Planting along Whychus Creek

A fun, but cold day of restoration work

One of the many willows planted along the banks of Whychus Creek

Happy to be doing hard work

Making sure the hole is deep enough for the alder tree

End of the day of planting with the hard working 6th graders

The Students from Sisters Middle School were asked to be apart of a restoration project along Whychus Creek, which they gladly accepted. With gloves on and shovels in hand they proved to be hard workers, planting a few hundred plants, helping to transform the bare banks of the creek into a future healthy riparian zone. Even though the mornings were freezing cold, the students were troopers, doing their part in the restoration project. This was their third outing to Whychus Creek, where they learned more about the creek and riparian plants. Next week will be their last Fall outing, but the project will continue for the rest of the year.

Ryan Ranch Data Collection

Taking photo points at each of the 6 transects

Taking a break in the Reed Canary grass

Making sure the data is correctly taken

Identifying and measuring the DBH of live trees

Using calipers to measure dead and down wood for carbon data

Finishing the day up with reflection

It has been a journey of learning for the past 6 weeks for the 7th graders from REALMS. They finished up their last field day of data collection at Ryan Ranch this week. As an overview, the first day to Ryan Ranch, they came as first timers with wide eyes and open minds, ready to learn and take in all that they could about the place. The second field trip was the first day of data collection. They were learning to be scientist in the field which takes extra effort when faced with the unexpected and cold weather. They were troopers though and were good scientist, collecting good data. The data collected was from soil moisture and type to shrub and ground cover identification to large tree counts. The students learned a tremendous amount and by the end of the day were experts in their data collection methods. This week was the last field day for the students and by the end of the day they all felt a strong connection to the place of Ryan Ranch. The weather held off just long enough for the last carbon data to be collected. The goal for the last day was to collect carbon data for a plot of land in the forest near the meadow. This will then be compiled in the class room, using math and science together to see how much carbon is stored in the forest around Ryan Ranch. All in all, the students had a wonderful time at Ryan Ranch and will continue to work with the data that they collected through out the winter. In the spring the students will have the opportunity to revisit the meadow and river again, looking at it through artist eyes.