What happened to the christmas trees?

We hauled the trees we collected to an off channel wetland complex site on the Necanicum River. Byron Thompson and his family placed the trees into the complex as soon as they were delivered. Byron has been making underwater video of the action at the site. Here is a link to one of Byrons videos from August 2010 of activity at the site:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHwZv00EZAg&feature=g-all-u&context=G2d85f21F

Here you see some of the trees we collected placed in the off channel complex

(photo by Michael D. Ellis)

Here you see a christmas tree after being in the water for about a month

(photo by Byron Thompson)

Here you can see that the trees are being utilized by the Coho fry

(photo by Byron Thompson)

Tualatin Valley Trout Unllimited will be having a work party on March 11 (Sunday).  We will be helping to place woody debris, like christmas trees, in stream areas as well as planting some willow trees at the Neitzel Farm site. There should be newly emerged coho coming out of the gravel and seeking off channel habitat so we may get to see some of them. The young of the year pre-smolts will be on a diurnal schedule by then so we should get to see some of them too. Also, Mike Gentry, our President, will have just returned from a trip to Patagonia so there should be stories aplenty to share. 

You will definitely need rain gear, gloves and a lunch. You may want to bring waders too in case we anchor material in the water. We will rendezvous at our regular spot in Hillsboro (Sunset Fred Meyer, 22075 NW Imbrie Dr., Hillsboro, Oregon).  Meet by the can return area. We will leave by 8:15 am and will arrive at the work site around 9:45 or 10 am. For those who want to carpool/caravan from Portland. We can make a stop at Klootchy Creek park on the way to meet people already at the coast.

Please respond by e mail if you would like to attend to: tvturestoration@gmail.com

Michael Ellis

Last chance to drop off your tree for Ecocycling

Mike Gentry and Michael Ellis await the first tree

Saturday, Jan. 7th, we collected used christmas trees at Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters, located at NE 108th and Halsey. We will be taking these trees down to the coast for placement on the Necanicum system.

Alan Moore, right, helps another tree find a home on the coast

A big thank you goes to TVTU volunteers, Mike Gentry, Ron Reinebach, Terry Turner and Alan Moore, who helped staff and make this project happen.  An even bigger thank you goes to Jack Hagen and the folks at Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters for allowing us to use their store as a drop site. Be sure to let them know you appreciate their help the next time you are in their store. Thanks are also due to Cassandra Profita at the OPB Ecotrope blog for helping us get the word out.. Many of the folks dropping off trees heard about this through OPB or the Ecotrope blog.

Terry Turner and Ron Reinebach with a gradually filling trailer of Xmas trees

We will be collecting trees again next Saturday, January 14th, at Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters from 10 am to 4 pm, so if you haven't gotten rid of your tree yet or know someone who hasn't, here is your last chance! Also, I am the only person who has volunteered for next Saturday and could use some company! If you have the time, volunteer to staff the site for an hour or so next Saturday. My e mail is tvturestoration@gmail.com.

These trees will be fish habitat by Monday night!

There is a lot of interest in using ex christmas trees in this way and the response this year was good enough that we will be expanding our pick up sites and trying to get a lot more trees next year. If you would like to help out, let me know (tvturestoration@gmail.com). We would like to have at least one site on the west side of town in addition to an eastside dropoff and will be needing volunteers to staff the sites as well as volunteer co-ordinators to find sites, co-ordinate volunteers, and help arrange for delivery to the coast.

ADDENDUM: Jan. 9, 2012

The Christmas trees have all been placed in an off channel habitat area on the Necanicum River. There they will begin to break down both chemically and through biological processes. Biofilm will begin to grow on the needles and provide food for micro and macro organisms, allowing the Coho fry to have a ready source of food in addition to the cover the Christmas trees provide.

January / February Chapter Newsletter Available

The latest (January / February) issue of the chapter newsletter is now available.  Click on the link to the right to download.

Spawning Salmon on Thompson Creek

Here is some video of Coho spawning at Thompson Creek provided courtesy of Conservationist and Board Member Extraordinaire Jeffrey Gottfried. Here is Jeffrey's description of the action:

As this footage begins, notice that there is a female and male pair. This male thinks that he has it made: he has followed this female upstream and is not lined up next to her ready to spawn. But wait a minute! An intruder, a larger redder, more handsome/fitter/studlier male suddenly shows up on the scene and squeezes himself between the femaie and male. He then bites the male, pushes him aside and them bites him again and drives him off-no genes in the next generation for him!
This footage illustrates how in the wild, the fittest male gets to spawn. In a hatchery, a person decides which genes make it to the next generation without regard to fitness

Christmas for Coho

Yes folks, you too can join the elite group of beaver believers and North Coast Land Conservancy advocates in helping to create habitat for young Coho Salmon smolts at our projects on the Necanicum River and it’s tributaries. 

Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited, in conjunction with Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters are, offering a drop off site for your old christmas tree. For a suggested donation of $10.00, you can drop off your tree Saturday January 7 or Saturday January 14th at Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters, 10910 N.E. Halsey, Portland, Oregon, between the hours of 10 am and 4 pm. We will be in front with a trailer. Instead of chipping the trees into mulch we will transport them to the coast for placement in the streams to provide habitat for the young smolts. The donations will be used to further our restoration projects on the Necanicum and it’s tributaries. 

For an excellent article on the conservation aspects of this project please see the OPB Ecotrope blog: http://ecotrope.opb.org/2011/12/how-to-turn-your-christmas-tree-into-salmon-habitat/ .

We are also looking for volunteers to staff the pick up site in two hour shifts for both days. If you are interested please let me know what day and hours you would like to volunteer for at TVTURestoration@gmail.com .

What a great opportunity to help out our habitat and also have an excuse to visit a fly shop! I hope you can all take this opportunity to get rid of your tree with us.

A Day of Work on Thompson Creek with TVTU

By Jeffry Gottfried

On Nov 19, volunteers from TVTU and the North Coast Land Trust met at Thompson Creek near Seaside for a day of stream rehabilitation . Thompson Creek, a small tributary of the Necanicum  is a waterway heavily impacted by development.  As I drove to the work site, located within a recently-developed community of homes, a noticed what appeared to be a ditch flowing through the backyards of a number of homes, little did I know that this was a coho salmon spawning stream.

Once on-site, I was impressed to learn that Neal Maine, founder of the North Coast Conservancy had negotiated with the developer who had agreed to construct fewer homes on his land than originally planned, and to donate or sell riparian lands to the Conservancy for protection of fish spawning habitat.

Upon arrival, volunteers went to work with project #1: feeding the beaver! When the North Coast Land Conservancy obtained the property, they planned an elaborate project that would raise water levels, drown-out invasive species and provide slack-water habitat for juvenile coho. Because they had spent all their money on paying for land, they put these plans on hold for a year. During this time, the beaver set-up shop in the riparian strip on the Conservancy’s new property and managed to accomplish all of the goals set forth in the restoration plan: and without a permit or a licensed civil engineer on staff!  According to Doug Ray, who led the day’s work, the current problem was the fact that the beaver were eating themselves out of house and home and this stretch of Thompson Creek was in danger of losing its stream rehab team (ie the beavers). Doug and other volunteers provided truck loads of willow cuttings (aka beaver French fries). TVTU volunteers and others tossed arm-loads of cuttings into the pond behind the dam. It appeared to be the makings of a winter-long beaver feast as well as great dam building and maintenance stuff.

Project #2 was designed with the future, beyond this winter in mind.  We planted more than 1000 additional willow cuttings in a nearby wet meadow, behind beaver-proof fences so that future populations of beaver and coho salmon that depend upon them will hang around and prosper for years to come.

To inspire us in our work, Doug took us on a short walk up Thompson Creek where we viewed gatherings of spawning salmon that reminded me of trips to Alaska.  It was truly spectacular. I ended the day tired but so proud of TVTU’s focus on the enhancement of the Necanicum watershed and my association with TVTU. I went home and made a donation to the North Coast Land Conservancy as well as to TVTU.

November / December Newsletter Now Available

The latest (November / December) issue of the chapter newsletter is now available.  Click on the link to the right to download.

Volunteers needed for work party at Thompson Creek

On November 19th, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited will be participating in a work party with the North Coast Land Conservancy at Thompson Creek in Seaside, Oregon. We will be supporting the local hydrologists (the Beaver population) by planting willow starts to provide the beavers with food and building materials. The starts will already be cut, so our tasks will be to auger holes and plant the cuttings. This goes really quickly and makes a very visible impression. (see blogsite: http://tvtroutunlimited.blogspot.com/ )

You should wear work clothes and bring a lunch and raingear. Waders or hip boots will help to plant close to the water line. We will meet at the Sunset Fred Meyer, 22075 NW Imbrie Dr., Hillsboro, Oregon and carpool/caravan from there to the worksite. Meet by the can return area. We will leave by 8:15 am and will arrive at the work site around 9:45 or 10 am.  Let me know if anyone wants to meet at Seaside. Please e mail me( tvturestoration@gmail.com) to let me know if you are coming as we would like to have an idea of how many people will be attending.

I hope you can all make it. It should be fun.

Return to Thompson Creek

Four volunteers came out on September 3rd to help plant beaver food at Thompson Creek. In attendance were TVTU members Eric Thompson, Jeff Disney, Travis Walters, Doug Ray and Michael Ellis. It was an incredibly hot day for the coast.

From left: Travis Walters, Eric Thompson,Austin Tomlinson, Celeste Coulter, Jeff Disney, Michael Ellis, Doug Ray

We met up with Celeste Coulter and Austin Tomlinson of the North Coast Land Conservancy and headed out to the Seaside airport to cut some willow branches. 

 

We quickly filled two pickups and returned to the Thompson Creek site.

Several people started running augurs and the planting began. 

Within a couple of hours we had created a nice little forest. Some of the starts were screened but a lot was left un screened so the beavers could access and use them.

If you haven’t been by this site for a year or two you will notice some extraordinary changes. Beavers have built a dam and flooded a large portion of the area. I was gratified to see that the area we have dug blackberries in the past is now fairly clear of blackberries.

All in all it was a fine day. Jeff, Eric and Travis went fishing for searuns after the work party. The bright sun didn't help and yet I heard that several fish were caught with one going over 12 inches.

Be sure to check this site for info on our upcoming joint work party tentatively scheduled for  November.

September / October Newsletter Now Available

The latest (September/October) issue of the chapter newsletter is now available.  Click on the link to the right to download.