Planting Cedar Trees To Protect Watersheds in Oregon

When the North Coast Watershed Association called the Rainland Fly Casters Club (i’m a member) and asked if we’d be interested in helping out with a “fairly rugged” volunteer project…we got pretty excited! Even though conservation is part of our club charter, we rarely get opportunities to get our hands in the dirt and participate in something that feels important to the landscape.

I shouldn’t say that. Lots of the clubs members are employed in either the forestry industry, or the fish and game industry here in Oregon, so many of those folks are getting their hands dirty everyday. I should say rather that the members who work desk jobs and fish for fun, rarely get the chance to give back in ways that directly impact the fisheries that we enjoy so much.

On Saturday Jan 9th, at 10:00am 12 members of the club, including our president’s young daughters gathered in a parking lot behind the logger restaurant of Old US Hwy 30, about 20 minutes east of Astoria. We were joined by North Coast Watershed Association Executive Director, Graham Klag, who had organized the event.

Graham explained the day’s activities, and consolidated the volunteers into fewer cars, reducing our impact on the area we’d be driving through and parking in. With four cars, lots of tools and eager spirits, we made our way into the Hampton Lumber territory for an afternoon of hard work. We stopped along the 10 mile(ish) drive so Graham could explain various projects they had collaborated on. Projects like building new bridges, and moving old trees trunks into several of the creeks. Graham explained how these wooden structures protected the river banks and showed us where progress had already been made. Several of us commented to one another how “this felt more like a field trip than a volunteer day”. We would soon learn the folly of those statements.

Arriving at upper Elk Creek, four members of our party, Cameron, Matt, Gabe, and Phill, loaded up with backpacks full of 3 year old trees, and made their way down the hill, and into the riverbed where we’d be planting.

Graham did a great job explaining how these tree’s would ultimately grow up, die, and fall down into the creek where we stood, perpetuating the cycle they have already kickstarted. Each tree would be buried in protected areas where grazing elk were unlikely to reach them. Our group fanned out and planted over 100 trees and lots of smaller shrubs.

Feeling proud of our work, we made our way back up the hill to our cars and what many of us thought was the end of our day. Graham however had other ideas! On the way out, conveniently at one of the creeks we had already stopped to view, we’d be planting another 25-30 trees and hand spreading thousands of seeds, to help sure up the future protection of a bank they’ve built a newer bridge over. Phil and Tom went above and beyond removing some grass that had popped up, a truly laborious task.

All in all, the day extended to nearly 4:00pm, but the impact was felt by all. We left the big creek area tired and muddy, but feeling like we’d done something important. David Attenborough once said “People won’t protect what they don’t care about, and they won’t care about what they don’t experience". I’m so truly grateful to the Rainland Fly Casters and The North Coast Watershed Association for giving me opportunities to experiences, care about, and protect some truly wild places in the great state of Oregon.