WatershedEvents

CHANNELING SANDY DIEDRICH

My standard creek-crawling kit - waterproof camera bag, black coffee, good gloves, and crackers.

I went down to the creek this afternoon and put in a little sweat-equity pulling ivy and archangel. In the process I took the time to remember the legacy of Sandy Diedrich, an environmental advocate who lead the charge against vast stands of English ivy that were enveloping large areas of her beloved SW neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon. I never knew her personally; she passed away a year or so before I got involved with the advocacy side of Fanno Creek issues. But she made a huge difference by recruiting, training, and inspiring a generation of wetland warriors. Her work goes on today and her legacy is celebrated annually in the form of Portland’s Environmental Stewardship awards. She – and all the other Watershed Folk back in Portland were much on my mind as I teased out stems and runners from the roots of ferns and the general detritus covering the banks of Beatty Creek.

Below, before and after photos of a small area (roughly 35 sq. ft.) covered with young English ivy. I suspect it washed down here from higher elevations just a couple months ago – the main part of its root system was mired in a mix of silt and gravel right at the edge of the embankment.

Next, a bit further downstream, before and after shots of one of the ubiquitous stands of archangel that crop up every 300 feet or so along the bulk of the stream. I know for a fact that it can be found as far upstream as the 500’ level about 1.5 miles from this site, which lies at 180’.

I haven’t completely finished work on this patch – still have a dozen square feet to work through. Archangel is way more time consuming to pull than English ivy; but like the ivy, it can propagate from mere pieces of stem or leaves.

I re-photographed the hogweed stand. It is thick on both sides of the stream in this area, and also well established a scant 100 feet further down the bank. If and when it is possible to round up some protective gear, I will try my hand at cutting it down and hauling out the remains.  That will at least slow it down until a professional crew can come in and do a number on it.

Except for the hogweed infestation, the other two I worked on today were quite "minor," in the sense that the vegetation involved was both relatively sparse, and not yet deeply rooted - precisely the kind you most want to tackle. It's slow going because the goal is to tease out as many segments of root material as possible - have to work a strand at a time. If you try your hand at this sort of thing, make sure to pack along a couple hand warmers.

Below, one of the reasons why fighting back against invaders like ivy and archangel and hogweed and all the rest is so important. I don’t know just how these little stream violas figure in the overall scheme of things –what benefits they bring to the ecosystem and all that; but for now I’ll just work to preserve their place at the table. Maybe a little further downstream enlightenment will come….

MEANWHILE, DOWN AT THE CREEK....

Yesterday was the first day of spring, and a lovely day in all physical respects – clear, calm, 59 degrees. I put aside my electronically induced angst, and spent some time at Beatty Creek – just an hour or so, but long enough to observe a number of interesting things. Also long enough to remember that life is good.

Cutthroat Trout

No picture for this one, unfortunately. The little guy went under cover almost the minute I spotted him. But I am reasonably sure it was, indeed, a cutthroat – bronze back, pale sides, and a torpedo shaped body. It was too far away and moving too fast to see if it had speckling.

Rough Skinned Newt  

I’ve never seen one of these near fast running water, but there are numerous boggy areas near the creek, so maybe this one was moving from one place to the other. It was about three inches long – a youngster.

Flatheaded Mayfly

A good sized one, probably .5 inches long (+/- 12 mm for metric folks). Measurement of this kind of critter is of the body only – tail and antenna extra. These environmentally sensitive beasties can be found both under and on top of rocks in good, clean water. There’s a fair amount of algae buildup on all the stream rocks at this point, even ‘though the flow is relatively swift; hence this guy was hanging out on the underside of the rock. Wish I knew more about that rock! Look at all those interesting speck. The brown material is almost certainly iron oxide, but beyond that, I haven't a clue.

Black Fly Larvae

A

B

C

Shown as they appear (A) when you first glance at them clinging to a rock in fast moving water; (B) in a close-up, still under water; and (C) out of the water. There are 165 species distributed throughout North America. Which species this may be, I have no idea. Most types thrive where there’s an abundance of organic material in the water - they are filter feeders, for the most part. A count of this kind of critter in a representative segment of the creek might provide a fair index as to the level of organic pollution the stream is enduring right now; but I have no idea how to collect that kind of data, much less parse it. These are larvae of the biting type of black fly, by the way. I'm glad they don't reproduce around here like they do further north.  

English Ivy

English ivy is abundant at many places along the middle to lower sections of Beatty Creek, but this is the first stand I’ve noticed along the Cougar Ridge Reach. It is one of the most aggressive of the common invaders of this kind of semi-shade to full-shade environment; it is also one of the most difficult to eradicate.

Giant Hogweed

I’m pretty sure this is hogweed, a true monster of a plant. Aggressively invasive, hard to eradicate, and one of the most dangerous plants to humans in the environment, this stuff has to go. I’ll measure and re-photograph the site in a few days. I’ll also look for any others nearby, then contact the state and let them know the locations and dimensions of the patch(s). I’ll pull the ivy (as well as a nearby patch of archangel I spotted on the way out).

On my way out I stopped to admire a fern garden...lots of good stuff that belongs here.

A walk in the woods, and a little time by the creek; alone, but not lonely…pretty good medicine for a time of considerable turmoil.