WCC Yakima

2007-06-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

6-6-07

Today we worked in Kittitas Co. with Brent again. We worked at the Eaton site and at the North Fork Teanaway. The weather was nice though the wind was a little cold. We pulled weeds at Eaton’s and put up an electric fence at the North Fork sights. Nick Mott came out to say hello too. It was a pretty good day.

Chad

2007-06-25T17:13:00.001-07:00

5/30/2007

We hacked, whacked, brushed and lopped our little hearts out today and we were actually able to restore the old broken down fence at the ol’ Gurtis site. Not even the hot sun, poison ivy, stinging nettle or horse flies could stop us.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-06-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

5/23/2007

Today the crew and I went to the WWTP and watered all the plants, we also meet a temporary conservationist working for the KYCD and he helped us pull weeds, water plants, and fix drip line.

By Jordan Turner

2007-06-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

5/21/2007

Today the crew and I went to Evens and Summerville sites. We pulled weeds around the plants and then brush cut the grass.

By Jordan Turner

2007-06-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

5/17/07

The crew and I spent the day watering plants, pulling weeds and forging the river at Shaw-Knox and Diversion 31.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-06-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

5/10/2007

Our crew has built a shade cloth room for our plant facility and today we got to start painting it! So we covered or moved plants out of the way, climbed up on ladders and rolled our way to white. We’re almost done, finally!

By Melissa Cullen

2007-06-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

5/8/2007

We had the opportunity to help out at the Salmon Summit today. The Salmon Summit is a collaboration of elementary schools and conservation agencies getting together to raise and release juvenile salmon. Today the kids got to release their young salmon and enjoy an array of activities. They also had a visit by a man-sized salmon thanks to two of our WCC guys, Matt and Chad.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-06-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

5/7/2007

Today we repaired the fence at the Buchanan Ranch. The dirtiest part was getting all the dirt out of the holes for our posts.

By Melissa

2007-06-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

5-2-07

Today was a good day. We got another newer computer today and its working so far. Hopefully it will last longer than the last one. After that we got the oil changed on the truck, and then we went out to Eaton’s to finish the drip line. Most of the plants look really good. After that we pulled weeds the rest of the day. On break I harvested some dog’s bain or Indian hemp and showed some of the crew members how to make cordage. The weather was a little rainy earlier, and later in the day it was sunny and warm.

Chad

2007-06-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

4/26/2007

Today the crew and I went to Fletchers and planted 15 plants and 25 willows.
Then we went to the middle fork and put down out drip line and put weed mating down over some of the plants that we missed.

By Jordan Turner

2007-06-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

4/25/07

On this windy Wednesday the crew unwound, pinned down and laid down over 2000 feet of drip line in Kittitas today. That’s going to water a lot of plants.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-06-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

4-24-07

Today we finished grass plug repair then watered and maintained 3 of our ahtanum creek sites. It was a warm day with blue skies.

Chad

2007-06-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

4/18/2007

Today the crew and I finished are work on the weir at Shaw-Knox. We worked hard and at the end of the day we where reworded when we got to see the weir work.

By Jordan turner

2007-06-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

4/17/07

We began fixing a leak in a fish weir using a tamper and layering rocks and gravel. We also cleared a side channel and actually found juvenile Rainbow Trout and a Red Shiner. This is what it’s all about folks; it’s nice to see some of these little guys.

Melissa Cullen

2007-06-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

4-16-07

Today, we went to Thorton’s property. We did manual thistle control as well as sprayed herbicide. After that we burned tumble weeds along His field where I was blown up… not really. The weather was great.

By Chad

2007-06-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

4/15/2007

Today the crew and I went to upper lust and pulled weeds. Then we met up with Chad at Thorton’s and put straw down around the plants to prevent future weed from growing.

By Jordan Turner

2007-06-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

4/14/2007

Today it was just DJ, Chad, and Jordan working. The rest of the crew were doing other things. So we went to 3 different sites and pulled weeds. We also had the opportunity to save 2 snakes that were stuck in an erosion control blanket.

By Jordan Turner

2007-06-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

4/12/07
Today at middle fork we finished planting along the river bank. The weather was nice and I bought a Honda Big Red three wheeler from the land owner. The camera was broken so I wasn’t able to take pictures… of my three wheeler. Overall it was a great day.
By Alex

2007-06-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

4/11/07

Today the crew and I went out to the middle fork and put down an erosion control blankets on a steep stream bank. It was hard work because of all the rocks but we got it done.

By Jordan Turner

2007-05-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

4/10/07

We worked at upper Middle Fork today. We planted139 plants, trees and stakes and laid erosion control blanket along the bank. The weather was a bit warmer today, but the wind was chilly.

Melissa Cullen

2007-05-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

4-9-07

This day in history, we journeyed to the middle fork of the Teanaway River. We planted 135 plants. The weather was rain, sun, and snow. It was a good day.

By Chad

2007-05-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

3-26-07

Today the crew and I started getting ready for the plant sail this weekend. Right now we are putting orders together for people who paid for there plants ahead of time. We should be able to get most of this done after tomorrow.

By Jordan Turner

2007-05-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

3-13-07
Today at diversion 31 we laid out some erosion control blanket and planted red osier dogwood in it. Then we started planting in the higher areas with woods rose, aspens, and red osier dogwood. It was a beautiful day and we got a lot done. By alex smith

2007-03-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

3/12/07

In the morning we used the chain saw to harvest willows for our project at Diversion 31. On site at diversion 31 we planted 78 red osier dog woods and some grass plugs with an erosion control blanket on top. All the plants planted today and from our previous planting were watered.

By Matt Riddle

2007-03-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

3/7/2007

Today we worked in Kittitas and planted 63 Water Birch at the Ringer site and the second part of the day we started laying a drip line at the Eaton site. We also had a volunteer with us, Isaiah Cunningham, from last year’s crew, and he was very helpful and full of useful tips.

Melissa Cullen

2007-03-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

3/6/07

Today we planted 118 plants with 4 crew members. All the plants are planted, but we ran out of weedmats halfway through the morning, so we’ll have to finish those plants when we receive more. The digging was much easier today so that helped. This morning was a little colder than yesterday but it warmed up substantially after lunch.

By Chad

2007-03-05T20:32:00.000-08:00

3/5/07

Today we planted 61 potted plants at Eaton’s. We only had 3 crew members today because one of us is still in Florida on Emergency Response and one crew member had a family emergency. Despite that, today was still very productive. The weather was great for working too.

By Chad

2007-03-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

3-1-2007

Today we worked at the Thorton site. There we finish our planting that we started yesterday and continued the sage brush planting today. We also check out the stream at Snow Mountain periodically to see if it’s still flowing properly.

By Matthew Riddle

2007-03-05T20:26:00.000-08:00

2/28/07

Today we planted more dry land shrubs at the Thorton site. We planted 320 total, 120 bitter brush, 100 rabbit brush, and 100 big sage brush. Mr. Thorton asked us to move to a different area when the cows needed to drink so we wouldn’t spook them at this crucial time of the year while they’re calving, so we moved to the area near the first gate to prepare for planting for tomorrow. DJ and Matt also went to Snow Mountain to check out that ditch we’re trying to fill with water. They cleared some more of the ditch to get it to flow farther so we’ll have to check it again another day. The weather wasn’t too bad today. It was sunny part of the day and it snowed a little part of the day too. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to finish with this group of plants, but we’ll see.

By Chad

2007-02-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

2/27/07

The crew was at Thorton’s today planting sage brush. The ground was still frozen so we dug a basin, filled it, let the water soak in then went back and planted a sage plug, and finally went back to water once more. The weather was also interesting, we had sun, wind and snow; at least we had the cows to entertain us.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-02-27T06:04:00.000-08:00

2/26/06
On this particular day, and for the rest of the week, we have a guest crew member from King County. At the start of the day we seemed to have a rather hard time finding a provider for the river rocks that we needed for today’s events. But will a little perseverance we succeeded. We used a variety of rock sizes to close up the gaps in larger rocks that had been placed along the stream bank for stabilization. This will help redirect the flow of water in order to minimize erosion. We plugged the main holes with larger rocks and tamped the finer rocks through the cracks with rock bars. This river is a tributary to the Yakima River and will become a major spawning ground for Chinook salmon. Later in the day we cleared debris that was clogging a ditch which had been dug earlier in the year to provide water to cottonwood trees down stream (pictures not available).

Meghan

2007-02-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

2-22-07
Today we put bare root plants into pots and went to the site at middle fork to drop them off. Then we went back to Eaton and removed teasel rosettes from the soil solarization area. We also planted cottonwood stakes. By Alex Smith

2007-02-22T06:05:00.000-08:00

2-21-2007

Today at Eaton’s we planted 1,075 willow stakes. We also removed the plastic soil solarization and planted some dogbane and grass in that area. On our way back to the facility we stop at the Umtanum Recreation Site to use the bathroom.

By Matt Riddle

2007-02-21T06:13:00.000-08:00

2-20-07

Today we staked the 1000 willows we brought for the Kittitas waste water treatment plant. After that we harvested and staked 577 more so that’s 1577 in all. The ground was pretty soft in most places. The surface was frozen in some places also though. After staking the whole site, we went to the Eaton site to prepare for tomorrows work. Overall, it was a pretty good day and very productive. We had a volunteer from last year’s crew again today. I guess that’s all!

By Chad

2007-02-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

2/15/07

Today we were at Diversion 31. We planted 19 Red Osier Dogwood and covered more of the bank with erosion control blanket. We also got in half the wattle. We weren’t able to take the trailer to the site so we loaded down the quad with all our tools and made Chad drive it up and down the steep banks.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-02-18T16:05:00.000-08:00

2/14/07

Today, we went out to Diversion 31 and laid some erosion control blankets upstream of the fish screen on the diversion. We also harvested red osier dogwood cuttings for a giant wattle to be placed near the deep hole in the creek. We had a volunteer from last years crew helping today as well. Melissa said happy valentines day.

By Chad

2007-02-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

2-13-07
Today we finished laying down erosion control blankets at upper lust. We also planted willow stakes and other plants in the same area. Then we walked along the road where the heavy machinery came in and used rakes to fill in the ruts .

2007-02-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

2-12-2007

Today it was just Chad, Melissa, Alex and I working at the facility. D. J. took the day off and Jordan went on an emergency response to Florida. In the morning we worked on adding new supports, taking them off and repairing them on the shade cloth room. After our first brake we went to the DOT and washed the truck. The rest of the day we finished working on the shade cloth room and cut some rebar into twenty inches apiece.

By Matt Riddle

2007-02-13T18:24:00.000-08:00

2/8/07

Today the crew and I planted 28 plants and put erosion control blankets on the bank of the stream. This was difficult because it was so muddy. As you can see Chad are assistant supervisor demonstrates just how muddy in was.

By Jordan Turner

2007-02-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

2/7/2007

Today we worked at Upper Lust. We put two erosion control blankets down and one we planted within the blanket; the pictures show both blankets. We also planted willow stakes as well as Red Osier Dogwood, Wood’s Rose and Golden Current. It was a muddy, sloppy day, but at least we didn’t have to go into the stream too deep.

P.S. There’s a picture of Brian and Chad getting a little frisky, my money’s on Chad.

By Melissa

2007-02-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

02/06/2007

Today we put the last 7 or 8 rafters of the shade cloth room up. It went pretty smoothly, but one crew member called in sick, so it would have been even better with all six of us. After that we continued putting up some of the structural supports to make sure the frame was good and strong. Near the end of the day some of the crew sharpened loppers to prepare for willow cuttings.

By Chad

2007-02-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

2-5-2007

Today we started out working on our community service project and finished the last steps in packaging the emergency relief kits and delivering them to the Catholic Family and Child Services, Saint Vincent De Paul and Salvation Army. While we where in town we dropped by B and M and left our chain saw to be cleaned. After that we headed back to the facility and worked on adding more trusses to the new greenhouse. Alex was feeling sick today so he left early just before we headed into to town.

By Mathew Riddle

2007-02-04T19:21:00.000-08:00

2/1/07

This morning we finish our paper work that was due at the end of last month. After that we went to the facility and worked on adding new trusses to our green house. I think our system for installing the trusses is really coming along. The weather was also a lot warmer today than it was yesterday.

By Matt Riddle

2007-02-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

1/31/07

Today the crew and I continued work on the construction of a new green house. We managed to put up three trusses and make most of the supports that help support the trusses themselves. By the end of tomorrow we should have most of this project complete.

By Jordan Turner

2007-01-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

1/30/07

We worked on the new shade-cloth room at the facility today. We finished putting up the posts (lined up in pictures) and we put up the side wall (seen lying flat in pictures). Nick from the head office in Olympia came to visit us today and lucky for him he came on a nice warm day.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-01-30T07:13:00.000-08:00

1/29/07

Today we washed the truck and got an oil change in the morning while DJ got caught up on paperwork since the computer quit working last week. After that we went to the facility and dug a trench to remove what appears to be an irrigation pipe. It was in the way of the holes we were digging for the posts on the north wall of the new shade cloth room we’re going to build. After that we continued digging the holes for the posts then started to get some of them in the ground. The ground was frozen a few inches down, but the digging still wasn’t that bad. It was a good day!

By Chad

2007-01-30T06:31:00.000-08:00

1-24-07

Wednesday we worked at the Waterwaste Treatment Plant where we planted fifty-four plants. On our way back to the facility we went down the canyon trail and stopped at the Umtanum recreation site. There we took our evening brake and used their rest rooms.

2007-01-22T07:51:00.000-08:00

Today we planted 58 plants at WWTP. Wilson Creek was much lower today than yesterday. The ground was still soft so digging was easy.

By Chad

2007-01-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

1-8-07
Today at the waste water treatment plant we planted 55 trees along Wilson creek. We had to clear the snow from the ground but other than that it was easy digging.

By Alex Smith

2007-01-22T07:49:00.001-08:00

12/18/06

Today we worked at the Roy property. We cut up logs and cleared them from the land. We used the atv and trailer to move it to the piles.
By Alex Smith

2007-01-22T07:48:00.002-08:00

Today we went to The Roy McCormick property and bucked logs and removed debris all day.

By chad

2007-01-22T07:48:00.001-08:00

We worked at Middle Fork again today with the Wenatchee crew. They managed to plant 242 Willow stakes, while our crew buried 150 red osier dogwoods. A most productive day.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-01-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

Today we worked at a new site in Teanaway called Middle Fork. Along with the Wenatchee crew we planted 240 Willow stakes and prepared trenches for Dogwoods.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-01-22T07:44:00.000-08:00

Today we planted Red Osier and willow stakes at Middle Fork. Chad, Jordan, Melissa and I planted 74 Red Osiers and 120 willow stakes. D.J. was not with us today because he started his weekend early. We also dropped off Alex at the office so he could work on different office activities without hurting his back.

By Matt Riddle

2007-01-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

Today we worked most of the day at the Fletcher site where we planted 23 plants. Then at around 2:30 we worked on cutting willows at the Middle Fork Teanaway. We will be going back to Middle Fork tomorrow.

By Matt Riddle

2007-01-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

12-5-06

2007-01-22T07:38:00.000-08:00

We planted at Fletcher’s today and we’re pleasantly surprised by the easy digging considering all the snow and freezing weather. We treated 95 linier feet of stream bank and planted about 30 plants and trees.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-01-22T07:37:00.001-08:00

Today we worked with the Wenatchee crew bucking logs at the Roy McCormick property. After the Wenatchee crew left, we went back to the facility for maintenance of tools and winterizing the pumps, generator, and brushcutters.

By Chad

2007-01-22T07:33:00.000-08:00

Today we started out by using the auger to get pre-made holes setup so our plant would fit better. We didn’t get our exact planting measurement yet for Wednesday the 15th. The weather was a lot better today at Fletcher’s than last week when we where working in the mud and rain. Today it only rained at the end of the day when we where packing up and heading home.

Matthew Riddle

2007-01-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

11-14-06

2007-01-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

Today the crew started the day collecting willow stakes Pat Munk, who is heading a project near Cle Elem. Afterwards we returned to Shaw-Knox and planted 1053 grass plugs.

By Melissa Cullen

2007-01-22T07:21:00.000-08:00

11-8-06

2007-01-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

Today at fletchers we braved the rain and planted 54 plants. We also placed weed mats and straw on some of the plants we planted yesterday.
Written by Alex Smith

2007-01-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

Monday we went back to Fletcher’s where we worked in the rain and planted in the mud. We had an awesome time. Today we planted forty seven trees. Chad couldn’t make it today because his wife had his baby yesterday! The crew and I congratulate you on your blessing.

By Matt Riddle

2007-01-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

2007-01-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

11-1-2006

The 7th and 8th grade students from the Discovery Lab Yakima came to help us today. With there help we planted 46 willow stakes, over 200 grass plugs, 32 red osier dogwoods, and completed a wattle and fachine. The pictures include students staking, planting and filling the fachine.

P.S. Thanks to all the Discovery Lab volunteers, you did great!

By Melissa Cullen

2007-01-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

Today we worked with 6th grade students at Shaw Knox. We planted potted plants, grass plugs and willow stakes. We also started a wattle and fascine to be completed tomorrow with 7th and 8th grade students.

By Chad

2007-01-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

10/30/06

Today at Fletchers we planted 170 willow stakes and cut brush around where we planted the willows.

2007-01-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

Today, we patched the holes in the exit weir of the pond at Shaw Knox with Ernie and David while Alex did some water quality testing at Marian Drain. Some pictures are included of the patchwork. We also planted 62 plants today, some near yesterdays planting and some a little downstream. The soil was a little rockier than yesterday, especially downstream, but it was still not the worst I’ve planted in. All in all today was a pretty productive day.

By Chad

2006-10-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

The crew resumed work at Fletcher and planted 33 trees. We picked up a new job-site-tool-box for the pickup and a new chain saw. We were also one man down today and had to battle the elements (chilly wind).

By Melissa Cullen

2006-10-18T07:12:00.000-07:00

Today, we patched the holes in the exit weir of the pond at Shaw Knox with Ernie and David while Alex did some water quality testing at Marian Drain. We tried to include pictures, but it didnt work. We'll try again later. We also planted 62 plants today, some near yesterdays planting and some a little downstream. The soil was a little rockier than yesterday, especially downstream, but it was still not the worst I’ve planted in. All in all today was a pretty productive day.

By Chad

2006-10-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

Today at Evans we replanted about twenty plants. Then we went to Shaw Knox and planted forty four plants. We also dug a channel to allow fish to swim from the pond to the creek and we cleared some brush from the side channel.

2006-10-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

This Thursday we focused on planting trees, digging holes, and operating the weed eater for our project on Monday. Today we broke our record on tree planting, and hope to do better next week once our rhythm gets kicked in. Now that’s the weekend we can all go home and recuperate so that we can work just as much next week as we did this week. Here are a couple of pictures from our day. All the planting took place at Fletcher’s.

Matt Riddle

2006-10-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

As you can see in the pictures the crew worked hard today on mostly digging holes and planting. In one of the pictures it shows DJ showing us how to operate the weed eater he also showing us how to clean and maintain the machine so it works properly. I think I speak for all of us when I say that today was productive and I hope we have many more like it!

BY JODAN TURNER

2006-10-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

10/10/2006

Today our crew covered an area of 294 sq ft and planted 11 plants saving additional space for trees. Working with the clayed-dirt is still a challenge, but we are trying different strategies to make the best with the soil to ensure plant and tree survival. Our progress was somewhat hindered due to an accident. One of our crew members was filing his shovel and obtained a laceration on his left thumb. He received first aid immediately but because the bleeding did not slow, he was taken to a medical clinic right away. Luckily no stitches were necessary and he will return tomorrow.

2006-10-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

Today we planted 18 plants and laid 508 sq. ft. of weed matting. The soil has a lot of clay so it’s somewhat difficult to dig in right now. It really slows us down, but it’s still better than really rocky soil. Here are some photos of us at work digging, planting and lying weed matting. We have some before and after pictures too.