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| At the Circle Creek Off Channel Wetland Complex |
After visiting Neitzel Farms, we proceeded on to the North Coast Land Conservancy's Circle Creek site. Our chapter provided funds, through a Trout Unlimited Embrace a Stream grant, to design, engineer and and permit this work.
This is another Off Channel Wetland Complex but is designed to provide refuge for the coho fry primarily during high water events and through the winter. The design had to be modified during the construction because the excavator ran into huge, buried Sitka Spruce from the last coastal subsidence earthquake event 300 years ago.
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| The connection of the new Off Channel Wetland Complex with Circle Creek |
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| Doug Ray (left) talks about the construction of the OCWC at Circle Creek. Robert Williams is to his right. |
The site looks a bit rough right now being freshly excavated. Some native vegetation will help with that and TVTU will be helping with the planting on Nov. 2nd.
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| At the connection with Circle Creek. Form left: DOug Ray, Greg Fritts, Mike Coddington, Robert Williams, Jon Pampush |
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| Large woody material helps with bio diversity |
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| Close up of the brown filamentous algae |
The brown stuff in the water is not mud but rather a brown algae which is helping to prepare the soil under the water to provide nutrients for plant growth.
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| The upper section of the new OCWC at Circle Creek |
After looking at the Circle Creek complex we all went for lunch to the Relief Pitcher. The food was great. Many of us tried the huge tuna reuben sandwich and found it to be very good, featuring a large tuna steak between dressing, sauerkraut and rye bread. I heard the beer was also great. From there we made a quick trip to see the North Coast Land Conservancy's Thompson Creek and Stanley Marsh sites, home to many beavers. The beavers have made several dams which have helped immensely to restore the wetland by flooding out the blackberries and creating ponds.
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The beaver pond at Thompson Creek. Note the christmas trees in the water.
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| TVTU tour participants, from left: Erle Norman, Greg Fritts, Robert Williams, Mike Coddington, Jon Pampush, Michael Ellis, and Doug Ray at the North Coast Land Conservancy Thompson Creek site |
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| At Stanley Marsh the beavers have dammed Ditch Creek to create this wetland. |
This tour was highly appreciated by the members in attendance who wish to offer a hearty thank you to Doug Ray, member/volunteer extraordinaire, for taking the time to show us all the projects as well as sharing his immense wealth of knowledge concerning how these ecosystems work. We will plan on doing this again in the near future, so if you are interested, look for information concerning upcoming tours in our
blog,
web site, or newsletter.
