Tree Collection Wraps Up

 

THANK YOU!!!

to the people from the Portland Metro area who made the effort to drop off their Christmas trees and help fund the 2013 TVTU Ecocycle Project!! Some trees arrived from Tualatin and Wilsonville - even a 

few visitors from other states contributed!

Just One More Saturday to Ecocycle Your Christmas Tree, and a Brief Update

Frosty but less windy at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters

Photos and text by Michael Ellis

Saturday, January 12th, Volunteers Alan Moore, John Arnold, Jon Pampush, Mike Gentry and myself, Michael Ellis, manned the drop site at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters. It was cold and a lot of the trees came with ice. It was not as windy as last week however, so, in all it was more pleasant. We met a lot of new people, got to talk to the public about our projects, and, while we all thought it would be a lot slower than last week, we still collected over 100 trees.

Here, Mike and Jon stand in front of the pile of trees that wouldn't fit in the truck. The pile in my yard grew by about 40 trees!

On Sunday, Mike and I took the truck to the Thompson property to unload.  The roads looked a bit iffy around Hillsboro, but when we got up in the Coast Range a little we broke through the clouds and it was a beautiful day! The silver frost on the bare tree branches and weeds along the road, lit by sunlight, was a sight to behold.

The tree pile is growing

Here is the pile of trees, next to the rental truck, at the Thompson property.

At the Royal Treatment Fly Fishing drop site, Peter Gray returned for a second weekend of duty where he and Andy Andrews helped collect just under half the number of trees from the first weekend - enough for just over a trailer load to go to the Coho! With the left over space for a second trailer run on Sunday, we were able to collect some leftover trees from Kordell's in Lake Oswego - what a benefit! An additional 45+ trees! We may be able to do the same this final weekend - especially if there is some willingness to have another volunteer add a second trailer to the mix on Sunday. If you have a truck and some time - contact Michael about wrangling a second trailer to the coast on Sunday and we can coordinate the convoy effort.

Well, we still need help next weekend, both staffing the drop sites on Saturday and possibly loading trees Sunday morning. If you would like to help out e mail me at tvturestoration@gmail.com .

Week One of Christmas Tree Ecocycling

Our Christmas Tree collection project went well this week. We collected around 250 trees Saturday between the two locations. That was a lot more than we had arranged transportation for. Bill Schoen stepped up - thanks! - and brought in an additional trailer. Even so, Jeff and I both ended up with a large pile of trees in our yards awaiting transport. Ultimately, we did haul 3-12' trailer loads as well as a 17' u-haul truck full to the Thompson Property on the Necanicum. Two trailer loads went into the newly enlarged off channel wetland area that our chapter helped to fund. Now the habitat is being improved with the addition of the christmas trees.  Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Andy Andrews and Alan Moore wrestle yet another christmas tree. This pile is destined to "holdover" in my yard.

Jeff Price with a very well packed trailer load of christmas trees.

Christmas trees in the new addition to the Off Channel Wetland Complex.

We have two more weekends of collection this year and still need volunteers to help staff the drop sites and haul trees to the Coast. If you can help out e mail me, Michael Ellis at tvturestoration@gmail.com .

Thanks to everyone who has helped out so far - especially our hosts Joel @ Royal Treatment Fly Fishing and Jack @ Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters.