#even though the desert i live in is the columbia plateau

[catsnuggler]

I feel like the cobra of a snake charmer when listening to Arabian or Arabian-themed music, what with the drums, the flutes, the stringed instruments... I just wanna like, vibe while slithering from side to side, or fall asleep in my basket, while listening to this stuff. Or maybe ride a camel in a merchant caravan. That kind of Ali Baba-type stuff, y'know?

[walaw717]

When I was a child, the first love, after my family and dog, was the west. It is a story I have told before - a road trip to Colorado when I was ten years old. That love remains, though it is confusing at times to now drive east to regain the west. For me, the west was and still is that area that begins at the dryline, which runs from Texas into Canada and separates a predominately green Earth from a sepia-toned prairie that runs to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Now, living to the West of those Mountains, my internal compass is confused.

But the feeling of home does grow. In the afternoon, as I drove east from my work in downtown Spokane, I saw a storm moving over the tops of the mountains toward the valley. It was a beautiful sight as the setting sun reflected off dark clouds rolling over the peaks and into the Columbia plateau. After the storm passed, it left caps of snow on the mountains. Here in the valley, it was in the seventy-degree range.

There is a myth at large that the Spokane - Cour d’Alene corridor in the valley is that we are being swamped by people fleeing California and the far west coast. Yes, people are moving here, and the area is growing, but the housing shortage has been artificial, and though the valley is filling with people, it is not the breakneck pace the media would like us to believe. Many people are holding on to their houses and not selling. As a realtor told me yesterday, in a small market like Couer d’Alene of about 60,000, a slight increase in population can seem like a massive flood. She also said that many properties are being bought by outside investors from China. Even before the pandemic, the market was tight. She also said that in the past, Californians move after one or two winters. It is not as cold as Montana, but it does get cold and very snowy.

This move has had a positive effect on me. I have been busy, and we have been slow to unpack. I have avoided the “news” media on the web as well as social media. Doing so has allowed me to find my center as a human being. I have realized that frustration over involvement with social media and politics allowed me to make an ass of myself and spend my time striking out like a wounded animal. I moved into a very dark and unkind place. If even half of what is going on with “woke” culture is authentic, the country is going to hell in a shopping cart, and I am better off not getting involved until the shooting starts.

When I have checked the “news,” I don’t find so much “news” as a lot of opinion pieces written by a lot of people I probably would not choose to share a cup of coffee with. Frankly, what passes as news is manipulation. I am quickly concluding that the major fault of big tech media is that too few people own and control the information, too many people have a forum to express an opinion, and too few people are really sharing information – pretty much like I just did.

Who cares what “Joe or Jane Dirt” has to say? I prefer what the trees and the red-shouldered hawk told me yesterday. They make much more sense.

Driving home from work and into the Douglas fir-covered hills has helped as well. The change in scenery and climate has improved my arthritis and the depression that Seattle brought on to me.

I continue to work through Edmund Morris’ Theodore Rex. It is a massive book and reads like a novel detailing almost day by day Roosevelt’s presidency. Some parts describe the presidency hour by hour. For all his genius, I am not sure Roosevelt is someone I would want to have coffee with either. I find myself wanting to diagnose him; his behaviors are so extreme. Other than hyperactive, I can think of nothing that fits. But I am trying to read this biography without filling myself with opinions about the man. What he accomplished is remarkable. I have had neither the level of genius nor the drive for power and fame he appears to have had. I guess that is why I am not a president.

But I do share his love of the west. I also share his passion for the core values of integrity, courage, and honor. I think many more people have that passion than the current writings and speeches of academics and politicians we are inundated with will admit too.

The day has broken now over the “Western” mountains to my east. I will be moving things into storage and soon begin the process of sorting and disposing of many things I only thought I needed. I do believe I have finally found a home. I feel the positive energy of home I always felt in New Mexico and find that the harsh brutality the desert ground into people does not exist here. I find I want to explore - to get into my truck and just drive, but I know I do not want to go further east than the dryline or further west than the Columbia River. The Rocky Mountains are home, and short of a family emergency, I have no need to ever leave again. I only left the Rockies to connect Merilyn with her family and her sense of “home” and discovered that did not work - though she does miss the sea and is struggling because she feels like she has to relearn how to get things accomplished. I have realized that the climate and the culture of Seattle were aging me and quickly killing me. If I never go there again, I will remain a happier person.

A skein of Canadian geese just announced the morning as they flew over. It is a good day to embrace life again.

[fatehbaz]

High biodiversity and endemic species distribution range in the deserts of Turtle Island’s “Southwest”:

Sure. Some to start with, which demonstrate high plant biodiversity and endemism in “the deserts” of “the Southwest,” including an obligatory shout-out to a wonderful endemic species of the North American deserts:

Just to “Situate the Conversation,” some other charismatic endemic species:

The 3 “true deserts” or “hot deserts” in the region are the Chihuahuan Desert; Sonoran Desert; and Mojave Desert. [This map is a little outdated; the Mojave actually clearly extends into the southwestern corner of Utah, for example.]

And the 3-ish most prominent “cold deserts” or “semideserts” are the Great Basin Desert; Colorado Plateau; and Arizona-New Mexico Plateau. [Map from HARC, using the WWF’s and EPA’s ecoregion standards, which I generally think are pretty good.]

Disclaimer: “Great Basin Desert” is more like semiarid steppe; it receives more moisture in the form of snow, and it’s also characterized mostly by sagebrush steppe, though saltbrush and Lahontan sand playas are also widespread. But, basically, it is contiguous with the nearby true deserts. Also, I personally think it’s useful to split the Great Basin into 2 general regions: (1) the really “desert-y” portion is the Great Basin Desert ecoregion displayed on the map here in green as “Central Basin and Range”, which hosts the majority of saltbrush and salt playas; and (2) then there’s the “northern Great Basin” of the Columbia Plateau and Columbia River watershed (Oregon High Desert and southern Idaho), which is relatively less “desert-y.” Anyway.

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Here’s a look at the Mojave Desert as one of the most prominent regions of concentrated “rare” species. The (1) Colorado Desert; (2) the boundary between the Wasatch Range and the “semi-desert” of the Colorado Plateau; (3) the Sky Islands; and (4) the Chihuahuan Desert also host concentrations of globally-rare small-range species. [From Thom/son Higher Education.]

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Have to say something about ...

~the Sky Islands~

Even though chaparral of Mediterranean California and temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest are arguably 2 of the rarest and most distinct terrestrial biomes on the planet, the Sky Islands still function as one of the top 15-ish most notable biodiversity hotspots on the globe. Here, the Sky Islands are included in a wider ecoregion known as “Madrean pine-oak woodlands.” 

The Sky Islands region - at the heart of the “desert” region of North America - is arguably one of the most distinctive biodiversity hotspots on the continent:

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Defenders of W!ldlife, 2018. Map Data Sources: Commission for Environmental Cooperation; Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and OpenStreetMap contributors; The Atlas of Canada, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, and USGS 

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Endemic species ...

Some famous maps of distribution and concentration of endemic species in North America. [I actually have some disagreements with these maps, and how the researchers loosely defined the distinction between an “endemic species” and a “small-ranged species.” For example, the Pacific Northwest hosts more endemic amphibians than is displayed on the maps; the amphibians only live within the narrow marine-influenced coastal temperate rainforest zone, but since the zone stretches across latitudes between Vancouver Island and the Klamath Mountains, the animals aren’t considered “endemic” ... even though they’re clearly endemic to PNW rainforest. But generally, I think they’re great resources and useful maps.]

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The Sky Islands (where the Sonoran Desert meets the Chihuahuan Desert) as area of high bird species diversity:

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These maps come from a famous 2013 publication:

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The “cold deserts” of the northern Great Basin usually get even less attention and credit than hot deserts. But!

[usfwspacific]

Putting the ‘Hun’ in Hunting: A Series on the Enigmatic Hungarian Partridge, Part I

By Dan Magneson, USFWS Fisheries Biologist

Editor’s note: As a part of National Hunting and Fishing Day (Sept. 22, 2018) and Public Lands Day (Sept. 29, 2018), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Region is highlighting hunting, fishing and public lands, as well as the importance of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

Photo: The author in a blast from the past photo of a successful hunt for Hungarian partridge, Credit: Dan Magneson

You’ve hunted all day for the Hungarian partridges you know just have to be here somewhere in this general area: after all, you’ve seen them in good numbers after sunrise and before sunset along the adjoining gravel roads, and you’ve seen them hunkered down amongst the snow drifts in the winter. So they’ve just got to be here somewhere.

You’ve already spent this otherwise-splendid afternoon hunting every area that looks the least bit “birdy” but to no avail. What gives?  

Nearing dusk, you throw in the towel and take a shortcut back to your car, cutting across a fall-plowed field, the bared earth there virtually devoid of any vegetative cover.  When you are out in about the middle of it, a large covey of Huns burst simultaneously skyward, those characteristic rust-colored tail feathers fanned and flared outward, filling the air with the fast and flapping fury of wingbeats and excitedly uttering in machine gun-like unison those rick!-rick!-rick! calls.  

They quickly maneuver to turn that ceaseless prairie wind to their tails and transform into blurs.  

And just like that, in not much more than a blink of the eye, they’ve already disappeared again.  

Photo: Public land where the illusive ‘hun’ may sometimes be found. Or not. Photo credit: Dan Magneson

Welcome to the challenging world of hunting – or should I say trying to hunt? –the seemingly-inexplicable gray partridge, that feathered lightning whose swift, strong and sure flight makes it the cheetah of our upland gamebirds.

I once had a friend who remarked, “pheasants are where you find them.”  I knew what he meant, but that statement is far more accurately attributed to the Hun, who – due in large part to their very minimal need for cover – are the least predictable gamebird we have in terms of figuring out just where they are apt to be.

As a passionate upland gamebird enthusiast and an ardent hunter, I just live for the thunderous bedlam of these covey rises, accompanied by those vocalizations that sound to my ears somewhat squealing, but which at the same time are not unmusical, having even a melodious quality about them.  The Hun has the most exciting flush of all of gamebirds.

Formally known as the gray partridge, Perdix perdix, this Eurasian bird was imported from various countries in its European range, with the country of Hungary being chief among them, and thus the common nicknames of “Hun” or less commonly “Hunkie” came into widespread use reflecting the ultimate origin of so many of these birds.  They are on the smaller end of being a medium-sized gamebird, being usually a little over a foot long in length, and a little over ¾ lb. in weight.

Photo: The Hungarian partridge (Perdix perdix), Photo credit: Audubon.org

Like virtually everyone else, I’m awestruck by the eye-popping iridescent and vivid coloration of a drake wood duck or a rooster pheasant.

But there is room in my heart for the others having a more understated beauty, with the drake pintail duck being a personal favorite; the pointed polar white streak extending up the sides of their brown necks, the fine gray herringbone suit, and the neatly-accented “windows” of slate blue on the sides of their otherwise-black upper bills combine to give them a subtle and highly attractive beauty.

So it is with the Hun, though they are perhaps even more conservative, all demurely done up in those flatter, more muted pastel earth tones that are so handsomely overlain with the chocolate-chestnut horseshoe-shape emblazoned upon their breasts and also arranged in a dramatically-barred pattern down their sides.

My favorite physical description of the Hun is taken from Discover The Outdoors:

“…The male is mostly gray with a distinct "U" shaped, rust colored, brand on its lower breast. It's face and throat is tinged with burnished orange and the breast is stamped with minute bits of a darker gray. At the demarcation of upper abdomen to belly, the feathers lighten to almost white and pale beige. The upper back is an almost non-discernable blend of brown, gray and white, shifting to mottled dark brown wings. The male partridge's tail is a dark, chestnut-brown. Female Hungarian partridges are similar…”

Little wonder that the plumage of the Hun is so highly prized by anglers who tie their own fishing flies!

The feathers of the “shoulder” area of the folded wings near the body is where you go to definitely determine the sex of the Hun:  males have only a blond mark along the central shaft of the feather, whereas the females have this exact same mark, but also with the addition of blond crossbars at right angles to the central shaft; this pattern on the female bird represents the so-called “Cross of Lorraine.”

But there are Hun stories out there just as colorful as a rooster pheasant.  I read of one describing a World War I soldier in central Europe, who was crawling about one night in that “no man’s land” between the two entrenched and opposing armies.  He accidentally placed his hand right smack dab in the middle of a snoozing covey of a dozen Huns.   In that split second before he came to his senses, he’d thought he had set off a landmine and was then on his way toward knocking on those Pearly Gates.  I myself recall driving down a seldom-used North Dakota gravel road one night well after darkness, and a covey of Huns who had roosted right in the center of the road flushed through the headlight beams.

On a heart-warming holiday note, one man notes how the lyric “and a partridge in a pear tree” from the song The Twelve Days of Christmas reminds him of the Christmas mornings of his childhood.  He goes on to describe how his siblings and he, at his father’s behest, carried a bucket of grain just far enough away from their prairie farmhouse that the partridges felt secure.  They would then retreat back into the house and tiptoe up to the window and peek out to watch the Huns come down to enjoy their very own Christmas presents.

The story of how the Hun came to North America begins with the unregulated overhunting and destruction of their historic habitat that decimated so many of our native upland gamebird species.  Faced with these steep declines and eager to find a replacement species, Americans naturally turned to the Old World gamebirds already familiar to so many of the newer immigrants from Europe.  

Like the bobwhite quail, Huns are sociable and gregarious birds, coalescing into a basic and cooperative social unit termed a “covey’” which in turn is largely comprised of birds which are related to one another.  They feed together, keep watch for and sound a warning indicating the presence of predators, and often sleep overnight in a rosette or ring in which all the tails are pressed inward, their bodies are hugged against the other birds on both sides, and all heads and thus eyes are facing outward and covering a 360 degree field of view.  The benefits of roosting this way are two-fold:  body warmth is conserved and predators are observed.  And just as with a covey of bobwhites, if a covey of Huns is ever scattered apart, they will employ a unique call with which to reunite themselves again.

These imports reached their pinnacle from the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s, abruptly ceasing in 1914 concurrent with the start of World War I.  Numerous entities were stocking Huns:  various state game agencies, private hunting clubs and even independently by wealthy and well-heeled individuals.  Those releases along the Atlantic seaboard were generally failures, but as one progressed west, and especially in the west-northwest and northwest compass directions, the birds began to take hold.  Not surprisingly, this occurred in those areas of North America that were similar to the Hun’s own native environment, and at similar latitudes, where the annual precipitation fell within a band of somewhere between one to two feet and where the grasses were often no more than knee-high and the distance between the standing stems rather sparsely-spaced.

The stunning success of introducing the ring-necked pheasant into Oregon’s Willamette Valley by Judge Owen Denny is a well-known story, but less well-known is the story of particular Canadian attempts at stocking the Hun in the early 1900’s.

Like a droplet of oil falling onto the surface of water or a lit match tossed into gasoline vapor, these birds explosively stormed across the prairie at a rate calculated at 28 miles per year and enduring for a full 400 miles, spilling over into the adjacent northern U.S. states along the border and augmenting their own attempts at stocking Huns.

Further leveraged by the penetration of the railroads ever deeper into the northern prairie, it may well have represented the most successful attempt at stocking an introduced gamebird anywhere in the world – ever.

In the state of North Dakota alone, it was estimated that by the early 1940’s the Hun population had already reached its all-time peak of 8 – 10 million birds.

Today the grain belt of the northern Great Plains and the semi-arid sagebrush steppe of the Columbia Plateau and the northern Great Basin high desert areas of the Intermountain West remains the Hun’s biggest stronghold in the United States.  Being a fishery biologist, it isn’t lost on me that good Hun range east of the Rocky Mountains coincides with good northern pike range, and in the Pacific Northwest it coincides with the farther upstream reaches of historically good salmon range. And all of it is jackrabbit country to boot.

Requiring not much more than a wide open sky overhead, one can be hunting sparsely-vegetated and sparsely-peopled prairie and high desert habitats (photo above) for individual species as diverse as pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, sage grouse, chukar partridge and California quail and still have an excellent chance of stumbling across some Huns as well.  

And during certain longer-term periods of persistently favorable weather patterns (which in the case of Huns means dry and droughty), the southeasterly fringe of Hun range may even briefly blend with the northwesterly fringe of bobwhite quail range and thus you might possibly encounter both of these species on the same hunting trip.

For example, there was an extended period of a generally droughty-dry and rather persistent weather pattern in Iowa from 1977 – 1989. It was within this same time period that large areas of farmland acreage were enrolled and thus idled for long periods in the newly-created Conservation Reserve Program, often being planted to grassy cover.  This created a coupling of conditions distinctly positive for Hun reproduction and their further range expansion, and in some cases they were subsequently found all the way south to the Missouri border.  

Today in Iowa, with the return of wetter conditions and fewer CRP lands, Huns have largely receded and retreated back to their historic stronghold in the northwestern quarter of the state.

Probably no other American gamebird rubs shoulders with so many other species of upland gamebirds across such a wide range – and wide range of varying habitats.

But like a buckeye tree, they usually are never particularly thick anywhere, and so mostly represent “targets of opportunity” and are taken by the wingshooting public more as a “bonus” or “filler” gamebird, taken incidentally while primarily hunting the aforementioned more popular species; relatively few hunters specifically key in on Huns.

Yet if you were going to pursue Huns specifically, what is their general life history, and what are their seasonal patterns of habitat use along with their related behaviors, and how might one adapt their hunting strategy to better boost their odds of success?

Tell us why you hunt and fish and share your photos with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by using #iHuntBecause, #iFishBecause and #HuntShootFish.

[touristguidebuzz]

U.S. Destinations Preparing For Overtourism Burst During Total Solar Eclipse

Cities such as Madras, Oregon in the path of next month's total solar eclipse are preparing for large influxes of tourists eager to experience the spectacle. Amy Meredith / Flickr

Skift Take: Cities like Madras, Oregon and others in the path of next month's total solar eclipse have lessons to offer other destinations about hosting once-in-a-lifetime events and the kinds of decisions and processes that it takes to welcome throngs of visitors.

— Dan Peltier

On Monday morning, August 21, a 70-mile-wide swath of America from Oregon to South Carolina will plunge into darkness during daytime hours.

The total solar eclipse—the first fully visible from the U.S. since 1979 and the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years—will reveal plasma flares on the sun visible from earth as the moon passes directly between them.

It will also drive an expected 100,000 people to the tiny town of Madras, Ore.—current population a little more than 6,000.

Twenty-four of the visitors will stay at Lysa Vattimo’s house.

“It’s organized chaos,” Vattimo said with a laugh. She is the lead member of the City of Madras Solar Eclipse Planning Group, a team formed more than two years ago after city organizers realized they could have a serious logistics problem on their hands. Their first tip-off was even earlier—four years ago when a travel agency called Continental Capers bought out the entire Inn at Cross Keys in anticipation of this year’s event. In such a tiny locale, such a purchase generated plenty of curiosity.

“Apparently, some astronomer said that Madras was the premier location for viewing the eclipse based on its high altitude, big plateau, and the weather compared to other locations across the path,” Vattimo said. “He could barely get anybody [here] to pay attention to him. But when all the hotels started booking up years in advance, we realized this was a big deal.”

The Premier Viewing Spot

Madras is far from the only location along the flight path. Idaho Falls, Idaho; Lincoln, Neb.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Columbia, S.C., are among the nine other cities NASA lists as ideal for watching. The first point of contact will be Lincoln Beach, Ore., at 9:05 a.m. local time; “totality,” as astronomers call it, begins there at 10:16 a.m. Over the next 90 minutes, the darkness will cross through Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, ending in Charleston at 2:48 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Its longest duration will be near Carbondale, Ill., where the moon will block the sun for two minutes and 40 seconds.

As the smallest and some say optimal viewing spot along the route, the ranching town 12 miles from Warm Springs Indian Reservation will experience the onslaught of eclipse chasers quite dramatically. With its high elevation, flat plateau land mass flanked by pristine snow-covered mountains, and crystal clear desert skies, it’s perfectly suited to stargazing.

As for the eclipse itself, ask a science lover why it’s compelling, and he or she will respond in disbelief that you even have to ask.

“It hasn’t happened like this in a century, and it’s the only one we’ll see in our lifetime,” said Molly Baker, the head of communications at Arizona’s Lowell Observatory. “It’s going to be incredible when it gets dark and to see the nocturnal animal activity.”

Lowell Observatory and Oregon State University are sending dozens of scientists to Madras to observe and record the event; NASA is sending a cadre of astronomers. They expect to observe and document unusual animal activity in addition to the plasma flares and other celestial activity during the eclipse. (When unexpected darkness falls, many animals, such as birds, think night has fallen and take to roost.)

Baker and her 30 colleagues attending, plus additional volunteers, plan to stay mostly in campgrounds and RVs. She did admit to some trepidation.

“I’m looking forward to it, but I’m also nervous,” said Baker, who will arrive a couple days prior to the event. “It going to be pretty hectic.”

Handling the Hoards

On their side of things, Vattimo and her team didn’t waste time. They contacted the Oregon state police, transportation authorities, and local business owners and residents to talk about how the region would sustain such an influx. “We knew we needed to lock arms, get to know each other really well, and get prepared,” she said.

Madras’s chamber of commerce has held dozens of town meetings to urge business owners to stockpile cash, gas, and wares. The town and surrounding campsites have rented nearly 700 portable toilets, including some from Idaho, to meet demand, with garbage trucks scheduled to run nearly 24 hours a day to transport trash to huge dumpsters before it begins to smell in the summer heat.

St. Charles Medical Center of Madras & Bend has loaded up on such supplies as gauze, bandages, painkillers, and other sundry items that medics would need to treat the general casualties frequent at any other large gathering, such as a music festival, say, or Burning Man. Doctors there have canceled vacations; pregnant women close to their due dates are being told to leave to avoid getting stuck, according to local reports. Restaurants such as regional favorite Black Bear Diner have bought five-weeks’ worth of supplies for one week of customers.

(Speaking of Burning Man, yes, there are multiple more free-spirited festivals planned for near Madras during the time of the eclipse. Expect those to have the same free-living energy—minus the corporate baggage—as the annual Black Rock Desert retreat.)

Where People Are Staying

Since area hotels sold out long ago, many farmers are renting out camping spaces on their land in plots with such names as Sunset Solar Campground, Solar Celebration, Solar Eclipse on the Farm, and Totality Awesome. Campsite rates run roughly $300 a night, with a three-night minimum; RV packages are running scheduled shuttles will move campers from the farms to restaurants and grocery stores in town. Music, food, and entertainment are all planned for display at a nearby fairground.

Christina Carpenter has 275 reservations to stay on her 100-acre farm, Organic Earthly Delights —and could accommodate twice that if she had to. She has hired 40 people to build decks, fences, bunks, tables, outdoor showers, and the like. Her Organic Earthly Delights will feature sustainable farming and bee keeping sessions, cooking demonstrations, movie screenings, and host Joel Salatin, the popular holistic farmer, author, and lecturer, during the week of the event.

She’s also importing experts for guided astrology lessons.

“The astronomers are so excited,” Carpenter said on the phone. She had just finished planting a cover crop of grass perfectly timed to flourish by the time of the eclipse. “They’re coming in from Hawaii, and they already sent their telescope ahead of them.”

Other residents as far away as Bend (43 miles away) and Prineville (30 miles away) are making a killing on Airbnb and VRBO bookings, either renting out rooms in their homes or renting the whole house for the weekend in a matter of minutes. Rates on Airbnb range from $500 to $1,500 for a room for one night; entire houses are listed for $2,000 and more. You can stay on a pontoon boat in a nearby lake for $2,850, though you must bring your own lifejacket, which is required for the stay.

“There is a sense of panic,” said Beth Rasmussen, a Bend native. Rasmussen and her husband, Jesse, are the language arts and social studies teacher at Pilot Butte Middle School and vice principal of Jewell Elementary, respectively. As the parents of two young girls, they plan to stay put for the event, if only to avoid an anticipated six- or eight-hour drive back home along Highways 97 or 26.

“ They are telling us to expect one million people to come to Central Oregon,” Rasmussen said. “Everybody knows about it. There is definitely a lot of hype.”

The Deluge

In fact, large billboards along the two-lane highway into and out of town have advertised the event for years. Rick Hickmann, who has lived in nearby Bend since 1976, said he was dumbfounded when the billboards appeared two years ago. “I laughed when I saw it,” he said. “The sign was in the middle of nowhere, in the hot desert, with not a tree in sight. I thought, who in the world would go to Madras for that ?”

Fast-forward to July 2017 and the Oregon Department of Transportation is predicting “the biggest traffic even in Oregon history” and posting humorous bulletins in efforts to stave off vehicular calamity. (Two examples: Don’t be a luna(r)-tic: Arrive early, stay put, and leave late; If travelers plan ahead and come prepared, we’ll all dance together for two unforgettable minutes as the sun throws the moon’s shadow over us. If travelers don’t plan ahead, we’ll all go nowhere together for many forgettable hours probably throwing shade at each other.”

How to Do It Right

Not scared off yet? It’s not too late to get to Oregon to see the event. Flights into the nearest airport of any size, Redmond, the Saturday prior can still be had. They don’t cost as much as you might expect—nearly $700 from New York and $600 from Los Angeles, which is up slightly from routine fares but not, say, double what travelers might usually pay.

But don’t expect to get anywhere fast, and travel with plenty of water, gas, food, and any essential prescriptions. There’s plenty of room once you get there, as long as you’re OK with a lot of fresh air.

“You just have to be willing to camp,” Vattimo said. “There is glamping, or you can rent an RV and bring it out, or pitch a tent.”

On some of the farms around town, a friendly rancher will even set up the tent for you. It’ll beat staying with 23 others in a crowded home—though that might be a lunatic time, too.

    This article was written by Hannah Elliott from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

[rollinbrigittenv8]

U.S. Destinations Preparing For Overtourism Burst During Total Solar Eclipse

Cities such as Madras, Oregon in the path of next month's total solar eclipse are preparing for large influxes of tourists eager to experience the spectacle. Amy Meredith / Flickr

Skift Take: Cities like Madras, Oregon and others in the path of next month's total solar eclipse have lessons to offer other destinations about hosting once-in-a-lifetime events and the kinds of decisions and processes that it takes to welcome throngs of visitors.

— Dan Peltier

On Monday morning, August 21, a 70-mile-wide swath of America from Oregon to South Carolina will plunge into darkness during daytime hours.

The total solar eclipse—the first fully visible from the U.S. since 1979 and the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years—will reveal plasma flares on the sun visible from earth as the moon passes directly between them.

It will also drive an expected 100,000 people to the tiny town of Madras, Ore.—current population a little more than 6,000.

Twenty-four of the visitors will stay at Lysa Vattimo’s house.

“It’s organized chaos,” Vattimo said with a laugh. She is the lead member of the City of Madras Solar Eclipse Planning Group, a team formed more than two years ago after city organizers realized they could have a serious logistics problem on their hands. Their first tip-off was even earlier—four years ago when a travel agency called Continental Capers bought out the entire Inn at Cross Keys in anticipation of this year’s event. In such a tiny locale, such a purchase generated plenty of curiosity.

“Apparently, some astronomer said that Madras was the premier location for viewing the eclipse based on its high altitude, big plateau, and the weather compared to other locations across the path,” Vattimo said. “He could barely get anybody [here] to pay attention to him. But when all the hotels started booking up years in advance, we realized this was a big deal.”

The Premier Viewing Spot

Madras is far from the only location along the flight path. Idaho Falls, Idaho; Lincoln, Neb.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Columbia, S.C., are among the nine other cities NASA lists as ideal for watching. The first point of contact will be Lincoln Beach, Ore., at 9:05 a.m. local time; “totality,” as astronomers call it, begins there at 10:16 a.m. Over the next 90 minutes, the darkness will cross through Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, ending in Charleston at 2:48 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Its longest duration will be near Carbondale, Ill., where the moon will block the sun for two minutes and 40 seconds.

As the smallest and some say optimal viewing spot along the route, the ranching town 12 miles from Warm Springs Indian Reservation will experience the onslaught of eclipse chasers quite dramatically. With its high elevation, flat plateau land mass flanked by pristine snow-covered mountains, and crystal clear desert skies, it’s perfectly suited to stargazing.

As for the eclipse itself, ask a science lover why it’s compelling, and he or she will respond in disbelief that you even have to ask.

“It hasn’t happened like this in a century, and it’s the only one we’ll see in our lifetime,” said Molly Baker, the head of communications at Arizona’s Lowell Observatory. “It’s going to be incredible when it gets dark and to see the nocturnal animal activity.”

Lowell Observatory and Oregon State University are sending dozens of scientists to Madras to observe and record the event; NASA is sending a cadre of astronomers. They expect to observe and document unusual animal activity in addition to the plasma flares and other celestial activity during the eclipse. (When unexpected darkness falls, many animals, such as birds, think night has fallen and take to roost.)

Baker and her 30 colleagues attending, plus additional volunteers, plan to stay mostly in campgrounds and RVs. She did admit to some trepidation.

“I’m looking forward to it, but I’m also nervous,” said Baker, who will arrive a couple days prior to the event. “It going to be pretty hectic.”

Handling the Hoards

On their side of things, Vattimo and her team didn’t waste time. They contacted the Oregon state police, transportation authorities, and local business owners and residents to talk about how the region would sustain such an influx. “We knew we needed to lock arms, get to know each other really well, and get prepared,” she said.

Madras’s chamber of commerce has held dozens of town meetings to urge business owners to stockpile cash, gas, and wares. The town and surrounding campsites have rented nearly 700 portable toilets, including some from Idaho, to meet demand, with garbage trucks scheduled to run nearly 24 hours a day to transport trash to huge dumpsters before it begins to smell in the summer heat.

St. Charles Medical Center of Madras & Bend has loaded up on such supplies as gauze, bandages, painkillers, and other sundry items that medics would need to treat the general casualties frequent at any other large gathering, such as a music festival, say, or Burning Man. Doctors there have canceled vacations; pregnant women close to their due dates are being told to leave to avoid getting stuck, according to local reports. Restaurants such as regional favorite Black Bear Diner have bought five-weeks’ worth of supplies for one week of customers.

(Speaking of Burning Man, yes, there are multiple more free-spirited festivals planned for near Madras during the time of the eclipse. Expect those to have the same free-living energy—minus the corporate baggage—as the annual Black Rock Desert retreat.)

Where People Are Staying

Since area hotels sold out long ago, many farmers are renting out camping spaces on their land in plots with such names as Sunset Solar Campground, Solar Celebration, Solar Eclipse on the Farm, and Totality Awesome. Campsite rates run roughly $300 a night, with a three-night minimum; RV packages are running scheduled shuttles will move campers from the farms to restaurants and grocery stores in town. Music, food, and entertainment are all planned for display at a nearby fairground.

Christina Carpenter has 275 reservations to stay on her 100-acre farm, Organic Earthly Delights —and could accommodate twice that if she had to. She has hired 40 people to build decks, fences, bunks, tables, outdoor showers, and the like. Her Organic Earthly Delights will feature sustainable farming and bee keeping sessions, cooking demonstrations, movie screenings, and host Joel Salatin, the popular holistic farmer, author, and lecturer, during the week of the event.

She’s also importing experts for guided astrology lessons.

“The astronomers are so excited,” Carpenter said on the phone. She had just finished planting a cover crop of grass perfectly timed to flourish by the time of the eclipse. “They’re coming in from Hawaii, and they already sent their telescope ahead of them.”

Other residents as far away as Bend (43 miles away) and Prineville (30 miles away) are making a killing on Airbnb and VRBO bookings, either renting out rooms in their homes or renting the whole house for the weekend in a matter of minutes. Rates on Airbnb range from $500 to $1,500 for a room for one night; entire houses are listed for $2,000 and more. You can stay on a pontoon boat in a nearby lake for $2,850, though you must bring your own lifejacket, which is required for the stay.

“There is a sense of panic,” said Beth Rasmussen, a Bend native. Rasmussen and her husband, Jesse, are the language arts and social studies teacher at Pilot Butte Middle School and vice principal of Jewell Elementary, respectively. As the parents of two young girls, they plan to stay put for the event, if only to avoid an anticipated six- or eight-hour drive back home along Highways 97 or 26.

“ They are telling us to expect one million people to come to Central Oregon,” Rasmussen said. “Everybody knows about it. There is definitely a lot of hype.”

The Deluge

In fact, large billboards along the two-lane highway into and out of town have advertised the event for years. Rick Hickmann, who has lived in nearby Bend since 1976, said he was dumbfounded when the billboards appeared two years ago. “I laughed when I saw it,” he said. “The sign was in the middle of nowhere, in the hot desert, with not a tree in sight. I thought, who in the world would go to Madras for that ?”

Fast-forward to July 2017 and the Oregon Department of Transportation is predicting “the biggest traffic even in Oregon history” and posting humorous bulletins in efforts to stave off vehicular calamity. (Two examples: Don’t be a luna(r)-tic: Arrive early, stay put, and leave late; If travelers plan ahead and come prepared, we’ll all dance together for two unforgettable minutes as the sun throws the moon’s shadow over us. If travelers don’t plan ahead, we’ll all go nowhere together for many forgettable hours probably throwing shade at each other.”

How to Do It Right

Not scared off yet? It’s not too late to get to Oregon to see the event. Flights into the nearest airport of any size, Redmond, the Saturday prior can still be had. They don’t cost as much as you might expect—nearly $700 from New York and $600 from Los Angeles, which is up slightly from routine fares but not, say, double what travelers might usually pay.

But don’t expect to get anywhere fast, and travel with plenty of water, gas, food, and any essential prescriptions. There’s plenty of room once you get there, as long as you’re OK with a lot of fresh air.

“You just have to be willing to camp,” Vattimo said. “There is glamping, or you can rent an RV and bring it out, or pitch a tent.”

On some of the farms around town, a friendly rancher will even set up the tent for you. It’ll beat staying with 23 others in a crowded home—though that might be a lunatic time, too.

This article was written by Hannah Elliott from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.