Field Journal

April 2, 2011: DROP Program Orientation and Training for Upcoming Restoration Projects

The DROP training program was held at the OSU-Cascades campus and featured speakers from Trout Unlimited, Oregon Dept. of Fish&Wildlife, and the US Forest Service. The program served as a great introduction to field projects taking place through this coming spring and summer and saw a good turnout of both new faces as well as volunteers who spent time last year working towards their Deschutes Basin Steward title. Topics covered during the program featured a broad scope of subjects, including:

• Personal experiences working within the DROP program shared by Joe Checketts, TU Deschutes Chapter Board member
• General watershed science and ecosystem connections with TU Project Manager, Darek Staab
• Areas of concern for ODFW- fisheries in Central Oregon that are struggling for various reasons, the importance of spawning surveys, and target project areas for the spring/summer by ODFW's Jen Luke
• The Metolius River- a history of the river and its tributaries, current status of the large instream wood placement project, the importance of woody debris for fish habitat, and spawning expectations for returning adult salmon and steelhead.

This program offered vast amounts of information to kick off the 2011 field season on the right foot.

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We had some nice spring weather for these days, and the students were fantastic! Everyone involved learned a great deal about the Crooked River ecosystem and one critical tributary- McKay Creek. It's always amazing to see people from a diversity of organizations collaborating with the fundamental goal of restoring the health of our local streams. The stewardship program on the Crooked River system will continue through the month of May so if you're interested in participating please see our Calendar page or our Current Field Opportunities page for further information. As a mentor for a Wolftree program there is a tremendous amount of knowledge and passion we can inspire in our local youngsters as we work towards building the next generation of enthusiastic and caring river stewards.

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We had an excellent turnout for this captivating volunteer opportunity. This training/work day afforded participants a chance to learn about spawning surveys from the expertise of US Forest Service and ODFW professionals, Nate Dachtler and Jen Luke, respectively. We were joined by an OSU-Cascades Natural Resources program class. Together, we traveled to the Metolius River to learn the methodologies behind spawning surveys- including redd identitfication, procedures for taking redd measurements, and the importance of spawning data in relation to developing an understanding of the health of resident fish populations. After a training on the Metolius River and data collection there we moved on to Whychus Creek. On Whcychus Creek we did some further redd identification and then learned about the importance of collecting redband spawning data there in respect to the steelhead reintroduction efforts that have been taking place and will hopefully foster a new run of steelhead in the coming years. There is a great deal of additional spawning surveys to be conducted in various rivers in Central Oregon through the summer and the lessons learned on this day will be valuable in participating in further surveys.

Trout Unlimited hosted a booth at the annual Earth Day festival here in Bend on Earth Day Saturday. It proved to be an inspiringly beautiful, sunny day- one that would portend good weather to come and prompted many folks at the event to stop by and ask how to get involved in conservation field projects coming up throughout the Deschutes Basin this spring and summer. It was a pleasure to see many familiar faces, and we hope to hear from those new folks who stopped by to express interest in our mission and programs here in Central Oregon. Please refer to our Current Field Opportunities and Calendar pages for an extensive look at upcoming projects.

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April 22 and 23: McKay Creek and Crooked River Riparian Plantings with the Crooked River Watershed Council

McKay Creek, near Prineville, OR has received a great deal of attention recently as a target area for riparian rehabilitation. The Crooked River Watershed Council has done an exceptional job of organizing efforts on McKay Creek to facilitate native plant species trainings and plantings on a number of different sites along this important Crooked River tributary. Despite high water, the crews on each day were able to successfully achieve CRWC goals for plantings in this area. There is more work to be done along McKay Creek, so keep an eye on our Calendar page to find future opportunities to get involved in restoratoiin efforts on McKay Creek.