Snow Creek Fish Weir

One day during work, we met up with our best  friend Cheri Scalf, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Technician.  She showed us the fish weir at Snow Creek.  The fish weir is a sort of trap that stalls salmon as they are swimming upstream to spawn.

It basically stops them in a 10x10 steel cage so that we can count them on their way upstream.  We drop a person down into the cage.  That person nets a few of them and passes them up .

The fish are then sedated. measured, counted and sex is identified. They are then released upstream by sending them down a large pipe back into the river.  This allows WDFW to gather info on how many and what type of fish are running up the creek.

We all got help Cheri that day working at the fish weir.  At that time it was coho salmon running, I believe it was a good year for the number of fish running in Snow Creek.  It was an overall awesome experience.  I hope we get to help with the out migrating smolts in Spring!

The 2012-2013 Port Hadlock/NOSC Washington Conservation Corps Crew and the NOSC WCC Individual Placement

Owen French, Zach Bollheimer, Mitch Gritts, Anna Lund, Rick Humphrey, Collin Cabe, Evan Runquist 

Here we are into December already without a single blog post.  The new crew is pictured above along with the NOSC individual placement.Welll, allot has happened since our start date of October 1st.  The crew has been through a great deal already and is approaching the 1/4 way through the service year (December 31st.)  We spent our 1st month getting oriented and doing restoration planting site maintenance. Suddenly we were off to NYC to assist with Super Storm Sandy relief efforts.  Having been back 2 weeks now, we are getting back into the groove of more site maintenance and look forward to doing some native tree plantings after a short holiday break.  But first let me introduce you to the crew!

Hello, I am Owen French the Crew Supervisor.  I enjoy leading this group of fine young men.  This is the 6th WCC team I have supervised.  I have been working in various natural resource management positions since adventuring out of my home state of Pennsylvania 16 years ago.  I have bachelors degrees in both Communication and Natural Resource Management.  I have worked for a plethora of government entities and non-profits in OR, WA, and VT helping manage riparian areas and salmon habitat, maintaining parks, and building trails.  I enjoy fishing, hunting, picking the old guitar, and spending time with my family.

Mitchell Gritts

In From Reno Nevada (via Las Vegas and the Bay Area) I graduated in December 2011. with a degree in Wildlife Ecology & Conservation with a focus on evolution.  I applied to the WCC to help me decide what to do with my life while working in my field of study.  Working outside has always been a prerequisite for jobs I've enjoyed. Working outside in the Washington landscape will especially be enjoyable compared to the barren Nevada dessert/ great basin.  In my spare time I enjoy hiking, skiing, and exploring the state of Washington.  I  also pretend like I am a landscape and sports photographer.

Who am I... My name is Evan Runquist.  I am 23 years old and I was born in Bemidji, Minnesota.  I was raised nearby in Aveley and Walker, MN. which were very small towns.  I grew up doing a lot of fishing, especially ice fishing,  popular north country past time.  I also enjoyed riding bikes and playing soccer.  In 2007 I graduated from Washington Highschool and moved to Minneapolis for a short while before traveling the US extensively by various modes of transportation and residing in Portland OR and Richmond VA. before winding back up in Minneapolis. I headed back out West last year living in rural California then at last coming up to Washington in July to live in a trailer on a piece of land south of Port Townsend and joining the WCC.  I enjoy travel, hiking, backpacking, exploring, fishing, and DIY music and culture.

Hey all,
I'm Zach Bollheimer- I am from a small town in western Ohio called Fort Laramie. I graduated from Ohio University in Athens, OH. (not Ohio State) this past June with a B.S. in Environmental Geography and a minor in English. I worked for the Ohio EPA last summer with the division of surface water doing permit follow ups at mitigated wetland sites.  I moved out to the Peninsula this past September specifically to work in the WCC.  I enjoy playing and listening to music, meeting new people, trying new beers, being outside and reading a good book.  I am happy to be hired by the WCC and feel really good about being here.

Hi, my name is Richard Humphrey.  I am going to tell you a little bit about myself.  I was born in Port Townsend in the year 1993.  I am 19 years old. In my spare time I enjoy fishing, short hikes, working out, camping, watching movies, and just about anything on the water such as kayaking, boat rides etc.  After I complete Americorps I plan to use my scholarship to go to a lineman training school.  Lineman do electrical power line work. Thanks for reading my short story about me.

This is Collin Cabe he is from Washington, he was residing in Port Townsend when hired on to the crew.  He wasn't here to write a bio today.  Collin enjoyed doing a season with a trail crew  in the Olympic Mountains this last summer and prior to that served as employee then on the Board of Directors at The Boiler Room in Port Townsend.  The Boiler Room is a non-profit drop in Cafe for young adults fostering a positive creative environment.  Collin is a musician, artist, and friend to those in need, man or beast. He enjoys long walks on the beach, watching sunsets, collecting napkins, and puppetry.

Anna is proud to be a born and raised Washingtonian. She grew up on her grandparents farm and was always playing in the creek across the street.  In her youth she volunteered to be a stream steward, planting trees and removing invasive species. She is happy to be back in her home state after spending the summer as an organic farmer in Alaska. She studied at Pacific University and has a BA in Sustainable Design. For her Senior Capstone Project, she designed and implemented a living willow structure for an outdoor learning center. Anna also studied abroad in the Peruvian Amazon and worked with “Monkey Island” to protect and preserve the native flora and fauna.  In her free time she enjoys  hiking to hot springs, reading, whitewater rafting, cooking and eating delicious food!

WDFW

It was an exciting day helping Cheri Scalf with the smolt trap on Snow Creek.  We had the opportunity to climb into the holding tank and net smolts to be analyzed.  With instruction from Sheri we counted, sized and took scale samples of coho, cutthroat, and steelhead.  The fish were then released back to the Creek. The monitoring at the Snow Creek trap has been the most long-running and consistent data collection in the area.  It was great to help Cheri and contribute to this legacy. 

Learning how the trap collects fish

Sorting and identifying fish

Coho smolt



This sums it up.



Smolt Traps with the Elwha Tribe

Last month we had the opportunity to help the Elwha tribe install smolt traps on Deep Creek and West Twin.  Serving as our first experience with smolt trap installation, we thoroughly enjoyed every step of the process.  Sandbags, t-posts, sledge hammers, fencing and the Elwha... we were in paradise.

 

Donovan Creek Restoration Project

After 2 months of hard work and erratic weather, we put our final touches on the Donovan Creek Restoration Project in May. Originally a barren 20 acre site nudged between a cattle ranch and Quilcene Bay, Donovan Creek was in dire need of healthy native habitat. Answering the call, we planted over 12,000 deciduous and coniferous trees/shrubs. The Donovan Creek site is quite significant for the crew, it was our largest planting of the year and home to some of the most extreme weather we have encountered. Wind, rain, hail and snow were all routine events and occurred with such force that the creek became virtually uncrossable. Although we were excited to relocate, the adverse conditions made for a more rewarding experience when we checked up on our budding plants this spring.

Rocking Out

After learning a rock was disrupting the Fish and Wildlife smolt trap at Salmon Creek, the crew assembled. It was our original belief that the rock was the size of a basketball, but found it to be much larger. Before jumping into the water, we had a quick strategic meeting and identified straps as our best option for removal. Once the straps were applied, we pulled and uttered groans until the rock was out of the water.

Our rain garden at Chimacum Schools!

After observing polluted stormwater running from the large parking lot at Chimacum Schools directly into Chimacum Creek, the crew and our local I.P., Aliina Lahti, identified a pollutant-absorbing rain garden as a critical addition to the Chimacum School's campus and an ideal opportunity to educate students about stormwater runoff and possible management techniques. Granted with a week of community service for Martin Luther King day, we decided to design and build such a feature.

Months of planning came to fruition on January 16th, as we broke ground on the garden but were quickly delayed after being hit by a somewhat unexpected snowstorm the following day. Determined to finish, we spent the following Friday putting the finishing touch on Chimacum Schools' newest sustainable design feature.

Months of milestones!

The past three months have been a whirlwind. Booked solid, we have had little time to keep you updated on our projects. November and December were filled with milestones for the crew. We completed our first planting on the Little Quilcene River, hit our one-thousand tree mark at Morse Creek and met one of our arch-enemies, nightshade, at Chimacum Creek.

Elijah pulling nightshade from Chimacum Creek.

The crew after planting tree 1,000 at Morse Creek.

Warren and Carrie tubing at Morse Creek.