THE USE OF A PILOT STUDY IN DEFINING CHARACTERIZATION 

 PROCEDURES AND PRODUCTS-COOS BAY, OREGON 



Jay F. Watson/ Charles M. Proctor,^ and Robert L. Holton^ 



INTRODUCTION 



In 1804, when Captains Meriweather Lewis and 

 William Clark began their historic expedition to the 

 Pacific Ocean, they carried with them an extraordi- 

 nary document, a copy of President Thomas Jeffer- 

 son's instructions to them (Cutright 1969). Presi- 

 dent Jefferson directed Lewis and Clark to observe: 



. . . climate as characterized by the thermom- 

 eter, by the proportion of rainy, cloudy, and 

 clear days, by lightning, hail, snow, ice, by the 

 access and recess of frost, by the winds prevail- 

 ing at different seasons, the dates at which par- 

 ticular plants put forth or lose their flowers, or 

 leaf, times of appearance of particular birds, or 

 reptiles, or insects (Thwaites 1904). 



Their expedition coOected an incredible amount 

 of information concerning botany, zoology, car- 

 tography, meteorology, and ethnology. Much of 

 their information was collected at Fort Clatsop 

 near the mouth of the Columbia River. 



The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) 

 Pilot Study for the Ecological Characterization of 

 the Pacific Northwest Coastal Region, although not 

 of the historical significance of the Lewis and Clark 

 expedition, has many similar characteristics. 



The Service's study is a two-year effort. The 

 Lewis and Clark expedition took two years and 

 four months to complete. The expedition's en- 

 campment at Fort Clatsop was only part of their 

 total project. The Pilot Study at Coos Bay is just a 

 part of the total characterization process. 



Secondly, the expedition's objective was to 

 reach the Pacific Ocean. The FWS's objective is to 

 characterize the Pacific Northwest coastal region 

 from Cape Flattery, Washington, to Cape Mendo- 

 cino, California. Their objective was approximately 

 in the center of our study area. 



Ipish and WUdlife Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Portland, 

 Ore. 97232. 



^Ryckman, Edgerly, Tomlinson, and Associates, Envirodyne Engi- 

 neers, Bellevue, Wash. 



Dept. of Oceanography, Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, Ore. 



Thirdly, it was hoped that the Lewis and Clark 

 expedition would be the first of a continuing effort 

 in the far west. The Pilot Study of Coos Bay is the 

 first of 10 units in the process to characterize the 

 Pacific Northwest coastal region. 



Fourth, Captains Lewis and Clark were given a 

 general set of instructions by President Jefferson 

 with which to guide their data collecting efforts. 

 The FWS contractor has also been given a general 

 set of instructions to guide the characterization ef- 

 fort. History will have to teD us if the FWS writes 

 instructions the way President Jefferson did. 



And last, Lewis and Clark were directed to 

 "characterize" the route they traveled, i.e., to pick 

 out the significant things, the important items that 

 separated one area from another. For example, 

 while at Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark noted the 

 dominant plants and animals. The characterization 

 is also attempting to pick out or define the impor- 

 tant features of the area. 



As an additional comment, there is one major 

 difference between the Lewis and Clark expedition 

 and FWS effort. The Lewis and Clark expedition 

 cost $38,722.25 (Jackson 1977). The characteriza- 

 tion study will cost approximately 12 times as 



much. 



A characterization may be defined as: A 



study to obtain and synthesize available environ- 

 mental data and provide an analysis of functional 

 relationships and dynamics. The final products 

 from a characterization will include: (1) a concep- 

 tual model, (2) a characterization atlas with narra- 

 tive text, figures, tables, and charts, and (3) a data 

 source appendix. An intermediate step in this pro- 

 cess is a "Pilot Study" or test characterization 

 which is the subject of this paper. 



It is the mission of the FWS to conserve, pro- 

 tect, and enhance fish and wildlife and their habi- 

 tat for the benefit of the people of the United 

 States. In order to carry out this mission, the FWS 

 is authorized or required, among other things, to 

 conduct investigations, surveys, and research. An 

 Ecological Characterization of the Pacific Northi 



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