DEPARTMENTNEWS & VIEWS

Fisheries and Wildlife December 1991

Dancing with Fishes, Birds and Other Wild CrittersNative American Educationby Hiram Li

Dr. Charles Warren often stressed inhis lectures the importance inrecognizing that science is a socialand cultural activity. This isespecially true of values associatedwith management of naturalresources in our multiculturalsociety. Our department is develop-ing a plan to expose all our studentsto different value systems regardingstewardship of resources andlandscapes. We hope to develop acourse that will become part of theUniversity's core curriculum,conveying to a greater proportion ofthe student body the importance ofconserving wildlands and wildlife.

Another way is to make the studentbody more diverse. The Departmenthas a special relationship with manyof the Indian tribes in Oregonbecause we cherish wild things inwild places. We have extendededucational opportunities to Ameri-can Indians ranging from high

Summer interns flanking Hiram Li (left) and Eric Leltzinger (right).

school freshmen to graduatestudents. The Oregon CooperativeFishery Research Unit has beenextremely active in various pro-grams.

We have had American Indian highschool students intern during thesummer since 1981. These internsare given "short courses" to under-stand the function of research infisheries and wildlife and each takeon a small project. The end result isthat they learn to develop scientificgraphs, organize data in tables andwrite a short report. So far, theAmerican Indian youngsters I havemet from the reservations do not

have to be taught to be observant;they have sharp eyes and curiousminds.

Dr. Judy Li is a post-doctoralresearcher with Stan Gregory, andduring the past two years led theOregon Museum of Science andIndustry's "Stream Team". Thisteam was comprised of outstandinghigh school students selected toparticipate in the Young Scholar'sProgram sponsored by the NationalScience Foundation. Our goal wasto have a cross-section of studentsrepresenting different ethnic andcultural groups participating inresearch work with resourcescientists. We hoped that one socialbenefit would be the recognition thatwe all share in the benefits andresponsibilities of good stewardship.Student projects were presented as aseminar before the graduate stu-dents, the faculty, the Deans and theVice Presidents of Oregon StateUniversity. Students from the TurtleMountain Band of Chippewas, theYakima Nation, and the Confeder-ated Tribes of Warm Springs wereenrolled in the program. Threestudent papers were delivered atAnnual Meetings of the OregonChapter of the American FisheriesSociety, and Judy acknowledged the

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help and contribution of thesestudents in her presentation at theannual meeting of the NorthAmerican Benthological Society thispast May in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Department has developedconnections with Dr. Jeffrey Gonorof the School of Oceanography, andthrough a National Science Founda-tion Grant under his auspices, we arementoring two undergraduates; MaySpears, supervised by Dr. Hiram Li,studies stream ecology and DeborahKary, supervised by Dr. DouglasMarkle, studies the ecology ofendangered species. We also helpsupervise Tom Downey, a memberof the Confederated Tribes of theSiletz, who is constructing an oralhistory with older members of histribe of the lamprey fisheries andtheir decline. The purpose istwofold: preserve cultural traditions,and obtain clues concerning thedisappearance of lampreys from thesystem. The purpose of the programis to involve Native Americanundergraduates in "Marine Science".This is being loosely interpreted as"if it is wet, it is marine science".Another program is the EDGEProgram. It is designed to encour-age talented undergraduate studentsfrom underprivileged, minoritybackgrounds to become interested ingraduate education by interning witha suitable mentor.

News of new students, presentstudents, and the alumni is asfollows. The Department welcomedCraig Wilder a freshman, who wasawarded the Henry Mastin Memo-rial Scholarship for scholasticachievement. May Spears is anotherfreshman and participates in theNative Americans in MarineSciences program. Toby Martin, aMinaminee and junior in computerscience, is a computer wizard whohelps Dr. Bruce Mate monitor radio-tagged marine mammals. Noah

Adams is a graduate student with theOregon Cooperative FisheriesResearch Unit and is working on thecomparison of standard electro-phoretic techniques with mitochon-drial DNA analysis on chinooksalmon stocks in Alaska. He isworking with Drs. Carl Burgner, analumnus from OSU employed by theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,Hiram Li, and Carl Schreck. KeithHatch (Confederated Tribes of theSiletz) received his M.S. degree forhis outstanding work in interpretingstock differences among 38 popula-tions of Oregon coastal steelheadtrout. In brief, he found distinctivenorth-south gradients in geneticstructure from populations inhabit-ing watersheds larger than 250 km2.He suspects that populations insmaller watersheds may be moresubject to genetic bottlenecks andgenetic drift because of greatersusceptibility to physical distur-bances resulting in sudden reduc-tions in population size. Keithworks as a biologist for the Colum-bia River Intertribal Fish Commis-sion. Angela Sondenna (Confeder-ated Tribes of the Siletz) and EricQuempts (Yakima Nation) gradu-ated with bachelor degrees inWildlife. Both were excellentstudents and are now working forthe U.S. Forest Service. Both intendto apply to graduate school in thefuture. Angela and Eric bothcontributed time as academic tutorsfor other American Indian students,were very active in the campuschapter of the American IndianScience and Engineering Society(AISES), and helped with OregonState University's SMILE program,a science and mathematics programaimed at intermediate schoolyoungsters from American Indianand Hispanic communities.

More is on the horizon. Drs. JudyLi, Courtney Smith, and StanGregory are working to develop a

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course on multicultural perceptionsand values of natural resources; thepoint of which is, if resourcemanagers are to manage peoplethrough education, we need tounderstand multicultural points ofview. Dr. Hiram Li and JudithVergun, a Ph.D. student in Range-land Resources, are submitting aplan to the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService on developing educationprograms on American IndianReservations following the success-ful model developed by Ms. Vergunat Warm Springs. We are alsohappy to announce that Oregon StateUniversity has signed a Memoran-dum of Understanding with theConfederated Tribes of WarmSprings to participate in the techni-cal education of tribal members.The Confederated Tribes of theSiletz are likewise working with Dr.Richard Tubb on resource manage-ment issues. Lastly, a center forAmerican Indian Education is beingestablished on campus. Funding forthe first few years will be contrib-uted by various Oregon tribalgroups.

Many things are happening veryquickly. It is a lesson that a fewpeople engaged in a good missioncan accomplish a great deal. Thejourney began with a single step andnow is travelling forward in greatstrides.

Conferenceson Salmonid Conservation

The Department's Committee onConservation Biology has organizedtwo conferences on conservation ofsalmonids in the Pacific Northwest.The Department is uniquely quali-fied to host these conferencesbecause of its extensive involvementin research, conservation, andmanagement of salmonids. The firstconference, entitled "Genetics andConservation Biology of Threatened

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Message from the Chairman

During the holiday season we joinwith family and friends to reuniteand strengthen the bonds that bindus together. As we gather to talkover our past experiences, or writecards or letters, we rememberindividuals that contributed much toour lives as well as our careers.Some may have served as modelsfor us, and in other cases we mayhave been proud to have been on ateam, a project, a working group orin a graduating class with them.Professors tend to remember classesas well as students, and since this ismy section of News and Views Iwant to recall how many of us havebenefitted from one group ofgraduating classes.

Over the past half century, and a bitmore, none of our graduates havefaced more severe challenges thanthe classes of the late 30's and the40's. The recent death of FrankGroves, the first graduate of ourdepartment, was a sharp reminder ofthe contributions of these pioneerclasses. Their accomplishments,work ethic, and professional mannerestablished fisheries and wildlife asa highly respected profession. Theaccomplishments of these graduateshave been noted in numerousjournals and books, but the chal-lenges they faced in confrontingestablished interests were monumen-tal. The challenge was always tosave the ecosystems and the manyspecies of fish and wildlife that werenot on any list of game, even if thesupport for wildlife efforts stillcomes primarily from sportpersons.It is difficult for today's student torecognize that there was a time ofunregulated and almost unlimitedlogging, road building, dam con-struction, industrial and municipalpollution, grazing, and importationof exotic species. The degradation

of habitat continues but our gradu-ates, and those of other universities,were responsible for slowing the de-struction and blunting the mostsevere excesses of reckless develop-ment.

Many of these graduates returnedfrom World War II as our nation'sheros, but found themselves fightinga rear guard action until they docu-mented the rapid changes that werealtering our renewable naturalresources. They alerted a complacentpublic to the probable loss of ournation's great treasures. Some, likeTom Scott, alerted Rachel Carlson tothe dangers of pesticides and shewrote "Silent Spring". These earlygraduates fought and lost manybattles, but the documentation andthe discussions that followed finallyalerted the nation. Technology wastaking us to the moon at about thesame time that the public learned thatthere were limits to our populationgrowth, as well as the application oftechnology to resolve every problem.Federal and state laws set limits andestablished meaningful penalties forpollution to our air, land and wateralong with many other forms ofhabitat destruction.

In the late 1960's it seemed thateveryone suddenly became anenvironmentalist or an ecologist eventhough many didn't understand themeaning of the term. Everyonewanted to be on the team, as theEarth Day demonstrations gatheredsteam. I recall one book salesmantelling me that he could be even moresupportive of the ecological move-ment if he could only find out wherethe money was in this new fad. Ourgraduates never asked where themoney was and there never has beenmuch of it. They started with onlyAldo Leopold's book "Game Man-

agement" as their guide and ahandful of professors such as R.E.Dimick, and poured their dedica-tion and devotion into a growingprofessional expertise. As gradu-ates they entered a career that muchof the public saw as glorifiedhunting and fishing and turned itinto a highly respected profession.They accepted jobs at salaries thatwere barely above the povertylevel, but educated the public andpoliticians on the dangers to ourecosystems, and increasinglyshowed that short term job benefitscan lead to long term disasters.Unfortunately that job will neverend, but the work of the succeedinggenerations of fish and wildlifescientists and managers has beenmade easier because of our pio-neers. In every survey the publiccontinues to tell their representa-tives, industry and all who willlisten that they want and need welleducated, highly trained, profes-sional fish and wildlife managersdoing the best job possible.

Blazing a trail, our early graduatesset our sights on a star that willguide us past the end of the trail.As we celebrate the holidays, let usremember that we play on the teamestablished by these pioneers.They have left us a rich heritage ofnatural resources as well as aprofession where work and lifevalues come together.

Let this be our holiday toast to allof you:

May each of you enjoy a happy,productive life in a profession andcountry that has been made betterby our fish and wildlife pioneers.

-Richard Tubb

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FROM THE MAILBAGby Lee Kuhn

Regrettably, because we go to pressonly twice a year, some of the itemsin MAILBAG are a bit dated or evenoutdated because many of yourletters come in shortly after the lastissue is mailed out. Nevertheless,I'm sure most of you enjoy hearingwhat your former classmates andfellow travelers have been up to,so..keep those cards and letterscoming!! Especially you recentgrads.

d d dDick Twenge ('50) writes, "I oftenthink of old friend and teacher JayLong. Our last outing was January1, 1954, a drift fishing trip on theAlsea for steelhead. It was impos-sible to get an "A" in one of Jay'sclasses with the likes of Warren('49), Wick ('50), and McAllister('50) on the scene and always wellprepared. Best wishes to Jay andJean who served the best bushy-tailed woodrat stew I have evereaten...once! Jay always saidanything could be eaten if preparedproperly and not over cooked. Afterleaving Tommy Prothro's OSUfootball staff in 1960 I joinedBusiness Men's Insurance, retiringas Oregon manager in 1983. Now Iplay golf, cards, paint, fish...allpoorly and not necessarily in thatorder. My best wishes to all oldfriends."

d d dIt's good to know that Dave Kowitz('59) will do his mole hunting withlegal, properly licensed huntingcompanions this year, even thoughas Dave says, "I'm currently avoting member of the state'sTelecommunications NetworkProject Team and do not have theskill or the resources to participatein an organized mole hunt." Dave,

who now lives in Rickreal, boughtlicenses for his three beagles:Bucky, Barney, and Bobby somaybe they can 'party hunt' and hecan play the dog.

Lots of names beginning to show upon retirement lists, including suchnotables as Joe Wetherbee ('52), JimGriggs ('59), Bill Hosford ('58),Rollie Rousseau ('58), Bill Haight('59), Rick Werner ('59), FrankNewton ('67), Gerry Davis (MS '60,PhD '63), Maury Taylor ('50), andprobably many more I've missed.Bill Wick ('50) actually pulled theplug last December with a first classbash at the Corvallis Elks Club.Now Bill and I share a small officein Nash Hall where I'm patientlytrying to teach him to relax (loaf),enjoy life, and live longer. From thevolume of his mail and phone callsasking him to 'join this group', or`chair that committee' or 'speak atour next meeting' I see I'll need tospend more time teaching him tojust say 'NO'.

d dThanks again to those who keepsending me their old 'retired' booksand journals. Ed Dealy ('55, MS'59), recently retired from USFS,Juneau, AK and now living inCorvallis dumped several boxes atmy door, as did Dick Pedersen ('61,MS '63, PhD '86), Mel Cummings('42), John Myers ('48) and others.I hope I've not overlooked anyrecent donors as we do appreciateyour gifts and try to find a usefulplace for these books, journals, etc.you no longer Peed. Some go to ourF/W Department library, some to theOSU main library, some to theMarine Science Center library and ayear ago some were even sent to the

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Baker City high school to replace orsupplement things they lost in a fire.Also, in 1990 about 5 tons ofassorted books and journals wereboxed and hauled to Portland by Dr.Howard Horton for shipment to theCatholic University of Valparaiso,Chile where they were needed andgratefully received. Money fromany books we sell is added to theR.E. Dimick Memorial Fund wherethe earnings now provide an annual$500 scholarship for a Fisheries orWildlife student. In 1991 the awardwas made to Charley Wheeler,Dayville, OR. This fund continuesto grow so any of you looking for a`favorite charity' can send your giftdirectly to the OSU Foundationmarked for the R.E. Dimick Memo-rial Fund. You will receive a receiptfrom the foundation for your taxdeductible gift.

d dAn interesting letter from S. EricHagstrom ('81) reporting what theex-wildlifer is now doing. "...aftertwo summers as a biologist with theUS and Canadian wildlife agenciesbanding ducks in Canada, doingspring and summers as a biologistfor Multnomah County OutdoorSchool and being unemployed therest of the time, I chose to completea second degree, graduating in '84with a BS in Electronics Engineer-ing at OIT. I searched for a job thatwould marry my wildlife biologywith the world of integratedcircuits...worked two years at acardiac pacemaker company inPortland then moved to Seattle for ajob as design engineer for a medicalequipment manufacturer. I ampresently a Project Director chargedwith the duties of designing medicalelectronics of all kinds. Althoughnot working directly in the wildlifefield, I do use the knowledge andexperience acquired at OSU throughcountless hours of field study andphotography around the Pacific NW.

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I've even purchased 5 acres of landcomprised of mixed conifers,deciduous trees and a small riparianarea. Though not working as abiologist, I still consider myself oneand look back on my years at OSUwith mostly fond memories."

d d dAustin Hamer (MS '42 /UO '62)and wife Ina are back in the north-west after several years in Arkansas.Austin says, "...we've settled intoour new life style (retirementapartment complex at 3710 Provi-dence Pt. Dr. SE, Issaquah, WA)pretty well. Not having anymaintenance work to do and nocooking except for an occasionalbreakfast makes for easy living. TheSeattle/Bellevue area has a lot moreto offer in the way of culturalactivities than the little town ofDanville, Arkansas. I was particu-larly interested in your mention ofRoger Vorderstrasse ('53, MS '55),Donavan Leckenby ('62), and RonWalker ('57) as they all worked forme as 'summer interns' in theWildlife Conservation Educationprogram of the game commission.Lots of others were interviewed oncampus (with Mrs. Bond's helpfulscheduling) and then hired for thesummer camp program. I can'trecall all of them but names such asRollie Rousseau, Warren Aney, RonRohweder, Cal Giesler, MiltGuymon, Ron Shay and MikeGolden come to mind." Hey,Austin... Have you noticed howmany of your 'student interns' haveretired or are now on the list?

d d dThanks to a donation from Dr. C.Dale Becker (MS '55) our F/WDepartment library now has a copyof his recent book titled "AquaticBioenvironmental Studies: TheHanford Experience 1944-1984".As I told Dale, due to the $102.50

price tag, I doubt that we canauthorize it for classroom use but itis now on display and available forstudent use in the departmentlibrary. Maybe if you wrote to Dalehe could get you a special discount.

d d dChuck Selden ('54) is a real 'moverand shaker.' At least he's a mover!On a recent visit to Florence on theOregon coast I checked into his finegift/book shop in Old Town only tolearn that Chuck was home and busymoving to a new residence inFlorence. Same thing last Junewhen I stopped by, which makes atleast 3 moves in the few years sincehe came up from California.Anyway, should you be in theFlorence area any time soon, be sureto stop by OLD TOWN BOOKS &COUNTRY GIFTS at 1340 BayStreet and check out some reallyfabulous books and gifts available atvery reasonable prices. Who knows,you may get lucky and find Chuckin the shop that day.

d d dJim Graybill ('64, MS '68), Instruc-tor of Fisheries at Mt. Hood Com-munity College, was the luckywinner of the $1,500 door prize atthe 1991 Western Regional Aquac-ulture Expo in Reno, Nevada.Required to spend the prize with oneor more of the 1991 exhibitors, Jimelected to purchase a large numberof books and various pieces ofequipment and supplies from ArgentChemical Company. Both Jim andthe aquaculture program at Mt.Hood will benefit. With the Mt.Hood program for the past 19 years,Jim now teaches about 15 courseswith the help of one part-timeteaching assistant. First yearstudents number about 30 withnearly half finishing the 2-yearprogram. A few go on to 4-yearcolleges but most go to work inaquaculture or fisheries with privateindustry or public agencies. Jim

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says about 60% of his graduates stayin Oregon.

d d dA great letter from Ira 'Dave'Luman ('48) reviewing some of hisbusy life since retiring from BLM in1982. Dave says, "I've beenworking on the 'Public LandsRestoration Task Force', IsaakWalton League. Our main push isfor the correction of overgrazing bylivestock on BLM and USFS lands.The past few years we've beeninvolved in riparian enhancementprojects on public lands. LastSeptember saw over 500 volunteers:scouts, school kids, conservationorganizations, BLM, USFS, ODFW,and others on a weekend on BridgeCreek near Mitchell. Work includedshrub & grass plantings, streambankstabilization, juniper cutting,removal of old fences, new fenceconstruction, water developments,channel stabilization, and cleanup offormer ranchlands now owned byBLM. Monty Montgomery (50') hasbeen real busy as our chairman sincehe retired from ODFW. Last fall myson Dave and I got to hunt elk out ofGlen Ward's cabin in the 'Blues'south of Heppner. Ward ('51),Clyde Smith ('49), Mel Cummings('42) & son David, Larry Bright('64), and Warren Aney ('58) madeit a real old home week." I'll betthere was more 'bull shooting' in thecabin than in the woods that day!As Dave also reminded me, ...it wasa long time ago when he and Glenused to make that huge kettle of hotand delicious elk chili ready to eatwhen my starving big game fieldtrip gang pulled into the UkiahRanger Station after that long, longfirst day trip from Corvallis. Bothof these guys were super at leadingour students up to Bridge CreekFlats at daylight the following day tosearch out those elusive RockyMountain elk. Then invariablyhaving to go back, look for and find

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the 'lost ones' who have failed tofind the cars for the return trip to theranger station. Thanks for thememories, guys!

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Always glad to hear from LenMathisen ('39) from Bend andespecially since his last letterincluded a generous contribution to"...help keep the News & Views inproduction." Thanks Len!

Chris Thompson ('81) sends anupdate on his activities from theCity University of New York wherehe is working on a PhD in Biologyat the university and the Museum ofNatural History. As he says, it'staken 10 years but from the sound ofhis activities and travels he has beenbusy. A trip to New Zealand toattend the International Ornithologi-cal Congress and present a paper, 3week's travel in New Zealand wherehe managed to see many strangecreatures including royal alba-trosses, little blue and yellow-browed penguins, rifle birds, spermwhales, and many storm petrels andshearwaters. Then on to Australiafor 3 weeks and as he says, "...ex-pect to get wet when you go to therain forest in the rainy season; therewere nights when 6" of rain fell! I

spent most of my time inland andmanaged to fmd padymelons, white-tailed rats, rat-kangaroos, greykangaroos (the big reds are furtherwest), platypus, and several kinds ofpossums. As far as birds, thebiggest thrill was when I wascamping on an island National Park.Hearing a strange noise, I stuck myhead of of the tent and came face toface with a cassowary! Unfortu-nately, as I dove for my camera, itdove for the bush. Also sawbowerbirds, lorikeets, honeyeaters,fairy-wrens and many more. Iheartily endorse Australia and NewZealand for vacations."

Dan Guthrie, a former staff memberand one time News/Views Editorlearned the hard way that owningtwo homes 180 miles apart andbeing in the wrong one at the wrongtime can cause problems. Duringthe extreme cold in December hewas in Corvallis when he shouldhave been in Grants Pass. Tempera-tures dropped to -4 degrees andDan's water pump conked out, frozeup, and burst. With no watercirculating in the pipes they alsofroze and burst. Dan can nowqualify as an apprentice plumberfirst class after spending more than aweek replacing broken pipes,faucets, and repairing water damageto his home. He reports that helearned two important things fromthis sad experience. "...the hot waterpipes always freeze first and the lastreally cold spell in Grants Pass wasin 1935." All his broken pipes werewrapped in old newspapers of thatvintage. Our sympathy to Dan andSue.

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Robert Small ('81) checked in tocatch us up to date on his activitiessince leaving OSU. He reports, "Icompleted my PhD at the Universityof Wisconsin, Department ofWildlife Ecology in July, 1990. Istudied the vulnerability of snow-shoe and arctic hares to predation byred fox under the direction of Dr.Lloyd Keith...then spent the remain-ing months of 1990 at the Universityof Uppsala, Sweden through anexchange program with the SwedishInstitute. Also visited Norway andScotland to discuss research ideasand interests with ecologists in bothcountries. I accepted a temporaryAssistant Professor position at theDepartment of Forestry and NaturalResources, Purdue University andwill be teaching vertebrate popula-tion dynamics and co-teaching a

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course in global environmentalissues spring semester 1991. ByJune I'll be heading back west tofind a job and settle down a bit."

A sad note from Larry Salley ('58)concerning the death of yet anothergreat guy from that class of 1950.Roy Anderson ('50), AssistantDirector, Tennessee WildlifeResources Agency (retired) passedaway as the result of a heart attackon April 25, 1991. Roy went towork in Tennessee shortly aftergraduation...planting quail all overthe state. Promoted to AssistantChief, then Chief of Game Manage-ment in 1955 and to AssistantDirector in 1974, where he served toretirement in 1985. Larry workedfor Tennessee and Roy for severalyears prior to joining the FWSEndangered Species Program. Hispresent job is in the Pittman-Robertson Program where hehandles the PR Program for landacquisition and development for thePacific Region (WA, OR, CA, ID,NV). Since returning to Oregon in1978, Larry has kept in close touchwith OSU as a member of the Dad'sClub. Last year he served as itspresident.

Chris Nelson (MS '55) sent us agreat article he'd written titled "TheNaturalist/Hunter...An endangeredspecies?" but unfortunately a bit toolong to reprint in this issue. Ifinterested perhaps Chris could sendyou a copy. He says, "...I took atemporary job in the Nature Center,Sacramento, CA while waiting fornew budget year F/W jobs to openup...fell in love with the concept fora career and went on to becomeChief of Parks and Interpretation atthe East Bay Regional Park District,Oakland, CA". After 25 years withthe park district in his 'temporaryjob' Chris retired in 1987 and

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by Robin Sether

Jan Schmidt is the office managerfor the Department of Fisheries andWildlife, as well as Dr. Tubb'smanagement assistant. Her dutiesinclude supervision of all officestaff, payroll responsibilities forfaculty, students and staff, andassists with all of the departmenthead's duties. On weekends andevenings she is a certified policeofficer for the Albany PoliceDepartment. She spends her sparetime reading, gardening, andwalking. She is the mother of a son,26 and a daughter, 15.

Meet Your Office Staff

Charlotte Vickers serves as theadvising assistant. She keeps alldepartmental academic records andprovides assistance to studentsseeking employment. Charlotte is aMaster Gardener for Benton County,so she especially enjoys gardening(she has the most beautiful violets inher office), as well as caring for heranimals on her small farm, reading,traveling and spending time with herhusband, Dan and her two sons,Mark and Steve.

Opal Grossnicklaus is our purchas-ing and accounts payable clerk. Sheis responsible for ordering all officesupplies, equipment, processinginvoices, assigning requisitionnumbers and distribution of orderedequipment and supplies. She staysvery busy keeping track of severaldozen departmental accountnumbers. She enjoys camping,gardening, traveling, spending timewith her seven (yes, seven!!)children and two grandchildren andis anxiously waiting for the third!She is also our departmental plantexpert and has been known to bringour dead houseplants back to life.We all enjoy the lovely bouquets shebrings in from her gardens at home.

Chris Sinnett is our departmentalaccountant. He is responsible formonitoring most of the departmental

accounts (if he can find his glasses).He is also our "token" male in theoffice and is kept very busy install-ing, repairing, maintaining all ouroffice computers, being the com-puter network manager, and essen-tially does everything we ask of him(and more!!!) and always with asmile! In his spare (??) time heenjoys camping, fishing, stainedglass projects, and keeping up withhis two very active young boys,James and Zachary and helping hiswife, Thelia with her DiscoveryToys business out of their home.

Robin Sether is the secretary to ourExtension Wildlife Specialist, DanEdge. She stays very busy keepingtrack of Dr. Edge (she recently put aradio-collar on him) and is keepinghim on task! She especially enjoyshandling the 'gopher' , 'bats in thebasement', and 'what do I do withthis possum' phone calls. Inaddition to her part-time extensionduties, she also handles departmen-tal travel arrangements and reim-bursements and is in charge ofdepartmental publications requests.She and her husband, Rand, havefour children ages 3, 9, 14, and 15years (that's considered to be a"flock" these days!) and stay verybusy raising purebred Hampshiresheep for 4-H project lambs andfreezer lambs. Robin is deeplyinvolved with 4-H, as are herchildren, and is a 4-H club leader for40 children!! In her spare time sheenjoys reading (her goal is one bookevery 5 years), working in herflower beds, camping, walking (lessexpensive thar. therapy), andgardening by flashlight at 2:00 a.m.

LaVon Mauer is the secretary forthe Gamebird Research program.She has taught many of us WordPer-fect (a couple of us several timesover!) and responds with a smile(and the answer) if you holler "whatbutton do you push for...". In her

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spare time she enjoys traveling andspending time with her family.

Kelly Schmidt-Wildman (she justrecently married Randy Wildman) isthe administrative assistant for theOak Creek Research Laboratory.She is responsible for all accountingand budgetary reports (monthly andannually), proposals, grants, keepingtrack of all personnel time andattendance, and travel arrangementsand reimbursements for threeprofessors and their researchassistants and graduate students. Inher spare time she enjoys spendingtime with her husband, Randy,biking, hiking, traveling, softball(she was on three teams this spring),and volleyball.

Melani Bonnichsen is the secretaryfor the Oregon Cooperative Fisheryand Wildlife Research Unit involv-ing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicesupport research. She is responsiblefor travel arrangements and reim-bursements, proposals and grants,for Cooperative Unit personnel. Inher spare time she enjoys traveling,gardening, and spending time withher five children (all boys!) andhusband.

Alumnus Elected Presidentof TWS

Dr. Alan Wentz (MS '71) has beenelected President of the WildlifeSociety; his one-year term begins inMarch 1992. He is currently servingas President-elect, and will serveone year as Past President. Dr.Wentz works for Ducks Unlimitedas Director of National and Interna-tional Relations. He has also servedas Assistant Secretary of the KansasDepartment of Wildlife and Parks,and has worked for the NationalWildlife Federation and the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service (SouthDakota Cooperative WildlifeResearch Unit).

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moved to Friday Harbor, WA and anew home on Pear Point Road.Friday Harbor seems to attract a lotof these retired Oregon staters.

d g dJay and Jean Long have sold theirwinter home in Yuma, AZ and areonce more full-time residents at 755NE Circle, Sp #23, Corvallis, OR97330. Jay says the hassle ofmoving back and forth each sixmonths got to be too much.

d d dWe struck some familiar chords withEd Schaefers ('43) in some of thepast News/Views articles. Edespecially liked the Home Creekarticle (Dec '86) as he had visitedthe area back in the summer of '47and caught some of those pan-sizedrainbows. "At that time the ranchhouse was vacant and the creekbanks undisturbed by cattle. HomeCreek was the headquarters forGovernor Snell's hunting party eachfall prior to his untimely death." Istill think Ed missed a great experi-ence and a great Saturday nightdance when he didn't go on to thestate line at Denio, NV with acouple of local cowboys he metthere. At that time one end of thedance floor was in (dry) Oregonwhile the other end in Nevadaserved 'old overshoe' by thedrink...legally. Probably still does.Ed also enjoyed the Fur Farm article(June '88) since as a student in DocGriffith's fur farming class hehelped grind fish frames, mix inmeal and tomato juice and slap apancake-size gob of this goop oneach mink's cage. He recalled"...one miserable character wedubbed 'big boy' who startedscreeching before we even enteredthe pen. He never realized his sorenose was not a good trade for a sorehuman finger because the glovefinger he so eagerly grabbed throughthe wire each time was always

empty." And Dennis Lassuy'saccount of his troubles and travels asan intern in Washington, D.0 (July'89) brought a smile though Ed says,"I have never regretted the 14 yearsI spent there during my 30 yearcareer with BCF-NMFS. One greatpersonal accomplishment waslowering my golf handicap from 18to 6." Even the article on theNorthern Spotted Owl (Dec '90) gota response, "...what has always beena mystery to me since 1940...whythe only color plate in Birds ofOregon by Gabrielson & Jewett isthat bird." I checked...he's right!

Ed 's last two years with NMFSincluded coordinating the federaland state (OSU) efforts that resultedin two new labs in the MSC,Newport. Detailed there in 1979 toget the cooperative research pro-gram underway and expecting tospend at least a full year, he wascalled back to Seattle, after only fourmonths. He now lives in Bellevue,WA where he claims in spite of hisaddress label, Big Edd's Smokery"...I don't operate a smokerycommercially but the amount ofsalmon I process on a 'hailers basis'for some Alaskan fishermen wouldbe enough for a good start."

d d dWord was received in Septemberthat Stanley G. Jewett Jr. ('39) ofWest Linn, a retired Columbia Basinfisheries scientist and one of thenation's leading experts on"stoneflies" had passed away in aPortland care center. Stan was thechief biologist for the fish passage-way facilities in the Columbia RiverBasin, for the National MarineFisheries Service, for about 26 yearsuntil his retirement in 1972. Afterretiring he established a plantnursery specializing in varietiesnative to the Northwest. He retainedhis association with that operationfor nearly 15 years.

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d d dFrank W. Groves ('36, MS '40), thefirst graduate of the fledglingDepartment of Fish and GameManagement, died November 7,1991 at a nursing home near TheDanes, OR. He was 78. As he oftentold Professor Dimick, "I want tomanage the largest wildlife refuge inthe United States." Frank did justthat when he became Manager of theDesert Game Range of over twomillion acres in southern Nevada.Later, he became Director of theNevada Fish and Game Department,a position he held for 26 yearsprobably the longest uninterruptedtenure of any fish and game depart-ment director. After retiring Frankbought a small ranch near TheDallas, Oregon and lived there untilhis death.

Conferences on Salmonids(continued from page 2)

Salmonids in the Pacific Northwest"was held at the LaSells StewartCenter, 28-29 May. The conferencewas jointly sponsored by theDepartment and the AgriculturalExperiment Station, and wasattended by more than 125 people.Topics ranged from genetic popula-tion structure of chinook to theecology of extinction; eight of thepapers were presented by Depart-ment personnel. The secondconference, entitled "PacificNorthwest Landscapes: HabitatConservation and Restoration" isscheduled for 27-28 May and willinclude topics ranging from regionalconservation strategies to interfacingaquatic and terrestrial reserves.Those interested in informationregarding the conference shouldcontact the Committee on Conserva-tion Biology at the Departmentaddress.

Steve De Stefano recently joined theOregon Cooperative WildlifeResearch Unit as a ResearchAssociate. He has a Ph.D. inwildlife from the University ofIdaho-Moscow, where he worked onlead exposure of Canada geese inthe Mississippi Flyway. Hereceived his M.S. from the Univer-sity of Wisconsin-Madison, and aB.S. from the University of Massa-chusetts-Amherst. Steve recentlyconducted contract work on kitfoxes in southeastern Oregon for theOregon Department of Fish andWildlife's Nongame WildlifeProgram. His major Unit duties willinclude research and data analysison spotted owl population dynamics,ecology of spotted owl prey species,and other topics related to spottedowls and old-growth forest ecosys-tems.

News and Views Staff

Dan Edge, EditorConnie Kahn, Production Mgr.

Lee KuhnHiram Li

Robin SetherRichard Tubb

VIEWS FROM THE PAST

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. We would like to savespace in future issues, so send us photos of Department classes, field trips,or other activities that we can share with our alumni.

-eatA. Boyd Claggett ('39) sent us a real `oldie'...a snapshot of the first (cer-tainly one of the first) aquatic botany classes taught by Dr. W. E. Lawrence,Spring Term 1938. The class, on field trip, included Ivan Donaldson ('40)deceased 1989, Keith Kershaw ('40) killed in WW-II, Boyd Claggett ('39)ODFW retired, 105 Lake Place, Lakeview, OR 97630, Ellis Mason, ODFWretired, Box 237, Hines, OR 97738, Dr. Lawrence Ernest Matthews, killed inWW-II, Len Mathisen ('39), ODFW retired, 2305 Aubrey Rd., Bend, OR97701, Chris Jensen ('39), deceased 1987, Caretaker and dog not identified.Boyd reports he's enjoying retirement and "...keeping as busy as I want tobe by working with the various service clubs around town and helping outwhere needed. Enjoy News & Views...keep up the good work."

COOMBS-SIMPSON MEMORIAL FUND

Dr. Stacia Sower (MS '78, Ph.D. '81) has asked the Department to set up amemorial fund in the name of two former Fisheries and Wildlife graduatestudents, Candia Coombs (MS '79) and Gay Simpson (BS '76, MS '79).Both women made significant contributions in biology after receivingMaster's degrees from OSU, and both suffered early deaths: Gay inNovember 1988 and Candia in November 1989.

A memorial fund will be established to support women graduate studentsin the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Friends, faculty and formergraduate students interested in supporting this fund should send checks to:Scholarship Committee, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 104 NashHall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-3803. Checks shouldbe made payable to OSU Foundation and should clearly indicate either "inmemory of (Candia Coombs or Gay Simpson)" or "Coombs-SimpsonMemorial."

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MEET YOUR FACULTY

THE WORLD IS MY OYSTER - ALMOSTby Chris Langdon

I first became interested in oysterswhile growing up in the WestCountry of Britain where my fatherand I explored the creeks andestuaries of Cornwall together. Onone of these trips we visited theFowey estuary where the RoyalDuchy of Cornwall (Prince Charles)farmed oysters. We made ourcontribution to the royal coffers andthen devoured the oysters withGuinness stout and brown bread.Looking back, I realize that oystershave got their own back on mebecause I now spend much of mytime trying to find out how to feedthem instead of feeding on themmyself.

Unfortunately, oyster production atthe Fowey estuary and otherestuaries in Britain is a smallfraction of what it was in the past.For example, in eighteenth centuryBritain, laws were passed to preventemployers feeding their workers toomany oysters oysters were soplentiful in those times. Morerecently, the European oyster hasbeen almost wiped out by the spreadof the pathogenic protozoanBonamia ostreae. Interestingly,British oyster growers are nowplanting Pacific (Crassostrea gigas)oysters that were originally importedfrom the West Coast of the UnitedStates. In Britain, however, thePacific oyster is called the Japaneseoyster, denoting the true origin ofthis species.

While the Pacific oyster has beenmoving eastward around the worldfrom Japan, to Europe via America,

I have been moving in the oppositedirection - westward.

It all started while I was sipping teain my seventeenth century Welshcottage, watching the grass growwhen suddenly America was on thephone. The outcome of the ensuringtelephone conversation was that Iwas on a plane to the College ofMarine Studies, Lewes, Delaware, towrite a sea grant proposal. Lockedin a motel room, I finished theproposal in two days and was latervery surprised to hear that it wasfunded and I had a post-doc positionin America.

Delaware was very unlike theBritain I had left behind. Flat, hotand humid, it resembled a settingfrom a Waugh novel where one sataround with pink gins waiting forthe Empire to gasp its last breath -except that mint juleps replaced pinkgins in Delaware. It was in Dela-ware that I first encountered theAmerican oyster (Crassostreavirginica). The setting for thisencounter was high tech, with theoyster receiving over $4 millionworth of sea grant funding in orderto persuade it to grow to market sizein nine months. Although the goalof the project was never met, Icertainly learned how to make mintjuleps while in Delaware.

If I had moved directly from Britainto Oregon, I probably would nothave noticed many changes. Whileinterviewing for the job in Corvallis,Jim Hall took me past enormousroses on the way to the 'Tower of

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London' restaurant for fish andchips and a glass of Whatney's red.What more could I want? And thenthere's the same degree of rain, butenough of this subject.

The oyster industry in Oregon has avery interesting history, passingthrough a period of over-exploita-tion of native oyster (Ostrea lurida)populations, introduction of thePacific oyster from Japan, andfinally the development of modernhatcheries for the mass productionof Pacific oyster larvae and seed.Our Department of Fisheries andWildlife has long been involved inthe development of the oysterindustry through the efforts of WillyBreese, Jim Lannan, Anja Robinson,Bob Malouf and others. Anja oftentells me that sometime in the last 20years she has already carried out theexperiment I have planned or havealready completed.

Luckily, my predecessors have leftme some research questions andopportunities. Microencapsulateddiets, aquaculture of the Suminoeoyster, and feeding mechanisms oflarval oysters are some of theresearch topics I am currentlyinvestigating. There are so manyother wonderful possibilities forresearch and teaching at the HatfieldMarine Science Center that I'm sureI won't become a Waugh characteruntil I am well into old age.

DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL RECEIVE AWARDS

The Oregon Cooperative Fishery Research Unit was therecipient of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's firstDirector's Award for Science. The Unit represents acooperative effort between OSU's Department ofFisheries and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService, and the Oregon Department of Fish andWildlife. Carl Schreck, Professor of Fisheries andWildlife, is the Unit Leader, and Hiram Li, also aFisheries and Wildlife professor, is the Assistant UnitLeader. The award was established to recognize acooperative unit that demonstrates consistent leadershipat the cutting edge of science. The fisheries unit coversa spectrum of subjects, including genetics, reproduction,and migration of several important fish species inOregon's rivers and streams, as well as habitat qualityand land use practices.

The Interagency Scientific Committee to address theConservation of the Northern Spotted Owl (see News &Views December 1990) was awarded the GroupAchievement Award by The Wildlife Society in Marchat the North American Wildlife and Natural ResourceConference in Edmonton, Alberta. Seven of the 17members of the committee had ties to Oregon StateUniversity as faculty or alumni. The group was recog-nized for exceptional performance in its development of

a scientifically credible conservation strategy for theNorthern Spotted Owl.

Dr. Charles Meslow received the Oregon Chapter of theWildlife Society Award. Chuck, Leader of the Coopera-tive Wildlife Research Unit, was recognized for hismany contributions to wildlife research and manage-ment, and the high professional standards he hasmaintained throughout his career.

Dr. John Fryer, our upstairs neighbor and Head of theDepartment of Microbiology, may soon need a new andlarger office. When I visited John the other day hispresent office walls were pretty well covered withplaques, awards, and certificates for work well done andduly recognized. In June he got yet another...'biggie'...the USDA's Distinguished Service Award thedepartment's highest award. At the 45th AnnualHonor's Awards ceremony held in Washington, D.C. onJune 12, John was one of only 20 scientists in the UnitedStates to receive the prestigious award. He is probablythe only person working with fisheries and fish diseasesto ever receive it. Though John got his Ph.D. in micro-biology in 1964 and has served as Department Headsince 1976, we still claim him as one of 'ours' since hisB.S. was in fisheries in 1956 and his M.S. in fisheries in1957. Congratulations John!

OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOOOO

WE NEED YOUR HELP!Because of budget contraints imposed by Measure 5 (property tax limitation) we did not have the staff to produceNews and Views last June, and future issues will be limited to eight pages. We need your help to define futureissues. Please rank our regular articles with respect to your interest, clip this section from your newsletter and sendit to: Editor, News and Views, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Nash Hall 104,Corvallis, OR 97330-3803.

InterestLow High

Feature Article (Hiram Li this issue) 1 2 3 4 5Message From the Chairman 1 2 3 4 5Mailbag

1 2 3 4 5Meet Your Faculty

1 2 3 4 5Views from the Past (new this issue)

1 2 3 4 5Other:

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