This exchange between Jane Claire Dirks (later Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds) and Stanley G. Jewett, a biologist with Region 1 of the Fish and Wildlife Service (serving Oregon and five other states), is an example of the type of correspondence Dirks had with various experts on the Pacific forest region while she was completing her doctoral thesis. Dirks-Edmunds began to study Zoology in Illinois immediately after earning her Bachelor\u27s degree in Biology from Linfield College in 1937. She returned to teach in the Biology department at Linfield from 1941-1974

Dirks-Edmunds, Jane Claire

Jewett, Stanley G.

English

DigitalCommons@Linfield

Linfield College DigitalCommons@Linfield Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds Documents Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds Collection September 2015 Jane Claire Dirks's Correspondence with Stanley G. Jewett Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds Stanley G. Jewett Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/jcde_docs  Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons Recommended Citation Dirks-Edmunds, Jane Claire and Jewett, Stanley G., "Jane Claire Dirks's Correspondence with Stanley G. Jewett" (2015). Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds Documents. Document. Submission 17. https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/jcde_docs/17 This Document is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It is brought to you for free via open access, courtesy of DigitalCommons@Linfield, with permission from the rights-holder(s). Your use of this Document must comply with the Terms of Use for material posted in DigitalCommons@Linfield, or with other stated terms (such as a Creative Commons license) indicated in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, or if you have questions about permitted uses, please contact digitalcommons@linfield.edu. • Stanley Ch Jewett. Resee.?°'oh Biologiat u.. s. ~:teh a.nd Wildlife Se.:rvice Am.er1Pa.n Bank Building Por tland ,. Oregon Dear .Mr. Jewett.: .April z. 1942 For· some time I he..ve be:en wantirig to e-onaul t you regar di ng S·<>me !lle.ttera which have arisen in c·onneotion wi th tb:a r es.oarch wM,ch .Prof'es,f.or ll!e.cnab and I conducted. in tho Salmon River area of the Coast Range. Four ye.ars ago I lo.ft OregQn fer Illinois Where l attEJndod the Graduate School .of t he Universl ty. Th.ore I tr.a.de an ecological study in an oak woods e.n.d terminated t he s tudy las t June by submitting a thesis ~ompar1ng the Illino-is oak woods with the Do~glaa £ir-~o0k commmli 'ttJ ,a;tu.died he're i n Oregon. I am rum in the process of revi sing that thesis for publication. Suf'fice this fo:r ~ !liatorioa.l review• You have alvmya been moat helftul when ProfeHOr" Ma.zmab and I have . taken problem& to you be·fore. and so I venture to bring thi.s one to you. · l feeil that my knowledge of tha l.'!l8i1nmala of the Coast Range is. fur f rom eomplete, and l should like te hav• your epinio:n be.fere publi.ehing my statements regarding them. Tho area on which our research was conoentrated was si tue.ted on. an old •ea terrace at an elevation of .about 1400 feet. 'lhe .forest 'lfftl:si un-broken fo.r some distance· on all aides and wae late aubolimax Dougl.tus: .fir and hemlock. The nearest water was a small ,s.t ream-ewhieh 'Wtl& reduced to a mer'$ triokle in the s 'Ulllfile'r time-on one aid$ of the rid:go and the le.rger ,Salmon lti.va.r wi'!.iah OA$eaded down m e mountain a~t farther away on the eastern aide 0£ the •reae~ch station"'+ I am certain that deer, bean,. aougars, bobcats, ·apotted skunks., sno:vr-ahoe hares,. ehipmunke,. de•r :nice, creeping in.ice, red-.backed n:dce, bats (the apeoies ,~). moles , and iahrws were pre.sent i n that area bec&:ttse. we tra.p;ped them ox- saw them.. Buahy•tailed wood rats we know were present along Salnl.on River,_ but ig it your opin.io.n that they are con.fined to the vicinity of' streams or do they typie.e.lly aeeur· f'arther back on the drier ridges in such loce.tiona as the "'!"$search ete.t1on,. ·i '\: e enoountered no evid(l)ne·e of th.am ther$. Weasel,s have been seen at a la\'WJ" elevation on tha momit&i.n near the r1 ver • but I. have the impr:essi<:>n that they. as ·well u fishara,, are largely confined 'to t he neighborhood o:f atreanui. In your ·e:i..'Perienae is th.at eorrectt Although we have newr eeen .martens 1n the vicinity of the1 "rn1.far:ob station"', from what I have been able to learn about them they might wall be expec,ted to occur i n su.eh a. si·tuation. .ls th:e.t not so? l believe tree. mice should also ooct1r there. Pine squirrels have bee.n hoard lower on: the ~ountain but only 1n the vioini ty of open aretuh Are they not r.a:thel" generally conf ined to such l ocations? - Yfould you ~act to find flying squirrels in the area we stadied'l e haw ne,ver obs&Fved ·evidence of them or pine· squirrels:. .Are there any other mammals YiJhieh you would expect t o find in sueh an al"ea. as the one we studiedt if there are. would any be at all eommant • j ' ' Stanley Q ., Jewett,. April 2• 1942 I am incloeing a table which I included in my thesi••· If' you have the time., I should like to have you look it over and give me your camn.enta regarding it. 1 should like to have you return the table to me •. I :'°pe I am not imposing too greatly upon your time and good .nature by trotml.ing you with this problem of mine and assure you that I shall value greatly any assistance that you may give me~ lfy field experience has been of such limited duration that I do not feel qualified to speak authorita.tively on some of.' these matters and I do 'ft.!lt the in:.f'ormation l publish to be as r eliable as possible., I rnigP.t add that this research has been ·.a real stimulue to me, and I am continuing to study small mammal popule.tions in the Coast Range and :anywhere else I .o·an• Perhaps you knew that the area we s tudied was logged in t.he s1mm1er of 1940s however , I ·selected areas there which I trapped that s ummer and last s ummer a.nd hope to eontinue the problem if the war parmi t s. Sincerely yours., (W.aa) J. Clair:e Dirke Inolosure ... 1 ADDRESS ONLY THE REGIONAL DIRECTOR FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE REGION 1 AND REFER TO WASHINGTON OREGON UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR CA L IFORNIA FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE OFFICE OF REGIONAL DIRECTOR 600 WEATHERLY BUILDING PORTLAND, OREGON Miss J. Claire Dirks Linf'ield College McMinnville, Oregon Dear Miss Dirks: April 17, 1942 I have gone over your letter of April 2 carefully. This long delay in replying is the result of my being out of the city. A few remarks may be of some interest to you. Bushy-tailed wood rats do not necessarily appear only along streams, as they regularly go farther back, even to the surmnit of the highest ridges. The same is true of weasels. You mention'tishers". If there are any of these animals left anywhere in the Coast Mountains of Oregon we would be very much interested in securing the facts. None have come to our attention for a great many years, and we believe them on the verge of extinction everywhere in Oregon. The same is par-tially true of the martens. Without .. doubt they did occur at your research station some time in the past. Whether or not there are any left is problematical. I would not, under any oirc:umstances, record the dusky tree mouse, Phenacomys silvicola without actually having a specimen, as there are probably not over 8 or 10 of these animals preserved in collections in the world today. Pine squirrels should occur at all elevations, but of course are not common in the denser forest areas. Flying squirrels should without doubt be found in that general territory. Try trapping around the edges of the forest on downed logs, free of bark. One other mammal which should occur regularly throughout that region is the Pacific mink. You do not mention it in your list. Stanley G. _lewett Biologist NEVADA IDAHO MONTANA 

Jane Claire Dirks\u27s Correspondence with Stanley G. Jewett

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Jane Claire Dirks\u27s Correspondence with Stanley G. Jewett

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