Webinar on Tidal Swamps

Tidal spruce swamp.\Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Lower Nehalem Community Trust sponsors a webinar on “Tidal Swamps:  Secret Forests of the Oregon Coast,” by Laura Brophy, on Monday, March 1, at 7 p.m.  The online event is free and open to all, but participation in the Zoom session is limited, so be sure to register early.

Laura Brophy is director of the Estuary Technical Group of the Institute for Applied Ecology in Corvallis.  She is also the owner and principal with Green Point Consulting, and on the courtesy faculty of Oregon State University’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, where she conducts and directs research to advance restoration science and bridge the research-application divide.  She is a leading expert in estuary restoration and conservation in the Pacific Northwest.

Two centuries ago, more than half of Oregon’s estuarine wetlands were forested “tidal swamps,” a very different landscape than what we today associate with estuaries. These forested wetlands contained deep tidal channels full of large woody debris that sheltered young salmon on their way to the sea, providing abundant food and protection from predators and high river flows. Per acre, these tidal swamps stored more carbon than almost any other ecosystem on earth. But since the 1800s, 95% of these tidal forests have been logged and converted to farmland, so we've lost most of the wetland functions they provided. Scientists today, Laura Brophy prominent among them, are learning how these tidal forests work, and how to restore them. During this presentation, Brophy will reveal surprising facts about these long-lost tidal forests and what people are doing to bring them back.

To register for this event, go here.

For more information, contact Ben Pittenger, (503) 368-3203, ben@nehalemtrust.org.