Mid-Valley Residents Pitching In for Science Continued from Page 1 To date, Einerson said, 242 people have completed the Oregon Season Tracker training. Participants are asked to post precipitation reports daily. Plant phenology reports are posted once a week, except during winter months, when plants are largely dormant. Commitment for volunteers is minimal, Einerson said, involving less than five minutes a day for the precipitation reports and 15 minutes a week for plant observations. The program accommodates lapses in reporting, Einerson said, allowing participants to post multi-day reports if necessary. “If they are gone for vacation, they just report the total when they get back,” she said. “We don’t expect that they report every day, but we ask them to try to do it as often as possible.” In the plant phenology program, citizen scientists flag, or identify, one or two native species and track the plants’ developments over time. Their observations are reported through the National Phenology Network, Nature’s Notebook, which was established in 2007. The programs benefit both the scientific community and
the individual participants, said Brad Withrow-Robinson, forestry and natural resources Extension agent for Benton, Linn and Polk counties. “A lot of us think of ourselves as fairly tuned in on the seasons,” he said, “but when you are actually going out and paying very close attention to the plant stages, it is surprising how much more you notice. “I was surprised at how early a couple of plants came out,” Withrow-Robinson said. “I kind of knew they were early, but when I actually find out how early, I was shocked. I think a lot of our volunteers are enjoying discovering things like that.” “I find that in talking to people that one of the key things they like about the program is being involved in helping science,” Einerson said, “and they are enjoying getting a better understanding of what is happening in their yards, gardens and woodlands.” Data collected through the citizen science programs is available for anyone to see, Einerson said, and precipitation data posted by 9 a.m. shows up that same day on an online map that can be accessed through the network’s website, CoCoRaHS.
org. “It is really powerful in that just like the researchers, you can see what is happening,” Einerson said. One of the ideas behind starting Oregon Season Tracker was to push people to become more aware of their environment and how climate affects that, Einerson said. “The idea was that by getting people involved in watching weather and watching plant reactions that would create a greater awareness of what is going on around them, and how what happens with one affects the other,” she said. “It is also getting people involved in science, helping them understand that science is something that we all use, and that you can be comfortable with it,” she said. “The (identification and reporting) protocols are easy enough that you don’t have to have a science degree to do this. And they are contributing to the greater bank of knowledge out there. Researchers can’t be everywhere. Volunteers can cover a lot of places that researchers can’t be, and their data can be really important. It is a way to be contributing to the bank of science knowledge, and people like that.”
Several Science Projects Open to Volunteers By Mitch Lies, GROWING Editor In projects available through Oregon State University, citizen scientists are helping researchers accumulate data on native bee populations, on vegetable variety characteristics for breeding purposes, as well as on precipitation and plant phenology through Oregon Season Tracker. “There are a lot of different ways people can engage in citizen science,” said Brooke
Edmunds, Community Horticulture Extension agent for Linn and Benton counties. “There are the national projects, and there are the more homegrown projects, where we are trying to engage folks with individual research projects.” The data collected by citizen volunteers often provides vital information for research, Edmunds said. “In the (vegetable) variety evaluations, for example, if the citizen science volunteers weren’t collecting data, it may not get
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/linn
collected. They are definitely providing invaluable assistance to go out and walk and evaluate all of these varieties. And all of that is going to be turned into something that is going to be published and publicly available, which will be a great resource for gardeners in the state.” For more information on Citizen Science (In the Garden!), go to http://blogs.oregonstate. edu/gardencitizenscience/ or contact Edmunds at brooke. edmunds@oregonstate.edu.
Winterizing your Well Water System continued from Page 9 stick until you remove it. Bubble wrap can be used with the additional plastic covers. It is important to have some heat in the pump house such as a thermostat controlled baseboard heater, heat lamp, or other heat source. The temperature doesn’t need to be super warm, but enough to hold between 35 and 42 degrees at the minimum. Make sure all openings and doors are closed properly, keeping the heat in and the wind, which wicks the heat away, out. Insulation for a Well House Pump and Pipes Insulation of any type will help to slow the transfer of heat in the water to the surrounding air but spending a little extra for thick fiberglass or foam rubber sleeves specifically designed for this purpose is worth the cost. Covering your pipes with foam insulating sleeves will prevent freezing for a number of hours even in a power failure. Heat tapes are also available to wrap around pipes and use on the very coldest of nights to keep the pipes from freezing up. Tips for Inside Faucets Letting a faucet drip during extreme cold weather can prevent a pipe from bursting. It’s not that a small flow of water prevents freezing; this helps, but water can freeze even with a slow flow. Opening the faucet reduces pressure that builds between the faucet and an ice blockage. If there isn’t excessive water pressure, the chances of the pipe breaking is reduced even if it completely freezes. Yes, a dripping faucet wastes some water, so only pipes vulnerable to freezing (ones that run through an unheated or unprotected space) should be left with the water flowing. The drip can be very slight. Even the slowest drip at normal pressure will provide pressure relief when needed. Where both hot and cold lines serve a spigot, make sure each one contributes to the drip, since both are subjected to freezing. If the dripping stops, leave the faucet open, since a pipe may have frozen and will still need pressure relief. You can also help keep pipes from freezing by opening cabinet doors and letting warmer air into places, such as under the bathroom sink. If you do experience a frozen pump, pipes, or faucets, call a professional to help remedy the situation without damaging your water system.
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