Langlois- Coho Country

2/10/15

 

Langlois -- Coho Country

Langlois is nourished by, and centered around Floras Creek, a little-known, but highly productive salmon and steelhead stream on the southern Oregon Coast. Floras Creek is also the source of the City’s drinking water, with the water intake located just above Highway 101.

 

Each fall and winter, salmon and steelhead pour into Floras Creek and its tributaries. Some of these fish have been out in the Pacific Ocean for up to four years, ranging as far west as Alaska and Japan. When instinct urges them to return home, they align themselves with the earth’s magnetic fields and swim towards the waters north of Cape Blanco. When they finally arrive off-shore between Thanksgiving and Christmas, scientists believe they orient themselves even further by sensing the distinctive smell, or signature of Floras Creek water. These fish then cease eating, swim against the current for several days to ascend Floras Creek, and eventually spawn and die in their native stream, very near where they were born.

This miraculous process has been going on in our area for at least 15,000 years, and it is our responsibility to make sure it continues into the future.

Langlois residents have been active in restoring salmon habitat on the creek over the last 25 years. Projects up and down the creek have included:

  • Placing rock “barbs” or vanes in the creek to reduce erosion and sedimentation.

  • Providing off-stream watering systems to pull cattle and sheep away from the creek.

  • Fencing out livestock to protect riparian areas (floodplains and lands next to the creek).

  • Planting native tree species to hold soil, provide shade, reduce water temperatures, and provide macroinvertebrates (caddis flies, mayflies, stoneflies, etc) to the stream food web.

  • Adding large whole logs to the stream in selected locations for hydrologic complexity and creating deep-water pools and refugia.

Links to OPB series: Project Denmark- cousin to Langlois

Check out these links to an Oregon Public Broadcasting series: Project Denmark  ( yes, our Denmark) with interviews with many local people that you  may recognize--  inhabitants of Denmark, OR

Series completed  2009, but is still a very timely topic.

http://www.opb.org/news/series/thedenmarkprojectseries/denmark-project-climate-change-europe-oregon-coast/

 

http://www.opb.org/news/series/thedenmarkprojectseries/what-climate-change-may-mean-coastal-farms/

 

http://www.opb.org/news/series/thedenmarkprojectseries/future-salmon-denmark/

 

 

 

  Read more about Links to OPB series: Project Denmark- cousin to Langlois

Langlois - Gateway to Denmark Oregon

Denmark, Oregon - Cousin to Langlois
(by Bonnie Jensen Cox)


There was a time when Langlois School (aka "Dairyville School") was referred to as the "north side school" to distinguish it from Denmark, Oregon's "south side school." That was in 1885 when Dairyville's school sat on the north bank of Floras Creek, and the community of Denmark was contained in its first location nearer Floras Creek than Willow Creek. Later, Langlois School would be moved inside the town's platted boundaries, and the focal point of Denmark would be adjacent to Willow Creek Bridge as articulated on a map that my father, Charlie Jensen, drew for me when he was 102. The relevance of the two communities to each other might suggest a cousin kinship. Read more about Langlois - Gateway to Denmark Oregon

Langlois as an Artist Colony-Who Knew.

Unbeknownst to many, Langlois is home to many artists using various media to include painting, woodcarving, woodworking, spinning and weaving, fabric art, hand-crafted items of clothing, felting, pottery, jewelry making, greeting card making and more.

Some of this body of work can be seen at the RainCoast Gallery and the Wild Rivers Factory in Langlois and in other galleries in Bandon and Port Orford. There are also rotating exhibits at the local libraries, plus periodic special exhibits.

Below are four Langloisians (?) show their work after completing a watercolor/pastel class taught by a Langlois artist, Jean Stephenson.

Floras Creek by Jean.

Jean , our illustrious instructor

  Read more about Langlois as an Artist Colony-Who Knew.

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