Field News Recap- July 2024
Oregon:
Orange crew (YA 10) has been hard at work alongside Portland General Electric at Timothy Lake, south of Mount Hood. They have restored miles of trails and rejuvenated campsites, ensuring they are safe and enjoyable for visitors. Additionally, the crew has naturalized over 50 trails, helping to preserve the natural beauty and integrity of the area.
Red crew (YA 11) focused on aquatic restoration in Sheep and Kelsey Creek in Northeast Oregon. Collaborating with Trout Unlimited, they constructed nearly 60 beaver dam analogs and post-assisted log structures, crucial for enhancing local aquatic habitats. In week seven, they moved west to avoid fires and worked with Mount Hood National Forest on a trail project in the 15-Mile Recreation Area.
Blue crew (YA 12) was engaged in various projects in Mount Hood National Forest. Recent fires have made Lost Lake Campground and the White River Trail system inaccessible. Their efforts here included installing culverts, drains, and water bars to improve trail infrastructure. In week seven, the crew shifted their focus to aquatic and riparian zone restoration across the Columbia River in Vancouver, WA.
Blue crew (YCC 06) worked with Oregon Parks and Recreation Department in South Willamette, maintaining 4.5 miles of trails by spreading gravel and brushing. They wrapped up July with a week in Mount Hood National Forest, completing half a mile of trail maintenance, improving eight campsites, and working on three trailheads.
Orange crew (YCC 07) went to Mount Hood National Forest, where they painted 13 bathrooms, built three signs, maintained 2,200 feet of trails, decommissioned a group camp, and completed other campground maintenance tasks. Their final week was spent with the Army Corps of Engineers at The Dalles, where they maintained 3,900 feet of trail and tackled invasive species.
Red crew (YCC 08) spent a week in the Gearhart Wilderness of Fremont-Winema National Forest, repairing 6,500 feet of trail tread and cutting and moving 58 logs. After, they spent two weeks with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at Lake Earl Wildlife Area, focusing on removing invasive European beachgrass.
Brown crew (Backcountry Leadership Program) (YCC 09) After completing one week of tread repair on 1.2 miles of trail in the Willamette National Forest, They spent the four weeks of July working on backcountry trails in Crater Lake, clearing 743 logs across approximately 20 miles of trail.
Yellow crew (YCC 10) began their month at The Nature Conservancy’s Cascade Head, clearing 500 square feet of blackberries and brushing 2.75 miles of trail. They then moved on to the Gearhart Wilderness, where they removed 177 logs from the trail and repaired a mile of tread. They concluded with two weeks at TNC’s Zumwalt Prairie, where they installed 4,200 feet of fencing, removed 2,500 square feet of weed mat, constructed 22 rock jacks, and tackled the invasive Medusahead.
Washington:
Blue Crew (YA 13) dedicated most of July to working in the North Cascades. For two weeks, they ventured into the backcountry to perform crosscut work, being packed in by mules with the help of the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington.
Orange Crew (YA 14) has been hard at work installing check steps on the Continental Divide Trail in Rainier, contributing to the preservation and accessibility of this iconic trail.
Grey Crew (YA 15) spent time working in the Okanagan-Wenatchee National Forest, where they focused on lopping and brushing trails. For their last project of the month they headed to Olympic National Park to tackle invasive species removal.
The Community Crews in Washington celebrated their graduation at the end of the month on Friday, July 26th.
The Sound to Summit crews worked at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, contributing to its upkeep and improvement. Tacoma Sound to Summit crew ventured to Mount Rainier to engage in camping and trail work, while the Olympia Sound to Summit crew focused on similar activities in Olympic National Park.
Our Urban Community Forestry crews undertook canvassing efforts for the Tacoma Tree Foundation, aiming to increase tree planting in the Tacoma area. Additionally, this week saw two crews collaborating to trim trees along the road at Fife’s 5 Acre Park, ensuring vehicle clearance and enhancing the urban landscape.
Collectively, our Community crews completed over 8,000 hours of conservation work for the Tacoma, Lakewood, and Olympia community spaces during this session.
Idaho Conservation Corps:
The first week of July marked the final week of the first camping session, with crews engaged in various long-term projects. The Backcountry Leadership Program (BLP) (YCC 4) was ten miles into the backcountry of the Frank Church Wilderness, conducting trail maintenance.
Blue crew (YCC 2) was up north in the Panhandle, brushing out several trails for the St. Joe Ranger District.
Meanwhile, Red and Orange crews (YCC 3 and 5) camped together and worked on separate trails for the Emmett Ranger District in the Boise National Forest. Many of these projects will be picked up by the second session crews.
All crews graduated on July 6th with a celebratory event at Liberty Park in Boise. Following a week off for our leads and the arrival of a new group of participants, orientation for the second session was held on July 13th, and four crews headed back into the field the next day.
Backcounty Leadership Program (BLP) (YCC 17) resumed their predecessor’s trail project in the Frank Church Wilderness, focusing on brushing and tread work for the Salmon-Challis National Forest, and will continue through the end of the month.
Blue crew (YCC 15) started work on a fuel break and fireline project with the Cascade Ranger District of the Boise National Forest, continuing through the end of this week before transferring to the Sawtooth National Forest for trail work.
Red crew (YCC 16) began their session with the Emmett Ranger District, working on meadow restoration by building Beaver Dam Analogs, then moved to a two-week trail maintenance project with the Minidoka Ranger District on the Sawtooth.
Orange Crew (YCC 18) returned to the trail project on the Emmett Ranger District from the first session and continued maintaining the trail. They moved to a different trail on the Mountain Home Ranger District of the Boise National Forest for the last week of July and will start a new fuel break and fireline project early August.
Idaho’s Urban and Community Forestry Crews have also been hard at work throughout July:
Blue crew (YCComm 13) started the 2nd session by saying farewell to their co-leader Miranda. She assisted the Youth Camping program by filling in for a crew leader on the Back Country Leadership Program. She has been out doing trail work on backcountry trails of the Little Pistol Creek Trail system in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. Her co-lead and crew members wish her well and have sent letters to keep in touch. Lauren has stepped up and took on this crew solo with the help of Yellow crew’s lead, Allison, who now splits her time between both crews. Crews have spent time with the Nampa Forestry Department mulching many new trees, including trees that are recently planted in the Phase 2 grand opening of Orah Brandt Park in Nampa.
Lauren has also guided these crews out to the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge just south of Nampa to install boot brushes and signage to help educate and prevent the spread of invasive species.
Crews got to utilize a motorized auger (a corkscrew-style tool used for digging holes) which members expressed excitement over. They then had opportunities provided to assist the Lucky Peak Nursery as an educational training opportunity to see how a large tree farm operates; with a sole mission to assist in the reforestation of public lands. These teachings opportunities led to guidance on how to tend and care for the cottonwood seedlings planted and propagated from the previous UCF Summer youth sessions.
In the last week, they worked to “up-pot” many of these seedlings, as they have outgrown their initial seedling trays they were propagated in. Once fully matured, the goal is to allow future crews to plant them along the Boise River to continue providing bank stabilization and improving the population of native cottonwoods to the Boise River Riparian areas.
It has been a session of media exposure for Yellow crew (YCCom 14). In thanks to the pilot project put on by Climate Adaptation, Planning +Analytics (CAPA) Strategies’ Neighborhood Heat Stress Monitoring Center for Regenerative Solutions: Community Forest Corps Program. This organization based out of Portland, Oregon reached out to our project partners, Treasure Valley Canopy Network (TVCN) and the City of Boise’s Sustainability team to use the City of Boise for one of their monitoring sites. Thanks to great partnership and collaboration with the City of Boise and TVCN, they immediately thought about our UCF program, and asked if we want to spearhead the data collection for CAPA strategies. The timing was great, as this Neighborhood Heat Stress Monitoring has congruent goals of improving the urban canopy capacity of possible heat island areas in an urban setting.
After meeting with these partners, we set up the monitoring program in one of our Climate and Economical Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) neighborhoods. This data will assist the City of Boise and TVCN to prioritize the need for more tree canopy in low income neighborhoods, where over the next 4 years, in a full circle moment, we hope to have our UCF crews be the boots on the ground to plant those new trees. Not only is this crew collecting data three times a week, but they are maintaining the needs of the City of Boise’s backlog of tree maintenance in their parks. Yellow crew has continued to cut tree rings around many mature trees in parks and lay down mulch for the first time in many years. They have also participated in the trips to the Lucky Peak Nursery and maintaining their own set of black cottonwood seedlings.
Both crews also dealt with abnormally early “smoke” season from an earlier fire season. We have increased their educational time by organizing tours with the local wastewater treatment plant, that also has an incredible aquatic educational center.
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