Pinyon–juniper woodlands are dry ecosystems defined by the presence of juniper (Juniperus spp.) and pinyon pine (Pinus spp.), which stretch over 400 000 km2 across 10 US states. Certain areas have become unnaturally dense and have moved into former shrub and grasslands, while others have experienced widespread mortality. To properly manage these woodlands, sites must be evaluated individually and decisions made based on scientific information that is often not available. Many species utilize pinyon–juniper woodlands, including the pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), named for its mutualism with pinyon pine, whose population has declined by c. 2.2% per year from 1966 to 2022, an overall decrease of c. 71%. To increase the likelihood of further research progress, we propose a tool to model the distribution of pinyon pine at a finer scale than current woodland classification tools in the northern US Great Basin: a random forest model using geographical, ecological and climate variables. Our results achieved an accuracy of 93.94%, indicating high predictive power to identify locations of pinyon pine in north-eastern Nevada, the south-eastern corner of Oregon and southern Idaho. These findings can inform managers and planners researching pinyon pine, pinyon–juniper woodlands and potentially the pinyon jay.

During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, mass vaccination centers became an essential element of the public health response. This drive-through mass vaccination operation was conducted in a rural, medically underserved area of the United States, employing a civilian–military partnership. Operations were conducted without traditional electronic medical record systems or Internet at the point of vaccination. Nevertheless, the mass vaccination center (MVC) achieved throughput of 500 vaccinations per hour (7200 vaccinations in 2 days), which is comparable with the performance of other models in more ideal conditions. Here, the study describes the minimum necessary resources and operational practicalities in detail required to implement a successful mass vaccination event. This has significant implications for the generalizability of our model to other rural, underserved, and international settings.

A small lot of fossil whale barnacles from the Upper Pleistocene of California and the Middle Pleistocene (Chibanian) of Oregon (United States West Coast), described in a 1972 unpublished MA thesis, are formally described and illustrated herein. In that thesis, a new genus and species name were proposed; however, according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, they have no taxonomic standing and are thus unavailable. Based on our reappraisal, two specimens in this lot belong to a new, extinct species that can be assigned to the purportedly extant genus Cetopirus. Cetopirus polysyrinx sp. nov. differs from congeners in that its secondary T-shaped flanges are multitubiferous internally, that is, they are perforated by a high number of irregularly-sized and irregularly-spaced tubules that result in a spongy aspect in transverse section. Whether or not this peculiar condition had any adaptive significance is difficult to determine. Considering that Cetopirus is currently known as an obligate epibiont of right whales (including the North Pacific form Eubalaena japonica (Lacépède 1818)), the host of C. polysyrinx sp. nov. was E. japonica or some other species of Eubalaena. The Plio-Pleistocene deposits of the Pacific coast of North America have yielded a rather idiosyncratic fossil whale barnacle fauna, inclusive of the genera Cetolepas, Cryptolepas and now Cetopirus, which seemingly contrasts with all other coeval assemblages worldwide, the latter being in turn dominated by Coronula spp.

The new genus Sinuicella, an early successional lichen, was found on bare soil in Oregon, USA. The thallus is minute fruticose, grey to nearly black, branching isotomic dichotomous, branches round, 20–90 μm wide in water mount. The cortex is composed of interlocking cells shaped like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Spores are hyaline, 1-septate, 25–40(–50) × 6.5–9(–11) μm. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses on multilocus data sets, first spanning the entire order Peltigerales and then restricted to Peltigeraceae with extended sampling from Solorina and Peltigera, revealed the placement of Sinuicella outside of currently recognized genera, sister to Peltigera, with high support. Based on the phylogenetic, morphological and ecological distinctness of Sinuicella, we formally introduce a new genus represented by the single species S. denisonii. The cyanobiont of S. denisonii is Nostoc from phylogroup XL, Clade 2, Subclade 3 based on the rbcLX marker.

In the past, atlatls were used in hunting and warfare to throw projectiles. This article examines evidence for ‘enskilment’ in atlatl use from the Par-Tee site (c. AD 100–800) in northern Oregon. Several whalebone atlatls from the site appear to have been crafted specifically to fit the hands of children. The authors argue that this is the result of equipment scaling—the process of adjusting the size of an object to fit the body size of the intended user. The authors suggest, therefore, that proficiency in the skills required to use the atlatl was probably acquired during childhood.

Cougar Mountain Cave is located in Oregon's Fort Rock Basin. In 1958, avocationalist John Cowles excavated most of the cave's deposits and recovered abundant fiber, lithic, wood, and osseous artifacts. A crew from the University of California, Davis returned to the site in 1966 to evaluate the potential for further research, collecting additional lithic and fiber artifacts from disturbed deposits and in situ charcoal from apparently undisturbed deposits. Because Cowles took few notes or photographs, the Cougar Mountain Cave collection—most of which is housed at the Favell Museum in Klamath Falls, Oregon—has largely gone unstudied even though it contains diagnostic artifacts spanning the Holocene and, potentially, the terminal Pleistocene. We recently submitted charcoal and basketry from the site for radiocarbon dating, providing the first reliable sense of when Cougar Mountain Cave was first occupied. Our results indicate at least a Younger Dryas age for initial occupation. The directly dated basketry has provided new information about the age ranges and spatial distributions of diagnostic textile types in the northwestern Great Basin.

Platinum-group minerals (PGM) from placer deposits in Colombia, California, Oregon and Alaska were investigated with the electron microprobe, proton microprobe (μ-PIXE) and ion probe to analyse their major and trace element contents and 187Os/186Os isotopic ratios. Most of the grains in the samples investigated proved to be essentially homogeneous alloys of Pt-Fe and Os-Ir-Ru although a few of them contained inclusions of other PGM such as cooperite and laurite. Detailed analyses were undertaken on the Os-Ir-Ru alloy phases.

The 187Os/186Os isotope ratios fell into a range from 1.005 to 1.156 and are consistent with data published on PGM from other placer deposits from these regions. The ratios, together with the trace element data (and in particular the low rhenium content) determined by ion probe and μ-PIXE, indicate that crustal osmium was not incorporated in the grains and that no significant evolution of the 187Os/186Os ratios occurred during their history. These data, along with mineralogical and textural evidence, are consistent with a mantle origin for the grains through ultramafic intrusions, although the data do not entirely rule out alternative interpretations.

Pseudomesolite from Carlton Peak, described by Winchell (1900), is shown to be mesolite by means of chemical and X-ray data. A proposal to this effect has been accepted by the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names. Electron microprobe analysis revealed variations in the composition of pseudomesolite and showed the presence of faroelite. The X-ray powder diffraction pattern is similar to that of mesolite. Single-crystal Weissenberg photographs showed a twinning intergrowth which is explained by a 90° rotation of 50% of the unit cells about the c-axis, so that the a- and b-axes of rotated cells coincide with the b- and a-axes respectively of the unrotated cells. This twinning can not be detected optically. Mesolite has recently been proved to be orthorhombic, contrary to the long-held view that it is monoclinic.

Pseudomesolite from Oregon is also shown to be mesolite by single crystal Weissenberg photographs. A wet chemical analysis shows this material to be extremely silica-rich.

At least three sets of moraines mark distinct glacial stands since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in the Three Sisters region of the Oregon Cascade Range. The oldest stand predates 8.1 ka (defined here as post-LGM), followed by a second between ∼ 2 and 8 ka (Neoglacial) and a third from the Little Ice Age (LIA) advance of the last 300 years. The post-LGM equilibrium line altitudes were 260 ± 100 m lower than that of modern glaciers, requiring 23 ± 9% increased winter snowfall and 1.4 ± 0.5°C cooler summer temperatures than at present. The LIA advance had equilibrium line altitudes 110 ± 40 m lower than at present, implying 10 ± 4% greater winter snowfall and 0.6 ± 0.2°C cooler summer temperatures.

The Cascade Range of southwestern Oregon contains some of North America's most diverse forests, but the ecological history of this area is poorly understood. A 7900-yr-long pollen and charcoal record was examined to better understand past changes in vegetation and fire activity in relation to large-scale climate variability. From 7900 to 3500 cal yr BP, the dominance of xerophytic species and the frequent fires are consistent with a climate that was warmer and drier than at present. The period from 3500 cal yr BP to present experienced an abundance of mesophytic taxa and reduced fire frequency, suggesting cooler and wetter conditions. The regional history of Abies indicates that it was most widespread during the late-glacial period; its range contracted during the early Holocene thermal maximum, and it steadily expanded during the middle and late Holocene. In contrast, Pseudotsuga was restricted in range during the glacial period, became abundant at low-elevation sites in the Coast and northern Cascade ranges during the early Holocene, and was more prevalent in southern mid-elevation sites as the climate became cooler and wetter in the late Holocene. The sensitivity of these species to past climate change suggests that biogeographic responses to future conditions will be highly variable in this region.

This study attempts to ascertain whether the differing provenance sources and plate tectonic settings of deposition of clastic sediments and rocks can be identified by chemical means, thus opening the increased use of these rocks and their metamorphosed derivatives in plate tectonic modelling. Mineralogically immature feldspathic and mafic sands, muds, sandstones and shales from Mesozoic, Cenozoic and Holocene clastic deposits in California, Oregon, Alaska and Colorado have been both modally and chemically analysed providing a valuable data base (217 samples; 216 samples chemically analysed, many for 28 elements).

There is significant upward chemical variation in the Great Valley sequence of California which mimics previously described petrographic variation and in turn reflects provenance changes with igneous episodes and erosional stripping of the Sierra Nevada in late Mesozoic time. Differing sandstone petrofacies result in varying chemical signatures and while the provenances of monomict sediments are easiest to identify, polymict sources involving granitoid or ophiolitic material can often be identified by potassium feldspar or Cr contents. The distinction of K which is derived from detrital potassium feldspar from K derived from detrital illite, micas or other sheet minerals, is best made by a Niggli al–alk plot against k. Mafic sandstones derived from mafic volcanic or plutonic rocks preserve essentially mafic igneous chemistry and could be possible parent sources of some amphibolites which grade into metasediments. The lithified erosion products of the Sierra Nevada calc-alkaline igneous rocks have higher Niggli al–alk and higher average Niggli si at any given mg value than the fresh igneous rocks enabling meta-arkoses to be distinguished from meta-igneous rocks.

Applying previously published chemical criteria gives the actual plate tectonic setting of deposition of most of the sandstones studied. This suggests that the chemical composition of sandstones can yield much more information about the provenance and plate tectonic setting than hitherto recognised.