Loss, Clinging, Regeneration: Tree Care, the Life Cycle, and Art

Over the weekend the Oregonian online had a very interesting piece, part of a series it appears, on Oak trees in the winery and vineyard ecosystem, metaphorically and literally.

"Cho Wines in Hillsboro is looking for a few good acorn hunters" features the Willamette University acorn project, and quotes Professor David Craig.

To replace some of the white oaks lost to nearly 200 years of Willamette Valley development, Lois and David Cho are participating in a partnership between Willamette University’s student-led Oregon Oaks project..."Wineries have a special opportunity to plant oaks in places that will allow large old oaks to grow, but they’ll have a few decades of small, not very impressive trees....it will take planning on the scale of decades, like is done with the management of old vines," Craig said....Craig also stresses the importance of advocating for the trees that are still standing. "Planting acorns to promote more Oregon white oak is absolutely necessary, but the higher priority is protecting the very large, very complicated, and very old Oregon oak trees which provide unique structures for biodiversity," Craig said.

The context was rural and sub-urban agriculture and the open space of vineyard land.

Here, urban Oaks in more constrained contexts have been in the news lately.

A killer tree in happier times (2013)

Salem Reporter had a series of articles on a tree whose falling branch killed a person recently.

• "Tree branch falls on food truck in Grant area, injuring three"
• "Salem man remains in intensive care after being struck by tree branch"
• "Salem man dies after being struck by tree branch"
  

Late last month the paper had a front page brief on a new pest, which may impact both rural and urban Oaks.

September 30th

And there's an ongoing problem at the IOOF Pioneer Cemetery with trees, especially Oaks. This summer another big tree failure toppled tombstones.

Tree damage (early July)

While a tree does not intend damage the way a vandal does, the total damage to cemetery monuments in the last few years from trees is unquestionably much greater than any damage from vandalism over the same interval. A few notes here:

• An episode in August 2020
  
• Another in December 2020
• Multiple problems from the ice storm in February 2021

Here's more from January 2022.

Drivers Strike and Kill People Walking on Lancaster Drive and Highway 22

In the past week, in separate crashes two drivers have struck and killed people on foot in the Salem area. In both instances Police took care to note people were not in marked crosswalks. On Lancaster Drive marked crosswalks are spaced inconveniently apart, and Highway 22 west of Salem has no meaningful crosswalks. Both crashes also occurred at night. Subtly in one case, more overtly in the other, the Police releases directed blame at the person on foot for improper walking. 

Over 1/4 mile between signalized crosswalks
at Sunnyview and Wolverine

From Salem Police today:

A 64-year-old Salem man was killed in a traffic collision in the 2000 block of Lancaster DR NE just north of Sunnyview RD on Monday night, October 9.

Emergency responders were called to the area at approximately 10:00 p.m. on the report of a man struck by the driver of a sedan as he walked across Lancaster DR. The pedestrian, Ronald Bert Olbekson, was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The Salem Police Traffic Team responded, and their preliminary investigation revealed Olbekson was walking eastbound across Lancaster DR outside the marked crosswalk when he was struck by the car which was traveling northbound. 

The driver, 20-year-old Daniel Chavarria Gaytan, and a 16-year-old passenger were uninjured in the collision. Gaytan remained at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation.

No citations have been issued or an arrest made as the investigation is ongoing.

As is easy to see on the aerial (at top), the area is rich with destinations and driveways, and it is reasonable for a person on foot to want to cross Lancaster without so much out-of-direction travel to the marked crosswalks on Wolverine or Sunnyview. All the driveways also create ambiguous corners that might look like unmarked crosswalks.

Lots of crashes on Lancaster (also Market)
SKATS, 2017-2021

Lancaster is terrible, and for the five years of 2017-2021 you can see lots of crashes on it with people on foot. This is not some isolated case of supposedly improper walking. On Lancaster this is a whole system problem with a terrible, dangerous stroad that induces risky driving practices and punishes people on foot.

About a second crash there is less to say.

Sustainable Cities Residency Kicks-off Wednesday with Open House

On Wednesday the 11th, the City and University of Oregon are kicking off the public phase of the Sustainable City residency program at Peace Plaza. (With the current weather, it seems very possible they will move indoors to the Anderson rooms.)

Kick-off and Open House flier

One of the classes of particular interest here is a GIS course in the Geography department. Geography 482/582 will conduct "walkability and corridor assessments."

Walk Score for Salem

There is already Walk Score, which could be refined. A full service grocery store nearby is more valuable than a convenience store, and the algorithm may not fully account for this. Equally, a big box store with ample sidewalk connectivity but bounded by zoomy stroads, is less walkable than a somewhat smaller store on less busy streets. There are qualitative nuances that probably could be added to the algorithm. Walkability isn't just about destinations and raw proximity, it is also about quality of connection.

A Toast to Roger Hull's Historic Preservation Work

Terrible news this evening from Hallie Ford Museum of Art. When they are celebrating their 25th anniversary, they must also mourn.

via FB

This evening they announced the passing of Professor Emeritus Roger Hull. There will be plenty to say from the art world in encomia. 

What may get less attention is Hull's work for historic preservation and on Salem's history. Here are a few moments.

He wrote the Court Street Chemeketa Street Historic District Nomination.

Court-Chemeketa HD, written by Hull

He was active in conversation about the loss of old, historic homes on the Capitol Mall.

City Council, October 9th - Climate Mitigation for Parking Lots

On Monday Council looks to have a short set of items on the agenda. Two are of interest here.

Some search results for "parking lot solar awning"

Council will hold a First Reading for a set of code amendments for climate mitigation on large parking lots and increased housing options.

The proposed code amendment will require climate mitigation when developing new parking lots larger than one-half acre; allow existing parking lots citywide to be converted by a public agency to park and rides; allow single-room occupancy housing in all residential, commercial, and mixed-use zones;

The parking lot provisions include options for:

• More trees,
• Solar installations, or
  
• Paying into a fund for new wind and solar power

The State is making these requirements, so the code package is largely a matter of compliance with those requirements, and hopefully should be a straightforward adoption.

Critter Art at Public Works, Asking the Legislature to Fund the Acid Ball Eco Earth

Though with the budget crisis and debate on the payroll tax the optics are terrible at this moment, the new Public Works building looks pretty neat!

Drawings from a year ago

The paper published yesterday a suite of photos from the private, soft opening, and here are some comments.

The interior light looks pretty great, especially on dreary winter days. Hopefully that's a representative image, not something juiced for promos.

The light looks pretty nice!

Half of the art seemed visible. I could not discern anything for the interior by Claire Burbridge. Maybe it hasn't been installed. (See update below!)

The outer sculpture by Brad Rude was visible though. For water and sewer, and our location in Oregon, the beaver seemed properly iconic! Did they put the beaver in a stormwater swale, even? My first impression is that the beaver should have been the dominant figure, though.

A beaver is a natural engineer of water

The ram may be too much of a nod to a truck brand, and if we are meant to see the beaver as a symbol of water management, I am not sure how to get to transportation from the ram, other than by the big truck brand.

Still, even without any symbolic interpretation, the critter art looks like something that will be enjoyed broadly in ways that the Eye of Salem Sauron at the Police Station never will be.

Sunday History Column on Anti-Catholic Legislation points to Much More

The history column in the Sunday paper on the anti-Catholic "religious garb" legislation was nice to see. Not that the topic was reassuring, but the second Klan and the radicalism of reactionary conservatism deserve much more attention at our particular moment.

Brief reference to the Klan

With word count limits, the piece could only go so far. Its focus was on the aftermath and struck a positive tone, on "collaboration" and "partnership," not on conflict, and contained only a brief reference to the second Klan. 

There is so much more to say of course! In particular the Klan wasn't just "them," just some vague and mysterious force out there. It was "us." Many Salemites were sympathetic and a substantial number were active in it. In March of 1923, Salem Mayor Giesy attended a public Klan banquet, you may recall.

It also relates to Mill history. Narrowly, Thomas B. Kay, owner of the Woolen Mill, voted for the anti-Catholic religious garb bill. More generally, the Kay family seems to have displayed sympathy for Klan politics and may even have been active in it.

Legislative preview, January 9th, 1923

There is a need for research on tension and sympathy between Thomas B. Kay, who was prominent in State government in the 1910s and 20s, and Speaker of the House Kaspar K. Kubli, whose initials say everything about his politics. There may be specialist academic histories on this, but any discussion has not influenced enough our popular history.

The relation was not likely a simple one. In the primary election of 1922, through a front organization and under dodgy auspices, the Klan endorsed Fannie Kay Bishop, sister of Thomas B. Kay. They could have endorsed, but did not, Thomas.

May 17th, 1922

Bishop danced around repudiating the endorsement, saying only that she had "not sought the endorsement or entered into alliance with any organization..." (Also in that May 17th issue.)