For Week 2

Dana and I met around midday on Monday the 22 and spent a while looking around our site picking up some scattered garbage and discussing possible plans of action. We definitely have some questions about the site. What will it look like in the spring and summer times? Will there be water flowing or does it dry up? We decided that me need to clean up a tree that blew over in the storm and other logs that looked as though they had been dumped in the water. To what degree can we remove some of the fallen tree leaves from the fall if at all? There is one kind of (bracken?) fern that seems to have died out over the winter, would it be alright to remove the dead stalks and plant some more? We also went to the library to check out some of the online resources for our site from last year which was somewhat helpful. I am very excited about getting to know the area and helping transform it as the seasons move along.

spent about 2.5 hours

Week 3

Dana and I met again this Monday for an hour or so to farther discuss what we need to do for the site. We are having some trouble deciding what exactly needs to be done. We cleared out some of the many leafs that blanket the ground and remove some sticks and logs. We raked some leaves out of the stream area to try to encourage more flow. There is one area on the right hand side of the creek that we think should be turned into a nice usable area (it's pretty boggy right now). We definitely want to remove a bunch of the Salmon Berry and Sword Ferns that dominate the whole area. I looked over the site notebook and found it to be very helpful. The maps offered a good starting place for identifying the plants. I went back on Wednesday and did some more maintenance. There were quite a few big branches that I would like to take out but am not sure where to dispose of them. I would also like to find out where we might be able to find plants such as Kneeling Angelica and some more Snowberry to put in and also how to go about transplanting the devils club(?).

spent about 3 hours this week

Week 4

Dana and I met for two hours this week to finish our site theme intro and assess what plants there are on the site and what we would like to do with them. There is still a little bit of confusion around some of the plants and some signs that seem to be misleading. I've continued to poke around the site doing maintenance and envisioning what that place could be. I am still very resistant to the idea of putting in a bridge but instead like the idea, as Rebecca suggested, of some stepping stones as a means to get across. I would also like to fill in the area next to the little red cedar (remove choking salmon berry) with rocks and perhaps place a bench there. This is slightly problematic because I've noticed that that area even though it's fine with drier weather tends to fill up with water as soon as we get some steady rain, but I am sure there are ways around this.

spent about 4 hours this week

Week 5

This week really started off with the service work on Saturday at the elementary school which was a good experience. I learned about healthy compost for Sherri and had a good time working together with my classmates, we all make a good team. In the afternoon I found that I made a lot of progress on the site clearing sticks and leaves and more generally maintenance which is of course constant.

spent about 4 hours

Week 6

Inspite of being sick (good grief! not again!) Dana and Alina met me at the site for some work on Friday. I took out one of the sword ferns along the eastern edge of the trail and am very happy with the decision to do so. We pulled up some colts foot from one area and decided that we are going to leave it in the upper area. I wanted to remove that salmonberry that is choking the little cedar but found that we didn't have any of the right tool so we will do you next time we meet. It is amazing how fast this quarter is passing by. I continue to visit that site all most everyday between classes. I am learning, in addition to continuously refreshed my growing knowledge of plants, that good weather is the key to high spirits and getting work done.

spent about 4 hours

Week 7

This week I volunteered at the Native Plant Salvage Proeject's plant sale with Anna. It was a great experience and I am very glad that I went to help out and send the little baby plants off to thier new homes. I learned alot about the baby plants, including identification and what the roots systems look like. I spent a while at the longhouse with and am happy to see it, our site as well as others, coming along so well.

spent 7 hrs. this week

Week 8

Dana and I met on wednesday before class for a couple of hours, until our work was interrupted by the intense flurries of snow. I attacked the salmon berry bush that was sufficating the poor little red cedar tree and successfully romoved it, I think the little tree will be much happier now. We realized that our plans of putting in a nice little resting area were foiled by the rising water level. Pulled up some more colts foot that keeps popping up. It really amazing to see how manys things are coming to life everytime I go back there. We are going to try to find some appropriate stepping stones.

spent 4 hours this week

Week 9

Dana and I having met several time fr a period of about two hours to work on our presentation. I have a hard time finiding timt to go to the longhouse and do more work, but the site is looking so much better then when we started, I'm really happy to see this change.

About 6 hours this week

Week 10

More working on site presentation, taking pictures and doing a we bit more maintenance, cleaning up etc.

about five hours this week

for a total of 36 hours so far.