Spring 2021 Has Sprung! - Calapooia Watershed Council

Habitat Restoration Updates

This spring, the Habitat Restoration Program has been busy making site visits to many of our projects to monitor the health of newly planted native tree and shrubs.

The program is actively restoring native vegetation communities and controlling noxious weeds on 105 acres of riparian and 147 of wetland and prairie habitats. The 19,500 trees and shrubs planted over the winter appear to be adjusting to their new homes along the Calapooia River, Tub Run Creek, Brush Creek, and the Willamette River.

As usual, our prairie restoration projects are showing off with blooming wildflowers, shrubs, and grasses. We seed our projects in the late fall and wait for the seeds to experience the Willamette Valley’s winter conditions. Only then will they sprout and begin to take hold. However, the long wait is almost always worth it. Just ask the local bees, butterflies and other pollinators!

Project Update: Truax Island - Willamette Floodplain unit (27 acres)

Project Update: Tub Run Riparian and Wetland Prairie Restoration

Monitoring Updates

In addition to our on-the-ground habitat restoration efforts, the CWC runs a small, but exciting natural resource monitoring program.

In past years, this has included wild winter steelhead spawning surveys (99 redds in 2019 / 221 redds in 2020) and temperature monitoring in the mainstem Calapooia and lower Brush Creek.

For 2021, the program will be implementing the first major environmental DNA study on the Calapooia River. This study aims to better understand spring Chinook and create baseline information for future investigations into the plants and animals living in the Calapooia. The monitoring is quick and easy; requiring only a single visit and a few liters of water!

Youth Education Updates

The new face of South Albany Youth Watershed Council

Kristen has been working with a small group of 12 students at South Albany High School since late February. The group, which calls themselves South Albany Youth Activism, completed a tree planting at Periwinkle Park in March, and has been caring for the 15 stormwater planter facilities on the SAHS campus.

The group is working with CWC Habitat Restoration Program Manager Cris Salazar as well as the City of Albany Parks & Recreation & Public Works to continue their work along Periwinkle Creek for the next several years.

The Return of the Snorkeling Program

Kristen has been working with Anna Harris at Memorial Middle School to bring her 12-member Green Team snorkeling in June. The group will snorkel the South Santiam in mid-June, just before the end of the year!

Rise to the Future Award Winner!

Kristen and USFS snorkeling program partner were honored to accept two prestigious United States Forest Service Rise to the Future Awards for Public Awareness for the Calapooia Watershed Council’s Snorkeling Program!

The Rise to the Future Awards were initiated more than 30 years ago as part of the original Rise to the Future National Fisheries Program Strategy. These annual awards honor Forest Service staff and partners for their leadership in stewardship of fisheries, soil, water, air and wildlife resources on national forests and grasslands.

Willamette National Forest Youth Snorkeling Program is this year’s recipients of the Public Awareness Award. The Youth Snorkeling program is a collaboration between FS (Erick Larkin) and the Calapooia Watershed Council (Kristen Daly). The program is designed to get local students (grades 6-12) engaged in learning about watershed processes, increase their feeling of connection to the river, and to learn about the ecosystem services provided by their National Forest. Students are introduced to the “we all live upriver” concept with the hope that it may foster ownership and responsibility to sustain the health of our watersheds. Erick and Kristen were joined in their effort by the South Santiam Watershed Council and the Pacific Northwest Research Station to further expand the program, reaching kids in multiple communities outside the forest. The Youth Snorkeling program has been beneficial in bringing kids and nature together. – US Forest Service

Outdoor School 2021

Spring is in the air, and that means our education team is at Outdoor School!

This year our Outdoor School programming looks a little different with our staff having to get creative due to Covid-19. Instead of going away to camp, we brought Outdoor School to students online and to their school grounds!

During 6th grade science classes for the Greater Albany School District, students are getting outside to learn about Watersheds, Wetlands, Oregon’s Wildlife, and Land Acknowledgements focusing on the Kalapuya people of the Willamette Valley.

Everyday brings a new activity from building a water filtering wetland to dissecting owl pellets. On Fridays, students get to meet birds of prey up close and learn about their natural history from the Chintimini Wildlife Center educators.

Along with exciting school activities, CWC’s education team has put together outdoor school material kits and lessons for students to do at home online. Some of these activities include nature art, building a plant press, and learning about food deserts. Each 6th grade class is also participating in a community science bird count project to document and study the bird species present in Albany, OR in the spring.

This year, Calapooia Watershed Council will serve 744 6th graders in the Greater Albany School District during outdoor school. Some of our educators’ favorite feedback has been students wishing everyday was outdoor school, and other students feeling like they were doing real science!

Welcome to Katie and Alisa, our Outdoor School support staff and educators for this season! We are very fortunate to have them and the experience they bring!

Outdoor School Educator - Alisa Kotash (they/them)

Outdoor School Assistant - Katie Keizer (she/her)

Watershed Discovery Kits

100 Watershed Discovery Kitss were delivered to the Albany Boys & Girls Club in April, and 200 were delivered to the Albany Library. These kits provide all materials youth will need to conduct several activities to assess the health of a stretch of river. The kits are designed to mimic a Salmon Watch trip.

The kits were made possible by two generous donors through the Oregon Community Foundation!

Fundraising for Salmon Watch

Salmon Watch is a FREE experiential field trip program for 5th & 6th grade students that focuses on salmon and healthy watersheds. Traditional Salmon Watch learning topics are: Salmon Biology, Macroinvertebrates, Water Quality, and Riparian Areas. The Linn Benton Salmon Watch program is coordinated by a committee representing the Calapooia Watershed Council, South Santiam Watershed Council, Benton Soil and Water Conservation District, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Siuslaw National Forest, and devoted retired teachers.

Field trips take place on the South Santiam River in September, and on the Alsea River in late October and November. All field trips are staffed by volunteers that are trained and suported by program partners.

With our volunteers at the heart of the Salmon Watch program, the 2021 season faces a new obstacle; recruiting volunteers will be more challenging than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are in need of $10,000 to hire a volunteer coordinator to recruit, train, and manage the hundreds of volunteers that make the Salmon Watch Program possible.

After being unable to host trips in 2020, we are committed to a successful 2021 Salmon Watch season! With the right person and the support of our communities, we can rise to the challenge and provide students with the amazing outdoor experience that is Salmon Watch in 2021!