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:

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

The Invasion: Are you Fighting Back? Part II

Ever have some sort of small nagging health issue? Perhaps a rash, blister or acne that just won’t quit? In the wild, that’s Japanese Knotweed!

Japanese Knotweed, Source - Wikipedia

I heard a story of a biologist that took a very small portion of the root, placed it on a windowsill, left it for a year and then replaced it in water. The damn thing sprouted roots! Sprouted roots after a year, every day in the sun!

This stubborn plant can be found along the shores of most the major rivers in Oregon. While working with the Tualatin River Keepers on the Munger Lane property this past weekend (Nov 7th) one of the TRK employees, Bob, informed me a good couple mile stretch of the Sandy River has been overrun on both sides of the river with nothing but Knotweed.

Speaking of Munger Lane, let’s side track for a bit. The property, which I estimate at around 70 acres, was purchased by Metro from voter-approved bond money. Following the purchase, the Tualatin River Keepers have been managing the restoration project. NineBark, Snowberries, Indian Plum, trailing black berry, native grasses, Oregon grape, Spirea, and various native trees have been planted at this location to aid in improved water quality of the Tualatin River, providing connecting forage along the river for wildlife and improve fish habitat. Okay-now getting back to our regularly scheduled program.

Munger Lane, Washington County

Well as you probably guessed, Knotweed is native to Japan. What you probably don’t know it’s listed in the top 100 of the worlds worst invasive species. Getting rid of it is no easy task. The method utilized by the Oregon agencies is to inject a herbicide into the stem of each plant. How tedious is that? However, it’s the most effect one time treatment. Other methods are effective but take several treatments over the course of 3 weeks.

If you recall in my last blog, I talked about working with Michele from ODFW in Tillamook. I’ve adopted one of the sites along the Wilson River I visited with Michele and I’ll begin working on invasive removal this Saturday (Nov 14th). Over the next couple weekends I’ll be removing English Ivy & Himalayan Blackberry in preparation of planting natives in their place. Provided that in late spring & late summer the ivy and berries will be suppressed, the natives will thrive & the invasive species will be forced to die back. I only hope I’m in time to save the mature trees fully encapsulated by ivy.

Feel free to come help out, click here for more information! Be sure to check out the next blog. I’ll post some pictures of work from this coming weekend.

Dominic Aiello

Founder & President

www.projectwilderness.org

www.facebook.com/projectwilderness

www.twitter.com/prowilderness

The Invasion: Are You Fighting Back? Part I

This past week was crazy by Friday I was so out of whack I’d started calling friends confirming their attendance  for tomorrow morning to the November 7th event with the Tualatin River Keepers habitat restoration. After a few seriously confused friends I finally figured out I was planning tomorrow for the wrong event!

Saturday October 31st, Yet another early morning. Waking at 5:45am to head from the Portland area through the beautiful Tillamook State Forest I arrived at the Tillamook office for Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife at 8:02 am. Today’s mission holds several elements. Lets cover the easy stuff first. Michele Long, ODFW Biologist, reached out for assistance with a couple ODFW managed riparian zones that have become overrun with invasive plant species;

Japanese Knotweed

English Ivy

Himalaya Blackberry

After some normal morning chit chat we loaded up into the ODFW vehicle and headed into the field. Our destination, riparian zones along the Wilson & Trask River. Lets look below at the picture taken at one of the spots along the Wilson River.

There is two major problems with this picture. Ivy & Blackberries: Ivy’s root system grows into the bark of trees, climbing until it essentially chokes each tree causing death from lack of nutrients, bugs or disease. When mature trees die, a younger tree should have already been growing for years ready to take it’s place. Such is a normal healthy cycle. This is where the problem with the Blackberries comes into play. They grow much faster then trees, overtake the soil, grow over the immature tree, killing it. These two invasive species together can destroy a riparian & forest ecosystem.

This poses serious risk to healthy habitat & ecosystems for wild fish, amphibians, reptiles and  mammals.

Join me next week as I talk about Knotweed & begin talking about what Project Wilderness will be doing in conjunction with Michele from the Tillamook ODFW to help solve this growing problem.

Dominic Aiello

Founder & President

www.projectwilderness.org

www.facebook.com/projectwilderness

www.twitter.com/prowilderness