Habitat Restoration

It was beautiful. It was fun. It was hard work. We brought our love of beavers, nature, and our lunch to spend the day tackling a habitat restoration project under the care of Beaverworks.

We worked very hard with hand tools for hours. You must have wit, grit, and a sense of wonderment to complete such a project. As we worked, we made jokes, problem solved, sang songs, told stories, and swung various tools, such as a scythe, pick ax, pitchfork, rake, hand saw, shovel, and our hands to clean out areas for planting trees.

Our goal was to plant trees to support beavers, a ton of other wildlife, and us. We had to clear out thick grasses and weeds, including hemlock. Don’t eat hemlock, by the way.

There is beaver activity in central Oregon and they could use our help to give them a better chance to succeed and do their work, which ultimately supports a healthy ecosystem, not to mention also can slow or stop wildfires.

We were on the Crooked River. We want to make rivers messy again, and move away from sterile channels. We were there to start the mess. The landscape is breathtaking. We walked with our tools to the project site, the riverbank next to Smith Rock. Herons floated in the sky. Geese were in the river and the sky, honking. Ravens glided high above, their croaking conversations echoed off the rock cliffs.

In the shadow of Smith Rock, the top layer of the ground was frozen when we started digging early in the day. Some people thought we’d be better off using a backhoe. And power tools. But it isn’t better. We had to do it the way it needed to be done, which is by hand, with hand tools. So we literally dug in and did it.

The plan for our team was to clear three separate areas near the water, use small sledgehammers to drive in and make holes for planting 2 to 3 trees at a time. This gives better odds for the trees to make it. It turns out little trees help each other grow.

We planted trees that beavers like and ones that do well near water: cottonwood, dogwood, willow.

We used buckets to gather water out of the river to fill up the new tree holes. Then we put cardboard collars around the base of the trees to act as a weed guard. Finally, we add 2″ x 4″ wire fencing around the group of trees to allow them to get a start on growing for the next 1-2 years.

Singing nettles are really stinging nettles but we thought we heard them as singing and this is the cheery outlook it takes to do good work sometimes. It simply helps to have a creative mind to persevere and stay focused.

Something about a day spent with other people you just met, (except my pal, Laurie!) and working hard for the planet in paradise wipes out day-to-day toxins. I got up the next morning and had no interest in what was on the internet. I did not crave a meme, news update, or a show. I read. I hung clothes on the line to dry. I went for a slow easy swim and sat in a hot tub. I felt cleansed.

Thanks to Beaverworks for making this happen!