ENHS Nature Trails April 2005 Article 1

This month's speaker: Bob Ross

Sometimes speaker's write such interesting vignettes about their early years, later interests and activities, that I don't need to do anything but say here he is, April's speaker, Mr. Bob Ross.

When I was five years old, our family went to my sister's school carnival. There were the usual things for children: for the fair price of a nickel, a kid could try to hook a plastic fish from the fish pond tub, shoot a cork at a yellow duck, or toss three bean bags into the eyes, nose or mouth of a gorilla face painted on a half sheet of plywood, leaning against a saw horse, in order to earn some junky prize. Kids of all sizes were yelling and running around wildly, pushing each other out of line and exhibiting other forms of behavior that I had never witnessed before. I clung to my mother's dress. She was talking to other ladies who were occasionally looking at the small potted plants that were for sale. I saw a plant that really fascinated me. It had bluish-colored, fat, waxy leaves that spiraled clockwise and counterclockwise. I remember running my finger over the leaves around and around. Then I noticed the price tag. I couldn't read it, but I knew that it was a price tag and that meant that we could buy it. I tugged at my mom and she finally asked me what I wanted. I asked her if we could buy the plant, and what kind of a plant it was. She said that it was a hen-and-chicks and that it cost five cents. I said that I wanted it. She said, "Here is a nickel; go over to the fish pond and see if you can hook a fish and get a prize." I said that I wanted the plant instead. She said that I didn't know how to care for plants yet. I said she could teach me. After much pestering, she relented. I claimed my prize, and mom could continue visiting with her friends.

We planted the hen-and-chicks and I visited often. (It was fortunate for the plant that we had sandy soil because I watered it frequently.) It grew and made chicks that got relocated and soon I had a whole bed of them. By the time I went away to college I had over 275 different kinds of cacti and succulents.

So yes, I was interested in nature as a child. I liked animals also. I was fascinated with the wild honeybees that had a nest in a hollow log, and I enjoyed collecting honey that dripped out of the hive on hot days in the central valley of California. I enjoyed watching horned lizards disappear in the sand by wiggling. It was fun to go down to the swimming hole on the Stanislaus River and swim among the salmon. It was a great sadness to watch the river deteriorate over the years, and now that there are seven dams on the river, it looks and smells like a sewage ditch.

Mom was a gardener so I learned a great deal from her-- especially about propagating plants. Dad was a fisherman, but I learned how to fish from Mom who could out-fish Dad most days. My grandfather taught me how to test the acidity of the garden soil by tasting it. Grandpa didn't know anything about pH or that the ideal vegetable garden soil has a pH of about 6.2; he just knew that if it wasn't sweet enough, he needed to add some ashes from the cook stove. I learned many of the old ways of gardening from grandfather, and they are still some of my most successful techniques today.

Another early experience influencing me came from my fourth grade teacher who took us on a fine hike in the spring to collect wildflowers. She gave a prize to the student who collected the greatest number of species--which wasn't me. I became challenged to learn how to see diversity better, which is what my talk to the ENHS is about.

I had a few experiences that contributed to the direction of my studies: Being in Sandy Tepfer's lab on the Flub's fourth floor and rubbing elbows with people such as Jim Hickman, who was out tromping through the mountains seeing and searching for diversity all summer with his girlfriend. Envy. Needing Aquilegia plants for my research in the 60's, Arnie and others from our lab took me to Iron Mountain, where we dug up about 75 plants. We thought we were environmentally responsible because we scattered seeds in the holes we left behind. I hope we would do things differently today.

When I became a teacher at LBCC in 1968, I returned to Iron Mountain since it was so close by. It occurred to me that it would make a great teaching laboratory, so I began to document what I observed photographically and to develop field trip activities. It wasn't long before a plant book was in the making. Henny Chambers, who was teaching botany at LBCC, agreed to write the descriptions for each of the species. Starting with Jim Hickman's list of species for Iron Mountain, we set off to find and record them photographically. Each year we found species we hadn't seen the year before. We thought we were observant people, but we discovered that we had much to learn about "seeing". How can people have eyes to see, the interest in seeing, and great knowledge about plants and yet not be able to see all of the different species?

After more than 100 visits to Iron Mountain over a period of 20 years (and even after the release of Wildflowers of the Western Cascades in 1988), we were still discovering new species. We laughed about them migrating in, but when one is staring at an old perennial plant, it gets embarrassing.

A game officer took my nature photography class one time. Toward the end of spring term he offered to take me to Central Oregon to show me a thing or two. He had learned so much in the class (especially learning to see plant diversity) that he wanted to thank me by showing me how to see animals. We went out for four days and I had the Hickman-envy experience all over again. Dave could spot every pronghorn, sage grouse, ground squirrel and spider web on the range--and I didn't see any until he pointed them out. Learning to see is one of my life goals, I guess.

Today I still enjoy photography, hiking, and extracting lessons from nature. I am an explorer who records with a camera and a pen. I try to go hiking (or snowshoeing) several times a month. I enjoy hiking 10-15 miles in a day--especially if it is cross-country. I look for diversity and ecological events.

Last August I had the great joy of hiking into the crater at Mt. St. Helens and touching the dome. It was awesome. I have made eight flights over it since it started erupting in September. (Images can be seen at .) I am interested in comparing the recovery at Mt. St. Helens with the recovery of the B&B Complex Fire that occurred in the High Cascades in 2003. I have traveled extensively through the burn and have created slide shows to illustrate my observations which I will be sharing with my students in my Oregon Ecology class this spring.

Bob's son, Joe, our webmaster encouraged his dad to come speak to us Friday night, but Bob seems to have some other reasons to come to Eugene as well:

I suppose my son, Joe, is partially responsible, but I'm also looking forward to seeing ol' Herb W and some of you others that are a part of my past. Is this the same old Herb that used to prep the biology labs, the Herb I helped to pith 300 frogs and that practically turned me into an animal rights' activist on the spot? I'm glad the good old days are behind us. They ARE behind us, aren't they? Aren't we now the thoughtful stewards who are bringing HOPE to the land and HOPE to the children of the land.

and, What will we hear about Friday night?

That is a good question. I haven't prepared it yet. I read what the topic is, but feel like I have much more to learn about seeing diversity on Iron Mountain. Maybe I should return to the mountain once again with this question in mind and see what becomes of it. I'm guessing that there will be an element of the journey of learning to see, since this pervades my life, and I'm sure there will be a profusion of wildflower photos.

Bob Ross has earned substantial recognition for expertise both in his knowledge of plants but also in photography. He has also earned recognition as a "TOP Prof" in the 2002-03 school year, an honor granted each year to a small number of professors/instructors by students in Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society. The "Top Prof" recognition is given to those who have made a substantial contribution to the lives and education of OSU students.

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