The Millrace “Place” Project: A biological assessment

Spring 2017 Oregon Abroad

By Tia Hatton, partner with Sean Valente
Place #1: See below

Panorama of Millrace Place Vegetation from bikepath

“Place” Boundaries:
North boundary: Millrace bikepath
East boundary: Millrace Ave.
South boundary: Millrace Pond, by MillRace Ave. Apartments
West Boundary: Invisible line drawn from first sidewalk North of the bike path from big UO
research building
Summary Description:

Our place is a section constrained by a bike path, street, and apartments. The area we
studied consisted of about 5ft. to up to 10 ft. of vegetation between the bike path and the millrace
canal, the millrace canal, and the large trees on the South shore whose canopies covered the
Millrace. The water level of the race fluctuated throughout the study. We know rain and storm
water contributed to the few inches in the Race at the beginning of the term, and by the end of
the study, in May, the water pump had been turned on. Within the water, logs criss-crossed
creating a haphazard obstacle course for the waterfowl that showed up when water was higher.
They didn’t mind occasionally stepping up, then dropping back down to continue their
swimming or preening. While the most abundant bird species at our place were common
mallards and crows, on April 18th I observed three or more Orange-crowned warblers enjoying
the one fallen tree that was still densely vegetated. There were many birds that flew in and out of
the Millrace Apartments on the south shore, although they never spent time in the vegetation
right below their Apt. homes. I often heard birds further west along the Millrace and further from
the road, or saw other birds in the large field North of the bike path. I never saw Canada Geese at
our site, other types of duck, or waterfowl.
I thought of the vegetation in our area in “thirds”. Section one began at Millrace
Ave. and continued to ⅓ in along the sidewalk. Then second ⅓ ended before the last tree clump,
and the last section began at the last tree clump to the end of the first sidewalk north of the
bikepath. Each ⅓ (Sec. #1,#2, & #3) had a distinctive tree clump in it. The largest in each was:
Section 1 had a Maple, Section 2 had a Hazelnut, and Section 3 had a walnut, among others. In
regards to plant cover, the common ones are graminoids, English Ivy, Holly, Maple trees,
Himalayan blackberry. The blackberry are just now (late May) beginning to bud at the end of the
study, but didn’t grow or extend its area throughout. The Ivy and Holly layers seemed more
abundant. In early April, the grasses began at knee height, grew to hip height by the end of April,
then grew to shoulder height by mid-May. On May 24th, at least two feet into my site had been
mowed and reduced to inches. The western wild cucumber stuck out to me because of its spring
branching tendrils and distinctive white petals. It was very later in the study, nearly dominating
over blackberry bushes in section three. A funny moment was when two cats were hanging out in
the shrubs of section one, until about an hour later, its owner called them in from the apartments
on the other side. In the shrubbery in section 3, there was a small tunnel indicating an animal,
maybe the size of a nutria used it. I did no further investigation, nor did I see anything else. Our
place is characterized by layering, both vertically,between the bike and the millrace, and the
canal itself. I did visit my place at the same time, every week between the hours of 2p.m. to 6
p.m., so this may have limited the animals I observed. Otherwise, the weather varied, although
spring had definitely sprung by the time I started the study in April.

Journal Entries
4.9.17, 2:50 p.m.
Weather is warm, around 55. There is a cloud cover. Water is only a few inches.There are birds
singing, although I’m unsure whether they are in my place or on the lawn north of the bike path
(Sec. 1). On the ground near the Millrace Ave. and the beginning of the bike path there is not
trees, rather grasses and dandelions, This seems to be the most accessible part to the millrace
at the moment. This area does have bushes though. There are many leaves underneath the
bushes. There’s a dead red nettle which Peter learned in Urban Farm indicates soil fertility. A
couple spiders are on the ground near the grasses.​ ​How do dead and living plants work
together? From what I do know, decomposition happens which enriches soil. Thinking of
downed nursing logs, there’s a great relationship between dead plants and living plants.Why do
plants bloom at different times, within the same plant? In short, genes, temperature, and soil
conditions​ ​(livescience)​.​I heard at least four different bird songs. There are crows in the big
trees on the south side of the millrace. There’s a gray and black bird with a long black beak.
Additionally, there’s a tiny bird lower down in the big Maple with a noisy longer chirp like do do
di do di. The sidewalk follows the slight bend in the millrace at our place. As the trees begin,
there’s English Ivy, which has white little veins. The smaller leaves don’t look like the most
developed leaves. There’s also shiny darker green vine with serrated edges, which we find is
holly. Brown bird with slight orange, its size is about 8 inches.
One section layers (from sidewalk up)
1. Moss, ​sci name​ growing on sidewalk
2. Dirt, grasses where moss stops
3. Dandelions and a Small white flower
4. English Ivy, ​Hedera helix
5. Common Snowberry, ​Symphoricarpos Albus
6. White blossom Tree, later identified as Crab Apple, ​sci name
7. Himalayan BlackBerry, ​sci name

Today, I got a feel for the place and notices its dominating features.
There are a lot of things that aren’t quite flowering yet which can make
ID’s difficult.

Left: Looking into the Millrace from Section one

4.18.2017​ ​6:00 p.m.
Weather is warm, partially cloudy, and nearly 65 degrees. I am near the end curve of our area,
towards the large UO building right before our sidewalk marker.In Section 3 near end sidewalk
instead of graminoids, clovers, and wildflowers, there is a section of dirts and small rocks. Small
plants are starting to grow, but I’m curious about the disturbance that must have occurred.
There’s a burrow/hole in the side of vines, on the west end of area. Layers and layers of leaves
cover a lot of the ground. Trees cluster together. One of the largest trees is a big leaf maple. A
very, very small bug has landed on my paper. I am still debating on whether the white
blossoming tree is a crab apple or cherry blossom. Bitty suggested to look for “two small glands
on the stem of the leaf, which would indicate the non-native Prunus Avium, or sweet cherry.
Sean later identifies it off of fruit blooming to be crabapple.​ ​Within the millrace at section 3,
around the tree clump, there’s a tree in the water. I observe 3+ small birds, with a white eye
rings, grayish head, yellow underbelly and gray/brownish feathers. After much consideration
between a fet kinds of warblers, the one that matches up best is orange-crowned warbler. They
have the same coloring, and enjoy “low, dense vegetation” (allaboutbird & ebird).They enjoy this
tree over the water with lots of leaves. They seem to be eating off the leaves. I am observing
this in the largest opening to the water, besides our beginning section-which is starting to grow
more and more. I also very briefly saw a mixed-patterned with some red bird. It was also in the
thicket on the water, but I only saw one It was bigger than the yellow birds. Sean identifies wild
ginger also in section 3.

4.30.2017 2:30 pm​ 60 degree F.

Reaffirming hazelnut, ​corylus cornuta​ finding. I am bird-watching close to the road. I hear birds
in the thick bushes Their song is twee twee tweedle. Moving to sec. 2 I can look up into the big
maple across the millrace near the Millrace apartments. There is a large black bird high up in
the tree just sitting across a branch. Because of its behavior It doesn’t seem like a normal crow,
but after five minutes a different crow comes crowing and disturbs this bird and moves it. Down
the sidewalk I see a feline cat and then it wandered into the
shrubs. I was able to pet it, and another cat was on the large lawn
north of the bike path. A while later it turns out its owners were
hanging out on the lawn and the 2 cats wander to and from the
Millrace Apartment to the millrace shrubbery. It’s their backyard.
We identify some western wild cucumber in sec. 3 on the side of
the hazelnut tree, it has climbing tendrils and 5-6 white petals on
the flowers. The grasses in section one that were just beginning
to grow are now to my hip in height. There’s tiny blue flowers,
under 2 ft in height, it has soft leaves, hairy stem, and alternating
leaves. Left: sketch of small-flowered forget me not. There’s a
brown bird with interesting leaves and a whitish belly, it looks and
sounds like a sparrow, and after comparison most likely a song sparrow.

5.20.2017 3:50 p.m., Warm out, no clouds, very Shady

The water level is very high. I hear a lot

of birds, but not necessarily at our Place.
Sean saw a potato bug. There’s a Stellar’s
Jay jumping around above me near the
big Maple on the South shore, and it
seems to know I’m watching it and
following it. While watching on the street
bridge there's a Female and Male Mallard
pair, preening for over ten minutes. The
foliage has grown immensely. The
grasses in section one have grown for 2
feet, to hip height, to shoulder height. The
first couple feet of section 1 have been
trimmed by a mower.
Above: Sketch of Common Snowberry, while ID’ing
The crab apple tree that had white blossoms, no longer has them, and is starting to grow its fruit.
The large tree in section three near the front of its tree clump is a
walnut. After identifying this off of the leaves. ​Left: walnut leaf
sketch. ​I found a walnut shell the West of it. The Maple tree has
a lot of helicopters seed pods, I didn’t notice them before. There
is so much inter layering and many plants growing on each other.
At the end of section 3, there are many white flowers growing
on/with the blackberry bush. These are the wild cucumber
flowers. There’s another small-flowered forget me- not, but they
aren’t very abundant. I see 2 dark beetles with even darker
stripes.I hear many birds to the West down the millrace. The soil
here in sec. 3 is rocky and hard right now. Soil in the same area
that is more shaded is darker, less hard. There’s a lot of
composting going on. I’m curious as to why the trees clump and why the distribution is the way
it is. The trees that clump tend to be skinnier, and individuals tend to be trunks. The answer may
lie in a combination of access to water, soil, sun, and the potential for human interference. There
is a bald eagle high above our place flying circles!

Maple Trees over the Millrace, facing West from Millrace ave. bridge

5.25.17 4:10 p.m.

Temperature is in the mid 60’s and weather is sunny and
windy. The rest of our site has been mowed, about 2 ft in.
There’s 3 mallards;one M/F pair, and another Male. While
watching from the Eastern edge bridge in Sec. 1 I watched a
Mallard come up the millrace, then proceed to fly into the
tunnel underneath me, then stir up and scare two other
mallards. All three came out squawking. There is a crow
walking up and down a log in the water just making noise.
Logs are not a boon to travel for the birds.

Left: Grass, shoulder height, section 1

Species List
 *Species list/google sheet only include those identified. Smaller bugs/plants/ etc. are included in
daily journals, but not reflected in the species list.

Pictures

Holly, ​Ilex aquifolium​ (shiny), Hazelnut tree, ​Corylus cornuta

English Ivy, ​Hedera helix​ (dull) 4.9.17 4.9.17
 Dead Red Nettle,​ Lamium purpureum
Photo by Sean Valente (SV)
Tree Clump, which Hazelnut belongs to. 4.18.17
4.9.17

Above: Evidence of tunneling

4.18.17

Below: Strict Forget-me-not flower, ​Myosotis

Western wild cucumber, ​Marah oreganus. micrantha
4.18.17 4.30.17 ↓
“Stickyweed”, ​Galium aparine ​4.30.17
(photo by SV)

Above: ​W​estern Swordfern, ​Polystichum

munitum.
4.30.17 (photo:SV)

Right: Western wild cucumber showing

flowers and tendrils, 4.30.17
Horsetail​, ​Equisetum arvense ​ 5.20.17 Common snowberry, ​Symphoricarpos albus.
5.20.17

Walnut near the Walnut tree,

5.20.17

Himalayan Blackberry, ​Rubus armeniacus

5.20.17
Mallard, 5.20.17

Oregon Oak tree, ​Quercas garryana

5.20.17 (photo by SV)