How to Record Success? and... More Grant Success

A large cedar above an old well house in North Creek Forest

How do we know all of the restoration work we reported in earlier articles will look like the photo at the left in 150 to 200 years?

In the UW-REN Final Report and Maintenance Plan you will find specific ways to insure the survival of new plants, measure change over time and record data for use by future students. Students considering a class in Restoration Ecology might want to look at this scientific document.

The plan calls for:
1. Water hundreds of plants up to 2-3 / week for 3 years.
2. Remove any invasive plants that pop up.
3. Inventory/record plants and growth changes annually.

A part of the inventory is to take photos from 5 erected photo points twice each year. This record of winter/summer plant cover will be valuable to students 2-5-10 or 40 years from now. So making sure it is done and on file for the next forest restoration planners is vital.

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Summer 2012 Photo Point Records

Photo Pt1: This was all blackberries.

Photo Pt3: Cedar and Douglas Fir have been added here and will grow to dominate this part of the forest over time.

Photo Pt5: Huckleberry, Thimble berry, Lady fern will all emerge under these Cedars.

In time we will see trees as large as the Cedar (top photo) or the maple at the right. Meanwhile our task is to do the stewardship with students and community volunteers each year and keep good records.

A second record we will be keeping is a quadrat survey we do once each year. There are 5 quadrats on this restoration site. We will do detailed inventories in each quadrat every year in August.

This fall we will begin a new site with UW-REN and add it to the existing work.... and so on. Imagine that!

Photo Pt2: Douglas Fir, Spruce, Pacific Nine Bark, Wild Rose, Twin Berry, Oregon Grape, Devil's Club... See the plan for a full list.

Photo Pt4: Thimble berry, ferns,Douglas fir, cedar and salal were all added here to push succession.

A large Big Leaf Maple in North Creek Forest

Two More Grants!

Oh, we should share this too. The city now has two more grants. Another King County Conservation Futures Grant has been awarded and we placed 4th on another Land and Water grant. As long as Congress funds the Land and Water program we will be funded either this year or next. So 4th place is a winner! Again! We are exploring additional ways to finish conservation.

Alas, it will take some work to bring this all to completion.
But we are going to do that.  Please consider joining us when we announce periodic work days. Share your thoughts and ideas with us too. It's your forest.

Thanks for your support,
Friends of North Creek Forest