Leland Creek Willow Staking

Leland Creek Willows

A view of our flooded job site @ Leland Creek

 



The crew has been working on a big project for Jefferson County Public Health.  We are installing over 13,000 willow stakes along Leland Creek.  The willow stakes are being installed along sections of the creek that are dominated by reed canary grass.  The intention is that the willows will flourish and begin to shade out the canary grass and provide shade over the creek as well.  The creek is ominously known for vast stretches of canary grass and beaver dams.  This scenario has caused the creek to back up and flood above the top of the creek banks for a significant portion  of the year.

Corp members Elijah Roulst and Kori Riggle laying out fence line

 

When the willows are installed a 4 foot high fence is then constructed around each to prevent beaver from gnawing the stakes down.  Generally the willow enclosures are 60 feet long and extend 30 feet back from the creek.

Building fences in this bog-like area is challenging.  But it is not a challenge beyond this crews abilities.  Above you can see Kori Riggle leveling an area to make the fence line level.  This will ensure that the the bottom of the fence is tight excluding the beaver from the willows while the stakes are growing into trees.

A rare sunny day at the job site.  The crew has had all working conditions at this job site.  Snow, freezing weather, sun, and currently rain, rain, rain.  Most of the site is submerged under water.  There will be some rooted plant stock installed in some of the areas that are not saturated.  We return to that Job next week and hope to get the willow planting wrapped up.