by Cris Peck | January 2016

Cris Peck, Outreach Coordinator

Naturally, we have wildlife encounters while conducting monitoring visits and stewardship activities. We’ve seen elk (wapiti), black bear, bobcats, coyotes, and the occasional cougar signs. Generally, we don’t feel threatened by wildlife on our properties; they’re just part of our work environment. The big mammals are seldom seen and, if they appear, they promptly turn tail and run. But this is a story about an encounter that made us all nervous and put us on edge. We had to protect volunteers as well as ourselves from this wily animal: a Ruffed Grouse. Yes, you read that correctly.

Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) are small, pheasant-like birds that live in forest-interiors, feeding on insects and seeds. If you’re hiking in the summer and hear what almost sounds like an engine trying to start, that’s likely the ‘drumming’ of an enamored male grouse.  It’s a deep, guttural noise that starts slow and progressively gets faster and faster. The drumming is created by a rapid beating of the wings and, in grouse culture; the loudest drummer is most likely to attract a female. Male Ruffed Grouse are also fiercely territorial. Now this is where the story begins.

The infamous Ruffed Grouse

The Yelm Food Bank and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters have donated 30 bales of burlap coffee bags to the Land Trust—almost 30,000 bags! Each bale weighes about a ton and contains anywhere from 800 to 1,000 bags.  We employ these as a biodegradable weed block for new tree and shrub plantings. In the summer, vegetation grows aggressively and, unaided, young seedlings face fierce competition for sunlight and nutrients. In a way, burlap serves as a bodyguard to our plantings until they can establish themselves. We also use the bags for control of Reed Canary Grass – a non-native invasive grass that can grow over 6 feet tall and dominate riparian areas. When placed on the young sprouts, the burlap bags can be really effective in managing this problematic weed.

You may be asking, “How do we install the bags?” Well, it took us a while to figure this out. We eventually went with gardening staples, but for the first work party we used wooden stakes. We cut holes in the corners of the burlap and, using rubber mallets, drove the stakes into the ground to secure everything in place. We may have literally ruffled some feathers through all this commotion because that day we met our friend, the Ruffed Grouse.

A young seedling enjoys some extra protection from competing vegetation

Burlap buys new plants some extra time to get established

Volunteers helped us install 30 bales of burlap as weed-block!

The grouse spent the morning following volunteers around—a harmless, cute spectacle. While the group was there he wouldn’t come too close, but once the volunteers went home that day, all bets were off. Suddenly confident in his authority, the grouse charged us, biting our heels and pants, chasing us down the trail and chest-bumping our legs. This was his territory and we were unwanted visitors. The stake pounding must have resembled the male’s drumming because this little 8 inch tall bird was not happy, and he wasn’t backing down. In fact, we were backing down. He chased our work truck all the way down the access road. He won that day.

Fast forward a few weeks to one of the largest planting events we’ve ever hosted. We had over fifty volunteers at this site, and the grouse was on full alert. We had to plant in pairs: one person on guard against the grouse while the other planted. If you stooped down to plant, the bird would lunge at your face or attack your legs. No one was hurt, but by the end of the event everyone was aware of our feathered friend. Hardy volunteers backed down when confronted by a flurry of flapping wings and Charly and I took on a new role that day – Grouse Coordinator.

We came to call our grumpy planting companion “Oscar the Grouse”. He participated in several work parties that winter and accompanied a group of NatureMapping volunteers in the spring. We haven’t seen Oscar in several months, but if you’re out in Yelm be careful; you may find yourself in Oscar’s territory.

“Oscar the Grouse”

Hardy staff and volunteers in grouse territory

By Cris Peck | December 2015

Early on a cold and blustery November morning crew members from the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Washington Conservation Corps and I prepared to host forty third-grade students at the McBride property at Red Salmon Creek. They were helping us install native plants in an open field and they were the first group to help out at this site this fall, so we were a little anxious. We organized work gloves, moved shovels, checked plants, and sipped hot beverages as we awaited the boisterous group of students. The chatter and joyful yells traveled ahead of the group as they made their way down the forested gravel road toward the pasture. They were here!

Leading the pack was Sheila Wilson, decked out in all yellow rain gear and grinning from ear to ear. It was obvious that she was in her element. Each fall she brings student groups out to Land Trust properties to help with plantings and this was the second site this year. Earlier in the fall she coordinated school groups to help with plantings in the Ohop Valley. Sheila is the program director for the Nisqually River Education Project, whose mission is to connect students in the Nisqually Watershed with the environment around them. What better way to do this than to get on the ground and get your hands dirty?

Upon arrival, students proclaimed, “Wow! Look at all of the plants!” and asked “Do we have to plant all of them today?”

Our answer: “Well, of course not! We take it one step, or one plant, at a time. We always have at least two people working to plant one tree.”

When it was all said and done, we had planted 1,750 native trees and shrubs in two weeks. Twelve school groups from eight different schools, a University of Washington class, a Boy Scout Troop, and a a bunch of other volunteers helped out. Teamwork makes the dream work and the collaborative spirit of the Nisqually Watershed was very much a part of completing this step in habitat restoration at this site.

Bear in mind, the weather didn’t make those two weeks easy – we had torrential downpours that created a creek through the pasture and frozen mornings that turned the ground into concrete. Regardless, spirits were always high and every day was a blast. You can’t help but smile when you see a kid covered head-to-toe in mud yelling “This was the best school day ever!”

The trees and shrubs planted this fall will grow up around a memorial tree planted for Bud McBride in 2012. Bud was a great supporter of efforts to protect the Nisqually River and Delta. About 15 years ago, he wanted to be sure that his family’s land would be permanently protected and transferred the property to the Land Trust. In 2014, the Land Trust transferred the property to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. The Wildlife Refuge invited the Land Trust to continue habitat monitoring, maintenance, and restoration activities at this site and we are glad to have the opportunity. We think fondly of Bud and his partner, Richard Schneider, every time we’re on the property. Without them this project and its legacy would not be possible.

The conifers planted this fall could live over 1,000 years. The assortment of native seedlings planted will improve water quality for the vast wetlands that provide habitat for a wide variety of critters, including salmon. This is a beautiful legacy we all work to protect – it’s the future beyond ourselves.We have another 1,250 plants to install in January and we hope that you’ll join us for one or more of those volunteer events. Check out our event calendar for more information.

Volunteers of all ages help plant at Red Salmon Creek

The new planting at Red Salmon Creek

A frosty morning at Red Salmon Creek

Volunteers work diligently to install native plants at Red Salmon Creek

Nisqually River Education Project coordinator, Sheila Wilson, gets down in the dirt with students to plant native trees

By Charly Kearns

Charly Kearns, Land Steward

For the past seven years, Halloween has come to mean something special to many in our watershed – it’s the official kickoff of the planting season. Since 2009, it has been a tradition to host a volunteer planting in the Ohop Valley on October 31. Now that construction on the new channel of Ohop Creek is wrapped up for the foreseeable future, the reforestation effort takes center stage. The Nisqually Indian Tribe’s restoration crew has taken the lead on the planting project, installing the majority of the nearly 100,000 native trees and shrubs throughout the valley. However, local students and volunteers are playing a big role too!

Since we’ve planned the annual volunteer event to fall around Halloween, naturally we’ve had a number of ghouls and goblins come out to help. This year was a little different – most volunteers came out in their best drowned rat costumes. A powerful “Pineapple Express” system arrived just ahead of the event and the valley received close to 3” of rain over the weekend. Combined with high winds, planting conditions were less-than-ideal. The event was almost cancelled, but we decided to follow through and anticipated many volunteers would opt-out. Much to my surprise, we had a total of 60 hardy volunteers come out for the day, helping to plant 750 trees and shrubs!

This is a great example of how incredible our volunteers are. Seemingly unfazed by torrential rains and high winds, volunteers young and old went to work in the floodplain, the sounds of their laughter and conversations carrying across the valley. When the creek topped the bank and water started flowing across the floodplain, everyone helped to move the remaining potted plants out of harm’s way.

Next year, after eight years of effort, we will host the last major planting season in the Ohop Valley. The entirety of the floodplain on the Land Trust’s property will be filled with young trees and shrubs. Walking through the rapidly growing forest, first established by those early plantings, it is thrilling to think about what this place will look like in twenty or thirty years. I know that many in our watershed share this excitement. I just met a young man who remembered helping to plant trees in the Ohop with the Nisqually River Education Project when he was in middle school. He is now graduated from college and pursuing a job in the environmental field.

This experience sticks with people. Many of our regular volunteers still talk about the first Ohop planting, and the impact it had on them.  I feel very lucky to have played a part in this effort. We’ll be out planting trees throughout the watershed this winter, so be sure to check out our volunteer calendar for upcoming events.

Willows and cottonwoods starting to form a canopy in 2009 planting area.

Volunteers got down, dirty, and very wet helping to install over 750 native trees and shrubs!

Hardy volunteers aren’t afraid to get a little or a lot) wet.

Rising flood waters from Ohop Creek flow through the center of the pasture.