wonder in nature.  Close Encounters,  Wings over Wine and OwlZen.  Wings over Wine pairs conservational minded vineyards with rehabilitated raptors in need of a new home and invites the public to the event to participate and to meet our Avian Ambassadors.  Close Encounters brings groups (schools, camps, professional groups) up close to live, native owls, hawks and falcons while learning about their unique physiology and ecology.  OwlZen provides a meditation experience to quietly connect people with nature on a personal level. Alina will teach us the important differences between spotted owls and barred owls!

 

 

January 31st, 2018 – the Wolf Moon: Camassia Nature Area. Moon rises at 5:49pm.

• Also known as an Old Moon, Ice Moon, and Snow Moon. Many cultures have many different names for the full moons and reasons as to why they were given special names. The common names we use today tend to be a combination of a number of cultures.
• Also a Blue Moon! A Blue Moon occurs when there are two full moons in a calendar month. There are two Blue moons for the year of 2018! And Beaver Ambassadors will be celebrating them both
• The January full moon is called the wolf moon, but because there are two full moons in January of 2018 many would consider only the first one to be the wolf moon. That’s ok. We’re going to call the 31st the Wolf Moon any way because wolves are amazing, charismatic animals that used to (and are starting to again…) have a huge impact on the ecology of Oregon.
• TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE!!! Yes! It will happen during the full moon of January 31st, 2018! However, our event runs in the evening from 5:30pm to about 7:30pm and the total eclipse will be early in the morning (starting ~3am) many hours PRIOR to our event…we’re sad to miss it, but will discuss this and other lunar cycles at our event! A full moon eclipsing is referred to as a BLOOD MOON. If you see the eclipse come to our event and tell us about it!

 

March 31st – the Pink Moon: Mary S Young Park. Moon rises at 8:03pm.

• The Pink Moon is the first full moon of spring. It is so named because an early spring flowering plant, called wild ground phlox, is popular and pink. The moon itself is not pink…
• Also known as the Grass Moon, Hare Moon, Egg Moon, and Fish Moon. These names are meant to refer to the return of growth and prosperity in nature that arrives with the return of spring.
• Algonquin tribes likely had the largest influence on early European settlers in America, and these settlers adopted the Native American tradition of naming the full moons.