Summer Fun on the Water!

I know it’s not quite summer yet, but we’re close enough for a teaser. So who loves heading out to the lake or river, escaping the summer heat & having a fun time with friends? We all do! What’s your favorite way to spend that time? I wager no matter what it is, that it likely includes an alcoholic beverage for someone in your group.

Just outside the Eugene area near the Willamette National Forest is Fall Creek Reservoir. Fall Creek is home to “Party Cove”, an area with plenty of beautiful scenery, a water fall & rope swing making this a prime summer hot spot!

Recently I was contacted by a fellow that goes by “Thuggin4Life” on www.oregonfishingforum.com. Living in Springfield, OR he writes;

Huge mess unearthed while water level is low

…As I got close I see cans glimmering in the sun, passed several floating beer bottles, and noticed a few cans here and there along the shoreline. I rounded the corner to Party Cove and I quickly became pissed off. … Someone should close Party Cove down. I would like to maybe set up a volunteer clean up. The only thing is; it’s a long hike down the road and don’t even know where to pull over. The best bet is by boat. Who do you report things like this to? Does anyone even care? Please don’t sink your cans and bottles they don’t just disappear forever.

A cleanup was organized;
16 Volunteers
3 Boats
3 Dogs

As we pull up to “Party Cove”, it clearly looks like what you would expect to see in the movies after a huge beach party. Only difference is – This isn’t the movies;

After wading through sometimes almost knee high muck and carefully picking up thousands of broken beer bottle pieces that would easily cut a swimmers foot the area begins to look natural again;

Then the task of shuttling all the people and newly collected garbage back to shore.

Finally after working from around 10am through 2pm all the garbage, volunteers and great dogs are back on dry land.

In all 65 bags of garbage was gathered, of that 65 it’s estimated approximately 60 of those contained ONLY beer cans & beer bottles. Which have been marked for the recycling center. Thuggin4Life said it best – “they don’t just disappear forever.” Just because something is “out of sight – out of mind” it isn’t gone…very few items can truly just “disappear”. In response to his earlier question “does anyone really care?” – Yes thuggin4life, you care, we care and clearly the other volunteers care. I imagine if you’re reading this then you care too, and you can help do your part. Not only by leaving the places you love natural, but by reporting areas that have become “un-natural” to us at Project Wilderness. Remember we strive to host a cleanup once every month, rain or shine. Together we can eliminate littering & dumping at our beautiful places which have been protected by the previous generations for our and future generations to enjoy!

In closing here is a couple great pictures from other OregonFishingForum.com members taken after the cleanup;

Dominic Aiello

Founder & President

What’s your reason?

“What’s Your Reason?” – Well? What is your reason? Why do you want to help improve & expand public land? Is it to ensure you have beautiful natural areas to enjoy, is it solitude you strive for, to ensure you have healthy populations of animals to hunt, or maybe to ensure your children and grandchildren get to enjoy the beautiful Pacific Northwest?

Whatever your reason is, we understand it and we understand how important this cause is. It’s an unfortunate reality of today that with the more populated the pacific northwest becomes the more trafficked and trashed our land becomes.

This is the message we talked about at the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen show in Portland over the past 5 days. Speaking with nearly 500 individuals we learned that most of the land users do what they can to “Leave No Trace” by packing out what they packed in! Many times the first question was “are you pro-hunting?”. Our answer to this is exactly as it’s written in our position statements – “Project Wilderness is not opposed to any lawful, ethical, responsible and safe recreational activity on public land…” This quailed fears that we might be a political advocacy group trying to lock groups out of the forest. Many even asked, and signed up, to volunteer at future events!
Oh and I can’t forget to mention that the Jerky Hut was on our left and kept feeding me “free samples” which of course suckered me into buying the double habanero explosion of fire in your mouth. Wow, that stuff is HOT!! On Sunday we walked around to check out all the goodness and I even picked up a few items for myself.

It was a long but great 5 days. We look forward to working with everyone in future cleanup events. Speaking of trash on public land; we’re currently looking for input on public access areas that are in need of assistance.

To recap the project we’d been working on over the past couple months; we’ve completed the restoration site along the Wilson River. After cutting down Himalayan Blackberries and cutting 6 & 7 inch thick rooted English Ivy off mature trees. In replace of those invasive species we planted:

Big Leaf Maple
Black Cottonwood
Western Red Cedar
Sitka Spruce
Vine Maple
Indian Plum
Cascara
Crabapple

Also, a trail was added allowing easier access to the Wilson River.

Make sure to email us your suggestions or request for cleanup location(s) in Oregon or Washington and then stay tuned to see the schedule coming for spring!! Until then, enjoy our beautiful Pacific Northwest! Here’s a couple photos from planting;

Asha Planting

Dominic Planting

Trees Planted

Pacific Lamprey (Lampetra tridentata)- You’re Creepy but Interesting

Wydoski & Whitney 1979

Some may look at that and say, “wow!” or “cool!”, although the majority likely say “creepy!”. I’m not going to lie, they creep me out.

So what is a Lamprey & why am I blogging about it? Well lets have a short history lesson;

Quoting a portion of Wikipedia’s Pacific Lamprey page

Biology
The Pacific lamprey lives along the Pacific Coast of North America and Asia. They are dark blue or brown in color and grow to about 30 inches (76 cm). They are anadromous meaning they are born in fresh water, swim out to the ocean as an adult, and return to the freshwater to reproduce. Lamprey juveniles (ammocoetes) live in fresh water for several years (up to 5 or 6 years). Juveniles are filter feeders. Adults have a jawless sucker-like mouth and are parasitic on other fish while in the ocean. The adults live at least 1-2 years in the ocean and then return to fresh water to spawn. They typically spawn in similar habitat to Pacific salmon and trout.

As Food
Pacific lamprey are an important ceremonial food for Native American tribes in the Columbia River basin. Pacific lamprey numbers in the Columbia River have greatly declined with the construction of the Columbia River hydro-power system. Almost no harvest opportunity for Native Americans remains in the Columbia River and its tributaries except for a small annual harvest at Willamette Falls on the Willamette River (tributary to the Columbia River).

USGS National Wetlands Research

As you can see they attach to fish and suck blood and other bodily fluids. The saliva of the Lamprey is anticoagulant, meaning it prevents the blood from clotting. Although Lamprey are classified a parasite, they are considered a temporary parasite because they will release from the host fish when full usually without killing the host.

So why am I blogging about such a creepy species? Well due to several factors the once flourishing Pacific Lamprey is considered a rare find in Oregon rivers. However after a hard days work along the Wilson river we decided to take a hike along the shore. Much to our surprise in a small pool along the shore something caught our eye.



An immature Pacific Lamprey!

Just another reason for you to come out on any of our projects. Not only do you have the chance to give back to wildlife, the environment, and help keep the Pacific Northwest beautiful but you also have an opportunity to see nature not normally seen. Here are a couple pictures from the colorful Wilson River:

Green Night Out – Music for Conservation

Green Night Out – Music for Conservation
A night of live music, 2 bands, (Pilar French / Jackson Jackson and the Citizens), door prizes, raffle prizes, dinner & drinks and silent auction to benefit Project Wilderness habitat restoration & public land expansion programs in Oregon for 2010.

$5 suggested donation at the door.
A portion of all food and drink proceeds will be donated by The Agency Ultra Sports Lounge.

Auction Preview:
Date Night – One night stay for two in “Portland’s ‘Most Romantic Hotel” (City Search) / 1 of the world’s top 500 hotels (Travel & Leisure Magazine). Including romance package, vip parking, food & alcohol!
Gardeners Package – One pair of Felco pruners, leather pouch, gift certificate to Portland Nursery, certificate for thirty 4″ pansies from Al’s Garden center & 2 passes to the Japanese Garden in Portland!
U4E.com -Two “Buffer Zone” jackets of any size or color which utilizes Rose City Textiles Pacific Tech Micro Weave fabric, 59% of which is composed of yarns made from recycled plastic beverage containers. The Fill is made by Thermore and is made of 50% virgin polyester and 50% high performance recycled fibers.
AND MUCH MORE!

When: Thur, Jan 14th 2010 at 7pm.

Where: The Agency Ultra Sports Lounge
1939 Southwest Morrison Street
Portland, OR 97205

Sponsors: U4E.com, The Vintage Plaza Hotel, Pacifica Perfume, Portland Nursery, The Agency Ultra Sports Lounge, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Al’s garden Center, Portland Timbers, Portland Beavers, Portland Art Museum, Portland Spirit, Rogue Brewery, Pyramid Brewery, Japanese Gardens, and more!

Contact: Dominic Aiello (503)484-6292 / ProjectWilderness@gmail.com

Sponsor logo’s not included yet.

A machete, handsaw and large pruning shears

A machete, handsaw and large pruning shears, those are  our battle weapons of choice this weekend!  Asha, secretary of Project Wilderness and I went to Tillamook to meet with Michele Long, ODFW Biologist, and begin working on one of several co-operative projects.

It was a beautiful Oregon winter day in the coastal town of Tillamook. Going through the Tillamook State Forest it was snowing fairly heavily mixed with rain. However, once on the down slope of the coastal range it began to clear up. Standing along the Wilson River looking towards the forest you’d see patches of fog rising from the canopy. The Wilson was moving very fast, and seemed to be rising. The north fork water was a striking green, while the Wilson was a dirty brown. Michele noted that the North Fork has very little timber harvest or roads along it, which accounts for the clearer water.

Our goal for today was to remove as much of the blackberries & ivy as possible in the 3 hours available. Asha was on ivy duty to begin & I was on blackberry duty…thanks Asha, give me the pokey crap! Not to worry, I was wielding the machete and leather gloves! The Himalayan berries, however, will not be defeated so easily. They laughed at my leather gloves! Who would have thought thorns easily go through leather workmen gloves .

After about 30 minutes I hear Asha walking up the river bank. I look over in the direction I hear her, as she peeks over the ridge I can tell she’s having a problem. “I can’t tell what’s the tree and what is the ivy”, Asha says. No problem, I say, I’ll come help. I make my way back down the bank with her, dodging rogue blackberry branches that forgot I called timeout to help Asha. Damn blackberries not following the rules of a war timeout!

Overview of the three trees with the Ivy removed.

When removing ivy from a tree, especially when the ivy is strongly established, it’s not required to completely remove all the leaves, roots, and stems. What is critical is to completely disconnect the roots that are established at the base of the tree from the roots that climb. Let’s review the picture below:

It may look like we cut the tree, however that's Ivy!

As the caption says it may look like we cut the tree, but what you see cut is actually the base of the ivy roots.  Do you see the foot to two foot gap we cut?

Notice the gap cut out?

The reason we cut the gap on the ivy roots is this will kill the ivy that is growing on the tree & ensure they don’t reconnect. By cutting the roots that enter the soil you’ll severely limit the amount of nutrients the ivy receives. It will receive some water and nutrients from the tree; however it will not be enough. It’s critical to ensure you’ve cut all the root systems connected to the soil. If you leave one, it’s possible it will be enough to support all ivy above it.

Ok, battle on! After assisting Asha, with what turned out to be a huge handsaw task, we double-teamed the unsuspecting berries! Haha, I brought backup this time!

We successfully cut down about 1/4 of the Blackberry patches needed to be removed. So there is plenty of work left to be done. If you’re not already, become a follower on Twitter or Facebook and come give us a hand. We’ve won the battle, but the war has no declared winner, YET!

Dominic Aiello

Founder & President

www.projectwilderness.org

www.facebook.com/projectwilderness

www.twitter.com/prowilderness