Metro regional council president David Bragdon wrote me an email yesterday, which I’m posting now for your interest slash amusement slash information.
Dear Mr Davis
As the hardest-working British journalist in Portland you are probably the only one who knows what a fen is. I imagine when you are not on the phone talking with your cronies (sorry, “mates”) about soccer (sorry, “football”) and how the team names over here sound like candy bars, you are probably sending them cable grams discussing your most recent analysis of E.M. Forster’s work or how the peat in Oregon is not the same as in Wales.
The man is like a psychic, I swear.
In other words, you are probably the only practicing journalist in this town who knows the difference between a fen and a bog.
True. Of course, the primary difference between fens and bogs is in the source of mineral nutrients under which the upper layers of peat have formed. In bogs, nutrients come from the air (they are obrotophic) and in fens, nutrients come from the water (they are minerotrophic). This kind of thing is practically dished out in kindergarten, where I come from.
A fen is a type of freshwater peat wetland. Fens and bogs are similar because they both develop by the accumulation of peat. Peat accumulates because the waterlogged soil in these wetlands lacks oxygen, creating an environment that is not favorable for most decomposing bacteria. The anaerobic bacteria that can survive are very slow at decomposing the organic material found in the soil. Over time, the organic material builds up, forming peat. Back to Bragdon.
That is why of a Sunday morning I am willing to give you this scoop. You have earned it.
We bought a fen.
There you have it. The scoop. We bought a fen. It’s 13 acres. The rest of the media will learn this fact only on Monday or Tuesday, and they won’t know what to do with it. Being so fixated on stadia, they may think we bought Fenway Park, which as you would probably not know is a baseball stadium in Boston where the Red Sox play. The Red Sox are a baseball team, not to be confused with Rex, who is a Metro Councilor. So Boston has Fenway Park, we have Peach Cove Fen. Here is a picture suitable for framing.
PEACH COVE FEN: JUST BOUGHT BY METRO…
Bragdon’s letter goes on to get a little boring, but then it gets borderline insulting. So I’ll include it because I like being insulted by important people—even more than I like being insulted by Timbers fans:
Here’s another part of the scoop: the fen, and the rocky area it is part of, was formed by floods which happened tens of thousands of years ago, called the Bretz (or Missoula) floods, when the ice dams to the east of here broke and the large inland sea which covered what is now much of Idaho and Montana came rushing down here. (Idaho and Montana are now states in our union, and in Idaho bicyclists can go through stop signs.) Since these floods happened a long time ago, any journalist who covered them is now dead, so you could probably write about them again as if you were doing it for the first time, and nobody would know the difference.
Sincerely,
Your source of all good news
David L. Bragdon
Thanks for the heads-up, and the borderline journalistic insult, David. Still, as long as nobody calls me a “civic bully” in their editorial today, I’ll probably be able to look on the bright side.
For obfuscation: I can’t believe that Matt just got trolled by an actual elected official. I love this guy’s writing. I hope I voted for him.
Would you please post the entire letter? I’d like to know why our government is buying fancy swamps. Hopefully it’s to make scotch or something.
For clarification: That is the whole letter. I’d love to know why our government is buying fancy swamps, too. But it wasn’t explained therein by Bragdon.
Oh…here’s the accompanying press release. Apparently it’s “one of a kind” in the Willamette Valley, and the aim is conservation. Blah blah. Here you go:
>>>
RARE FEN PROTECTED BY METRO’S NATURAL AREAS PROGRAM
Peach Cove Fen one- of-a-kind in the Willamette Valley
A new property acquisition by Metro secures the remainder of a rare fen located in the Willamette Narrows area near West Linn. Providing habitat to uncommon, varied and high-quality plant communities, the fen is a unique type of wetland that includes a shallow lake with a floating peat mat. According to the Oregon Natural Heritage Program, it is the only remaining fen of its kind in the Willamette Valley.
“Protecting endangered species and one-of-a-kind habitats like this fen is what makes Metro’s Natural Areas Program so important,” said Metro Council President David Bragdon. “I feel fortunate that our voters had the foresight to pass this measure and make the protection of these key aspects of our natural heritage possible.”
Along with the fen, the Metro Council property includes large boulders and rocky piles overgrown with moss and ferns. These features were presumably created by the action of the Missoula (or Bretz) Floods at the end of the Ice Age. The fen is ringed with dogwood, willow and Douglas spirea. The property is composed of an older mixed forest with basalt outcrops as well as the fen and the riparian forest surrounding the wetland. The upland forest is dominated by Douglas-fir, Western hemlock, Western red cedar, big-leaf maple and red alder. The forest floor is carpeted with native plants including ferns, moss, huckleberry, plum, and rose. The property has been well-maintained and is in good condition.
In 1998 the Metro Council succeeded in acquiring 50-acres from the property owners including a portion of the fen. As part of that earlier transaction, the landowners agreed to Metro Council’s “Right of First Refusal” for the remaining 13-acres, which Metro Council has now purchased. The entire property totals 63 acres.
The Metro Council’s voter-approved 2006 Natural Areas Program funds land acquisition and capital improvements that protect water quality and fish and wildlife habitat, enhance trails and wildlife corridors and provide greater connections to nature in neighborhoods throughout the Portland metropolitan area. For more information about this program or other habitat restoration projects at Metro’s natural areas, visit http://www.oregonmetro.gov/naturalareas.
Metro, the regional government that serves 1.4 million people who live in the 25 cities and unincorporated urban neighborhoods of the Portland metropolitan area, provides planning and other services that protect the nature and livability of our region.
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David Bragdon, you are a wiz with words. Thanks for sharing this lovely letter, Matt.
I know what a fen is but that is because I watched a LOT of Merchant Ivory films growing up.
dorothy sayers taught me about fens
Where are my swim trunks?!
What about Kristian Foden-Vencil of OPB?
What about Kristian Foden-Vencil of OPB?
Wait, what? Foden-Vencil’s accent is real? I thought he was from Salem.
PS That’s one nice looking piece of fen.
Does David need a job writing for blogs? Does the Merc have a canoe?
Maps! Man the oars!
The word is “ombrotrophic”, Matt. If you’re going to google “what is the difference between a fen and a bog?” and then drop some knowledge on us, please read further than the first geocities page that pops up.
Graham, the reason your government buys these ecologically distinctive swamps (and creeksides, wetlands, oak groves, hilltops) is that in November 2006, 59.8% of the voters told us to do so and gave us the money for it.
Which one of you is Matt Davis?
You’re a cunt.
Thanks, David Bragdon. I love your writing and the way you are communicating with us, your constituents. Keep it up. And, nice fen.
David, that is a very good reason. I guess following voter mandates to buy wetlands and junk is part of what your job is. I think. Not entirely sure what your job is, but apparently it involves riding the train at the zoo.
David – Can you tell us more about the piece of property Metro bought in Oregon City above 99E and the creepy Lewis Motel?
So you got the scoop Sunday morning, and what did you do? Sat on it until Monday.
What, was he also offering you a job or something, and didn’t want to publish the story, wanted to let Nigel get a shot at it or something, or what?
The parcel above 99E is part of a formation called Canemah Bluff, which was one of the key native gathering places along the Willamette and was also one of the first European settlements when they showed up in the 19th century. The piece we recently bought is about 25 acres and adjoins about 50 acres (if memory serves) we already owned. I think the biological significance has to do with a grove of madrone trees but I don’t know more than that. As for the creepy Lewis Motel you will have to ask Matt Davis to investigate.