Upper Washougal River Willow Planting

LOWER COLUMBIA FISH ENHANCEMENT GROUP
VOLUNTEER HELP REQUEST

May 1, 2006
Contact: Sheila North, LCFEG, (360) 882-6671

Upper Washougal River Willow Planting
Saturday, May 13, 2006 (9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.)

The Lower Columbia Fish Enhancement Group (LCFEG) requests volunteers to assist with a day of native willow plantings at its Upper Washougal River Restoration Site on Saturday, May13, 2006 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. LCFEG staff and other technical experts will be on-site to coordinate and train all volunteer work parties, and no experience is necessary. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Volunteers should meet at the LCFEG office next door to (immediately east of) Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center at 12404 SE Evergreen Hwy, Vancouver, WA 98683. From here volunteers will carpool to the project site, approximately 15 miles upriver along Washougal River Road. Please dress appropriately for the field and weather conditions (boots and outdoor clothing).

Upper Washougal River Restoration Activities conducted by LCFEG include data collection, material stockpiling, and placement of at least five (5) pre-designed and bedrock-secured logjams into three tributary reaches (Stebbins & Reeder Creeks) last summer (along the upper five miles of the Washougal River, beginning at the Washougal Salmon Hatchery in Skamania County). The project has demonstrated excellent results thus far despite this past winter’s two full months of continuous bank full discharge!!! This project addresses habitat impacts resulting from forest fires, timber practices, and management decisions which historically removed large wood from the active stream channel. Project activities have thus far restored stream bed substrate, reduced water temperatures, and increased channel diversity for fish as well as restoring access to nearby tributaries, increasing long-term aquatic productivity, and creating suitable spawning and rearing habitat for local salmon/steelhead runs.

LCFEG is non-regulatory, non-partisan 501(c) (3) salmon recovery organization founded by the state legislature in 1990. Working within specific watersheds throughout Clark, Skamania, Lewis, Wahkiakum, and Cowlitz Counties, the LCFEG successfully leverages state and federal salmon recovery funding through partnerships and collaborations with individuals, groups, corporations, tribes, foundations and agencies. LCFEG restoration techniques are often used as design templates by other restoration practitioners and its expertise is commonly sought by both private and governmental entities.

RSVP by May 10 by contacting Sheila North, Outreach Coordinator by email at: info@lcfeg.org. To learn more about LCFEG’s mission, projects, and activities, please find us online at: www.lcfeg.org.