Gray Wolf Pups and Sculpins Restore Salmon Habitat at Connelly Creek

The Gray Wolf Pups met the Sculpins for a service outing at Connelly Creek. We were blessed with glorious sunny and warm weather on this last day in April. After gathering at the park and ride, we made the five minute walk down to our service site in Happy Valley Park.

Enjoying sunshine at our service site

By the time we got there, lots of work had already been done at the site. So far this spring, other groups were able to finally rid most of the stream bank of blackberries. Also, there has been lots of walking down of the reed canary grass and mulching on top. Today, we would further these efforts by doing additional blackberry removal, reed canary grass flattening and mulching as well.

Leave with full buckets...

...come back and fill them up again

Historically, salmon have used this creek to spawn in. The salmon have stopped using Connelly Creek because the quality of the stream has been severely degraded due to human development. By doing restoration around the creek (in the riparian zone) we can help make sure that this stream is once again clean, cold and clear so that salmon can utilize it as a spawning ground.

The stream is looking healthier already!

Today we knocked down reed canary grass, covered it with mulch and dug up plenty of blackberries. Covering grass with mulch may not seem like something that would help salmon spawn in a creek, but it does! By covering up this grass, we are disallowing it to grow to heights that would shade out the native trees that we have planted at our site. Once our trees get tall enough, they will do the shading out of the reed canary grass and we won't have to mulch anymore! The blackberries will also shade out our native tree and shrub species that we have planted so it is important that we remove them as well.

Attacking blackberries

In BEC, when we are out exploring, we attempt to Leave No Trace. However, we know that this is impossible. During the course of our explorations, despite our best efforts, we will snap an Oregon grape plant or cause erosion on a hillside as we scamper up it. In an attempt to seek balance in our give and take relationship with nature, we come to Connelly Creek to do habitat restoration. This work benefits all of the plants and animals that live near or in the stream (including salmon!), as well as all of the people that live nearby.

A mountain ash enjoys the freedom of no longer being choked by blackberries

The youngest explorers out today were the Sculpins. This season their earth skill focus is the Art of Harvest. At the end of the day, one of the mentors connected harvest to the service that we are doing at Connelly Creek. In protecting and rehabilitating salmon habitat, he told us, we are ensuring that there will be salmon for people to harvest in the future. It was a good reminder that, due to the sheer number of us and our impact, we as humans are responsible for taking care of the only earth that we have. If we don't, who will?

To see the rest of the pictures from our day, click here.