PSU Magazine Spring 2006

0 U N D T H E PA R K Five schools with just one application President Dan Bernstine and the presi– dents of Chemeketa Community Col– lege, Clackamas Community College, Mount Hood Community College, and Portland Community College signed a historic agreement this spring to inte– grate student admissions and enroll– ment, academic planning, and support services. The schools have formed the Portland Area Higher Education Con– sortium, which will allow students to move freely among all five schools, tailoring course offerings and times to their own needs and schedules. "A student at one school may be a student at all five if he or she wishes," says Joe Johnson, president of Clacka– mas Community College. Students at the consortium schools already are benefiting from joint enroll– ment agreements and single financial aid packages. Soon a single application and registration process will be in place. The agreement also calls for joint academic planning, the sharing of classroom facilities where possible, and the opportunity for students to com– plete a four-year degree from PSU while remaining on a community college campus. Representatives from the five mem– ber schools have met for over a year to coordinate course offerings. For more information, contact Guy Sievert, Portland Area Higher Educa– tion Consortium coordinator, at gsievert@pdx.edu or 503-725-5234. BLOCKS Prime real estate students Students in PSU's Center for Real Estate program won the 2006 National Associ– ation of Industrial & Office Properties Pacific Northwest Real Estate Challenge with a development solution for a two-block site on Seattle's waterfront. The seven graduate students defeated teams from University of Washington, Washington State University, and Uni– versity of British Columbia. The winning proposal for Seattle's Elliott Bay Lofts combined retail space with 285 condo– minium units, targeting young "creative class" workers, empty nesters, and single baby boomers. With many high-end condos opening in the downtown Seattle market, the team mitigated risks by focusing on buyers of more modest means. The proposal also called for Tracking the invasive New Zealand mudsnail Researchers in PSU's Center for Lakes and Reservoirs have a couple of serv– ing suggestions for the New Zealand mudsnail: frozen, dried, or marinated in a toxic bath of Formula 409-any– thing to help prevent the spread of this miniature menace from Down Under. Working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, PSU researchers dis– tributed "wanted" cards with informa– tion about the mudsnail, and have since found the creature in Coos Bay and in the lower Deschutes River near the Oregon fly-fishing hotspot of Maupin-first sightings in both areas. The New Zealand mudsnail, though averaging only one-eighth inch in length, can quickly propagate to densi– ties of 50,000 per square foot, literally blanketing riverbeds, crowding out existing species, and wreaking havoc on native plant and fish populations. With a "hatchdoor" known as an oper– culum, the New Zealand mudsnail can seal itself inside a shell-allowing sur- 2 PSU MAGAZINE SPRING 2006 vival out of water or through a preda– tors digestive tract. Early detection of the species, which first appeared in the West in the 1980s, is critical to controlling its spread. The mudsnail is already prevalent in Oregon's lower Rogue River, New The New Zealand mudsnail is only one– eighth inch, but it can quickly repro– duces to 50,000 snails per square foot. River, and Umpqua River. lt has also been found in Garrison Lake, Floras Lake, Devil's Lake, and the Coffenberry Lake on the Oregon coast, as well as in the Columbia River estuary and the Snake River. lt is not known how the snail arrived in Oregon, but potential pathways include fish hatcheries, boaters, watershed survey crews, and anglers. "Although new sightings of this invasive species are disappointing, there are many watersheds in the Pacific Northwest where NZMS have not been discovered, and their spread is not inevitable," says Dave Allen, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific region. The Center for Lakes and Reser– voirs at PSU provides technical assistance, education, and research on management of lakes and reser– voirs with an emphasis on manage– ment of aquatic invasive species.