By Michael Ellis
The first day of tree collection went really well this year. Due to the hard work of the Christmas for Coho committee and our great volunteer workforce we collected over 200 trees at the two sites! We filled three 40 yard dumpsters with trees which will be hauled to the coast this coming week for us by Recology Oregon.
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| The first tree of the day at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters was
brought by Doug Hunt (r) of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders
shown here with TVTU member Doug Ray |
The day started off chilly and overcast at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters but the drop box arrived on time and our first tree arrived at 8:47 AM It was a bit slow to start but we told stories and visited until trees started arriving. TVTU member and volunteer extraordinaire Doug Ray drove up from Seaside to participate and wore his new
Coho Sanctuary sweat shirt.
At Joel LaFollette’s Royal Treatment fly shop things warmed up quickly due to the lack of cloud cover and all the trees that started arriving. The stories on OPB (thanks Cassandra Profita) and NPR (thanks Adam Cole), promotion from Field and Stream, ( thanks Kristyn Brady, Lynsey White, Amanda McNally, Mike Toth )
articles in the West Linn Tidings, Lake Oswego Review (thanks, Kara Hansen and the Pamplin Group), and the Oregonian (thanks Bill Monroe) as well as the story on KOIN TV ( thanks Tim Becker) really increased the number of trees collected at both sites.
Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited thanks Joel LaFollette of the Royal Treatment Fly Shop and Jack Hagen of Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters for letting us use their places of business to collect trees.
Thanks also to TVTU volunteers Jeff Price, Andy Andrews, George Wilson, Ron Reinebach, Hank Hosfield, Greg Fritts, Mike Gentry, Rod Lundberg, Erle Norman, Phil Hager, Peter Gray, Alan Moore, Jon Pampush, Michael Ellis and Doug Ray for their time manning the drop sites and helping to make this project work!
We have two more Saturdays of tree collection coming up, January 11th and 18th. We expect even more trees next week. A crew from Field and Stream will be in town on Jan. 11th to document our restoration work with Christmas Trees. They will film our volunteers collecting trees and placing trees in a wetland near Seaside for their Hero for a Day web site. They will be at both shops in the morning as well as traveling to the coast in the afternoon. It should be a fascinating experience. If you haven’t gotten your tree in yet, do so on one of the next two Saturdays and if you can help at one of the drop sites next Saturday, let me know.
Michael Ellis
Below are some of the pictures from Saturday January 4th.
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| Coho Sanctuary sweatshirt. Design by Solomon Siboni of Seaside, Oregon |
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| Doug Ray wore his Coho Sanctuary sweatshirt for the tree collection. |
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| Mike Gentry (l) accepts a donation from a customer. |
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| Early on at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters |
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| TVTU Volunteers fm. left: Alan Moore, Erler Norman, Phil Hager (NW Flyfishers), Mike Gentry and Doug Ray at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters. |
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| fm. left:Joel LaFollette (owner), Nick Wheeler and Corey Koff at Royal Treatment Fly Shop. |
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| Tree collection at The Royal Treatment Fly Shop. |
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| Ron Reinebach talks with another person dropping off their tree. |
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| TVTU Volunteers Hank Hosfield (l), and Andy Andrews secure a load for transport to the dumpster. |
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| TVTU volunteers (fm. left) George Wilson, Greg Fritts, Hank Hosfield, Andy Andrews (kneeling) Jeff Price and Ron Reinebach at the Royal Treatment Fly Shop. |
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| TVTU members Andy Andrews (l), Jeff Price., and Michael Ellis (the least photographed TVTU member), at the Royal Treatment Fly Shop. |
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| Greg Fritts prepares to unload a tree at Royal Treatment. |
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| Filling the dumpster at NWFFO with trees from Royal Treatment. from left: Doug Ray, Erle Norman, Phil Hager, Mike Gentry, Alan Moore, Jeff Price and Andy Andrews. |
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| In the dumpster, Phil Hager, Jeff Price and Mike Gentry stomp the trees down as Doug Ray prepares to hand them some more. |
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| Filling the Dumpster at NWFFO. |
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| Alan Moore, Jack Hagen, Phil Hager and Doug Ray at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters. |
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| More trees arrive at NWFFO. |
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| Untying the tree at NWFFO. from left: Stephen Baboi, Cassandra Profita and Alan Moore. |
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| Mike Gentry (r) tells Cassandra Profita (l) and Stephen Baboi (m) about the project as they drop off their tree at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters. |
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| Moving trees from Royal Treatment to the dumpster at NWFFO. fm. left: Rod Lundberg, Andy Andrews, Jeff Price and Doug Ray. |
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| TVTU volunteers Peter Gray, Rod Lundberg and Doug Ray. |
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| TVTU crew fm. left: Jon Pampush, Phil Hager, Peter Gray, Rod Lundberg and Doug Ray at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters with a lot of christmas trees. |
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| Unloading another tree, fm left: Jon Pampush, Mike Gentry, Doug Ray and Peter Gray. |
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| The fresh dumpster arrives. |
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| Loading the second dumpster. |
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| More trees arrive from Royal Treatment and are transferred to the dumpster. |
