Over the summer, seasonal stewardship assistant Mel Allen supported North Coast Land Conservancy team—as well as partnership agencies—with a variety of on-the-ground work, in addition to strengthening and expanding the organization’s vital Site Steward Program.
Mel joined the staff for the summer field season, starting in June and wrapping up in September. The seasonal assistant position is designed to give the stewardship team an extra boost during the busiest months of the year.
During her stint, she supported the ongoing Weed Warrior Wednesday program, helped the Necanicum Watershed Council with fish salvage at Thompson Creek in Seaside, and did numerous site visits and other projects dealing with invasive plant management and habitat restoration.
“It was amazing to see all the different habitat types that NCLC has conserved,” Mel says. The organization works across diverse ecosystems, including the coastal prairie, temperate rainforest in the Oregon Coast Range, marshes, wetlands, and estuaries.
She fondly recalls the ecological observations she got to make along the way, from flowering queen-of-the-forest shrubs and black petaltail dragonflies in the Rainforest Reserve to green herons and carnivorous sundew plants at the Gearhart Fen.
Revitalizing the Site Steward Program
Mel also had a unique project this summer involving the volunteer Site Steward Program, which pairs dedicated volunteers with NCLC properties to conduct regular site visits to help monitor and treat invasive species and to observe and document changes to the land. With several dozen habitat reserves that make up more than 8,500 acres spread along the Oregon Coast, from the Columbia River to the Siletz Bay, it’s helpful to have extra people supporting and caring for these lands and their health and well-being.
Currently, NCLC cares for about three dozen fee title properties, or habitat reserves, and 17 site stewards, some of whom have multiple conserved lands that they are assigned to. As part of her role, Mel conducted numerous site visits to connect with the existing site stewards, visit their adopted properties, and receive feedback about the program, as well as recruiting and training six new site stewards (including herself!).
“We have a lot of site stewards who have done it for a long time,” Mel says. As they grow older, and some prepare to step back from their volunteer role, the stewardship team wants to ensure they have new people to fill in—and that those volunteers feel properly trained and empowered to carry out their tasks and develop their own meaningful relationship to the specific land they’re caring for.
“It’s very self-motivated and self-guided,” Mel says, adding they want site steward to check on their assigned reserve at least four times per year, once per season. Some site stewards will help with removing invasive plants, cleaning trash, boundary marking, and maintaining trails. They also are checking for signs of encroachment or trespass on the land and sharing that information with NCLC staff. “It’s important to have the eyes and ears on the ground. … Mostly, it’s just a nice way to help the stewardship team out.”
With her position wrapped up for the season, Mel is looking forward to working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) on a program to restore Oregon chum salmon. Meanwhile, she’ll stay connected to NCLC as a site steward herself for the Crosel Creek Habitat Reserve.
“I can go and walk there; it’s close to me,” she says, expressing excitement about getting more acquainted with the land and the critters who live there. “You don’t know what you’re going to see. It’s so unexpected. With the reserve being so close to Astoria, I think it’d be interesting to see what wildlife is there and how they use it.”
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