Volunteers at Little Beach in Gearhart

THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us Bust Broom this month! Thanks to the Gearhart Homeowner’s Association, the City of Gearhart, Tongue Point Job Corps students, Columbia River Youth Corps students, a whole team of wonderful community members, and even the elk, some areas in the Clatsop Plains are looking a whole lot less “yellow”.  Whether you joined us for our work day or you cleared the broom in your backyard, we are making a huge difference by all working together to battle the scotch broom on the Oregon coast.

Resident elk join in the broom busting festivities.

Volunteer Marilyn Blacketer clears broom at our Stewardship Saturday event

NCLC volunteer uses chainsaw for “oldgrowth” scotch broom

It’s hard not to notice all of the scotch broom invading the north coast this time of year when the yellow flowers conspicuously dot the landscape. We now refer to the month of May as Broom Buster month, and during this time we are working (extra!) hard to cut back the scotch broom on NCLC properties. Do you have scotch broom on your own property? Are you wondering about ways to get rid of the broom in your back yard?

Small infestations can be effectively treated with basic hand tools (and a lot of dedication).  Scotch broom plants produce prolific seeds that are extremely long-lived, so if you have mature plants in your yard you are certain to have a good crop of seeds waiting eagerly for some bare soil and disturbance. For this reason, using a weed wrench to pull-out mature plants or a shovel to dig out large plants, can actually do more harm than good. The one big plant you kill by ripping it out of the soil, makes great habitat for 50 young broomlings to take its place. A more effective (and easier) way to get rid of a mature scotch broom plant, is to simply cut it (with loppers, hand saw, or chain saw depending on size) below the photosynthetic stem (where the stem is at or below ground level, and brown not green). If you cut it too high on the stem, the plant will continue to photosynthesize and will just resprout from the existing stem.  If you cut the stem down low enough, however, the plant will not resprout and the ground will remain undisturbed.

For more information on scotch broom control in the Pacific Northwest, click here.

To join us for our Broom Buster event on May 18th, check out the events section of our website.

Thanks for helping us get rid of scotch broom on the north coast!

Osprey Cam link

Widely known in scientific circles as ‘The Spider Lady’ for her work with arachnids, Binford infuses the importance of biodiversity-short for biological diversity- into all her work, whether teaching courses and doing research at Lewis and Clark College or doing public outreach at events like the BioBlitz, where she joined with other visiting scientists to help teams of students and community members document the diversity of life on the Clatsop Plains.

“ I love biological diversity”, Binford says,  “– particularly arachnids. From the moment I learned about how little we know about the living organisms that share our world, and I realized I could contribute to understanding it, I’ve been hooked!”

This event is free and open to the public, and will take place in the Fort George’s Lovell Building showroom. Doors will open at 6 p.m. for those wanting to purchase dinner or beverages at the George before the event.

This will be the last program in the current Nature Matters series, hosted by Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, North Coast Land Conservancy and the North Coast Watershed Association in partnership with the Fort George.  The series delves into the many ways that human beings look to the natural world for inspiration, sustenance and survival – the intersection of nature and culture.

Dragonflies buzzing across the landscape are one of the sure signs that summer is on the way at last.  Naturalist Jim Johnson will share his passion for these unusual insects at the final Listening to the Land program of the season on Wednesday, May 15 at 6 pm at the Seaside Public Library.

Johnson’s obsession with dragonflies and their close relatives damselflies began in 1995 when he was recruited to help out on dragonfly surveys in Washington state. “I got hooked right away, “ he says, “and I can’t get enough.”  An avid photographer, Johnson has been photographing dragonflies since 2006 and documenting his results on his website, Odonta.Bogfoot.net. He served on the Executive Council of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas from 2005-2011, and has helped to edit the society’s publications Agria and Bulletin of American Odontonology

Listening to the Land is a monthly winter speaker series presented by North Coast Land Conservancy and the Necanicum Watershed Council.  Programs take place at the Seaside Public Library on the third Wednesday of the month at 6pm from October through May.  To find out more about this series and our upcoming programs, please visit www.nclctrust.org, or call (503) 717-1458.

Tongue Point Job Corps members help eradicate scotch broom on NCLC land

May is Broom Buster month here on the north coast, and it’s time to get outside and get rid of the scotch broom that is invading our coastal landscape.  On May 18th we are joining forces with the Gearhart Homeowner’s Association and the City of Gearhart to target the scotch broom growing along the dunes at Little Beach in Gearhart. Please join us!

Driving directions to our meeting location at the Little Beach parking area on H Street:

• From Hwy 101, head west on G Street
• Take slight right on Neacoxie Dr.
• Take first left onto F street
• Take second left onto Wellington Ave
• Take second right onto H street (park here)

View  Map

We will meet in the Little Beach parking area on H Street at 9am on Saturday May 18th. We will hike into the broom removal site as a group.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

As a reminder:

Our volunteer work parties begin at 9am and end at noon. Bring gloves, sturdy boots, rain gear, and water; NCLC will supply the tools needed. There is no access to public bathrooms. Work continues in the afternoon, so if you want to make a day of it, pack a lunch and stay!

You’ll find a complete listing of all of the On The Land programs in the Events section on our website, including a link to download a PDF of the On The Land 2013 schedule.  All programs are free, but registration is required-this allows up to keep group size small, providing a better experience and lessening the impact on the lands we visit. Some programs fill up fast, so don’t wait to sign up!

On The Land 2013

Programs take place outdoors on the Oregon coast-please dress appropriately for the day’s weather and wear sturdy walking shoes. Water, snacks and binoculars are great things to bring with you!

See you outside!

That’s one tenacious beaver!

Stewardship Director Melissa Reich and I spent the rainy spring day exploring our 40 acre North Fork Necanicum property. It was a first time visit to the property for the both of us as we attempted to gather the information needed for an upcoming baseline report deadline.

Coming down through the upland forest into the extensive blow down of trees and soggy wetlands, we took the path of least resistance (always the path of Elk!), searching for the mighty North Fork Necanicum. After S curving around large up rooted Sitka spruce, admiring the diversity of wetland vegetation and the smell of skunk cabbage, there at the end of our path along the rivers edge were three large old growth big leaf maple. As if we intentionally walked directly to the spot.

After some time of exploring the rivers edge and figuring out exactly where we were in relation to our property boundary, we decided to walk back to the truck and call it a day. We crossed the stream heading back for the clear cut up the hill, as I took my first step onto dry ground I noticed these large white and red alder shavings. I walked forward some more to find the largest attempt by a beaver I’ve ever seen. The alder was at least 15 years old, which is a half life for an alder, and the shavings were huge. The beaver that created this destruction or construction how ever you want to look at it, must have been the size of my dog Porter.

With that in mind, its easy for us to say that when the conditions are right like they are on the North Fork, you can grow the biggest beaver in world!

More work will contine on the trail throughout the summer as the ground dries, but we wanted the trail to be walkable this weekend so that everyone coming out to participate in our Earth Day at Circle Creek event could get a sneak preview of this beautiful trail that skirts the foot of Tillamook Head. Inspired by the path already forged by the Circle Creek Elk Herd, NCLC volunteers Doug Ray and Neal Maine–with the guidance of Andy Rasmussen of Lewis and Clark National Historical Park–have laid out a path that takes you across a tumbling creek and through a forest lush with native shrubs, trees of all ages and remnant old-growth stumps that are serving as nurse logs to a regenerating rainforest.

The hardworking youth crew were motivated to make even the temporary bridges and boardwalks not just walkable, but beautiful, fashioning sturdy handrails out of branches found while clearing the path.

This very first trail at Circle Creek has special meaning, not just to North Coast Land Conservancy, but to new volunteers and supporters that have become dear to all our hearts.  Patte Fenderson and Bob Svec and their friends and families are helping to build the trail in memory of Patte and Bob’s son Matthew Guderian, who passed away in 2011. Matthew was a dynamic young man who loved nature, and who found great joy outdoors on the Oregon coast.  We can think of no finer way to honor Matthew and his life than to build this trail that will connect so many people of all ages to the beauty and wonder to be found here.

Patte and Bob joined NCLC Stewardship Director Melissa Reich and volunteers Penny and Jay Paulsen this week on the first exploratory walk along this work-in-progress trail, and gave it high marks for walkability, which is quite an achievement given all the rain we’ve had so far this year.

Many thanks to the awesome members of the Columbia River Youth Corps for their dedication to making this trail a reality.  And many thanks to Patte, Bob and all the friends and family of Matthew Guderian for making this trail possible.

Come out and join us on Saturday, April 20th for our Earth Day at Circle Creek event and get a sneak preview walk of the trail, and maybe stay to plant a tree or two.  How often do you get to say you helped to plant a future rainforest?

North Coast Land Conservancy is celebrating Earth Day with a day of tree planting and land stewardship at NCLC’s 364-acre Circle Creek Habitat Reserve  south of Seaside. The day includes a preview tour of the first walking trail being constructed at the property. Since 2004, North Coast Land Conservancy–with the support of hundreds of volunteers–has been re-establishing forested habitat throughout the pasture along Circle Creek, an important waterway for spawning coho and chinook salmon and winter steelhead trout. The walking trail will guide visitors through some of the newest habitat plantings on the property and then onto a path through a mature forested grove of large trees and lush native shrubs–a landscape well on its way to becoming a thriving temperate rainforest.

Earth Day at Circle Creek begins at 10 am with NCLC’s fourth annual memorial celebration, The Forest Remembers. Community members gather in a majestic grove and read aloud the names of all those who have had memorial gifts made to the land trust in their honor. Volunteers will then join in and help plant hundreds of cedar and spruce trees along Circle Creek, helping to grow the future temperate rainforest with every tree. The day wraps up at 1pm with a gathering in the big barn for refreshments and the celebration of a job well done. NCLC’s Circle Creek Habitat Reserve is located at 32825 Rippet Road just south of Seaside. For more information and directions, please visit http://nclctrust.org/, or call (503) 738-9126.