Field Reports: Seabird die-off baffles scientists

Horned puffins, mottled petrels and thick-billed murres are seabirds that generally stay far offshore and away from Oregon.

But the birds have been washing up dead on Oregon shores in unusually high numbers this year. People who have discovered them say the birds were starving.

The die-off is a mystery, but theories range from global warming to a scarcity of the herring the birds usually feed on this time of year.

Young herring thrive in colder water, and their smaller numbers could be tied to warm ocean conditions over recent years, said Bob Emmett, National Marine Fisheries Service researcher in Newport.

Herring “can rebound very quickly if the conditions are right, but they can crash just as quickly,” said Emmett, who surveys herring numbers near the mouth of the Columbia River. “They are kind of a harbinger of what’s going on out in the ocean.”

Range Beyer, an independent researcher in Newport, said deaths aren’t unprecedented. Some of the same bird species were found on Oregon beaches in 1980.

Associated Press

WILDERNESS

House approves Wild Sky bill

The U.S. House this week approved a bill creating a Wild Sky Wilderness. If the Senate follow suit, the wild area northeast of Seattle would become the first new wilderness area in Washington State in more than 20 years.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., would designate 106,577 acres in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest as wilderness, the government’s highest level of protection.

The Senate has approved the Wild Sky proposal three times in recent years, but Republican leaders prevented a vote in the House. The measure was approved Tuesday on a voice vote.

“Wild Sky will protect more low-elevation acres than any other wilderness area in the state, bringing wilderness closer to our communities,” Larsen said.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sponsored a companion measure.

Associated Press

INVASIVE SPECIES

Snake funding cut worries Hawaiians

Snake prevention looks like pork to federal lawmakers. Cuts to the federal budget have some Hawaii officials worried about a possible invasion in the isles by legions of exotic snakes.

Many mainland lawmakers are skeptical of the federal government’s need to protect snakeless Hawaii from Guam’s brown tree snakes, said Mike Yuen, spokesman for Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii.

The money cut from the budget would have funded the use of trained dogs and other methods to keep snakes out of military shipments, vessels and planes leaving Guam.

Scientists say the introduction of snakes to the islands’ fragile environments could devastate them and have reverberating effects on the local economy.

The snakes, which are native to parts of Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Northern Australia, are connected to the extinction or local extermination of nine native forest birds and two native lizards on Guam. And snakebites account for 1 in 1,200 emergency room visits on the U.S. territory.

Believed to have arrived after World War II hidden in a military cargo ship, the snakes now blanket that U.S. island at a density of 20 snakes per acre in forest areas, research indicates.

Last year, federal legislators failed to pass two appropriations bills including about $2 million for the snake searching program on Guam.

“They don’t realize that Hawaii is a unique ecosystem here, that you bring in brown tree snakes not only could the birds disappear, but what makes Hawaii special in terms of the fauna and flora could also be destroyed,” Yuen said.

Associated Press

BICYCLING

Oregon considers fixed-gear bikes

A Senate committee delivered a victory to bicycle messengers and other riders of fixed-gear bikes on Tuesday, advancing a bill that would legalize their mode of transportation.

Fixed-gear bikes, also known as fixies, have a single gear that rotates at the same rate as the bike’s wheels. Unlike other bikes that allow pedals to spin freely and rely on front or rear hand brakes to stop, fixed-gear riders use their legs to slow or skid to a halt.

Though riders contend that the bicycles — popular among messengers and traditionally used on indoor tracks for racing — don’t violate the law, Portland police officers began issuing tickets to riders last June, citing a state law that says bikes must have a brake.

The ticketing ignited a firestorm among Portland’s cyclist community, and fixed-gear riders have continued to fight tickets in court. Since last summer, two more judges have weighed in — one siding with law enforcement, the other ruling that the bikes are legal.

“The reality is we are dealing with a law that is outdated,” said Jonathan Maus, the founder of BikePortland.org. “Fixed-gear bicycles are a rapidly increasingly part of the market and it is not just bicycle messengers and competitive athletes. These things are ridden by a diverse group of cyclists and they are going to be out on the streets.”

Associated Press