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| Habitat Improvement, 2024-2025 By Randy Arnold Last year I recruited volunteers to help on 31 habitat related project days. Twenty-eight were brush and tree removal, two were for seeding/mulching and one was for tree planting. In addition, volunteers were recruited to assist Kasey’s team with shocking surveys on two days. Volunteers were also recruited by me to staff our booth at the Pheasants Forever Youth Field Day where we demonstrated fly tying, fly casting and fly fishing. Brush and tree removal work was done at multiple sites this year. Maintenance brushing was done at both the Red Cabin and Cty Rd. JJ sites on the Kinni where stands of 2–3-year-old buckthorn were cut, and the stumps were treated with herbicide. At the Quarry Rd. site across from the glass blowing studio where we have hosted the Greenwood Elementary service-learning day brush burn the past two years, newly sprouted buckthorn was either cut or sprayed. Volunteers helped in late October and early November to cut and pile brush at the Aldi parking lot site on the Kinni for this past year’s Greenwood brush burn. The bulk of our tree and brush removal efforts this past year was at the Steeple Drive site on the Kinni where 14 workdays were held starting in late December through the end of our fiscal year of March 31st. Other sites where brush and tree removal were done included the South Fork of the Kinni where a small crew of volunteers spent 3 workdays removing large willow trees from the streambank in preparation for the installation of more ERO features later this summer by Nate and his crew. Two days were also spent cutting brush and trees from the easement just downstream of the first bridge on Cty Rd. O south of Hwy 10 in preparation for our second year of working with the Ellsworth High School FFA students who turned out to help burn the slash. Both volunteer hours and numbers of participants were down again over the previous year. A total of 53 different individuals attended at least one ‘brushing’ day, down from 73 the previous year. Of those 53 individuals, 32 attended multiple workdays. The box elders and buckthorn on the easements we are responsible for maintaining are growing at a faster rate than what we can do to control them. Hopefully we can increase our habitat volunteer participation in future projects and not get too far behind in our maintenance efforts. Over 90% of our volunteer opportunities occur after the trout season closes in mid-October and before it resumes in May. I am grateful for the core group of volunteers who turn out week after week to support the work of our chapter, sometimes under less-than-ideal working conditions. I should start to keep a running tally of the number of hot dogs and cookies which are consumed around a bonfire at the end of our workdays. I make no apologies for any effects which it has on volunteers’ waistlines. I tip my hat to them and even occasionally give them some of my favorite dry flies or share my favorite fishing spots. Tree planting recently took place Martin easement on Plum Creek and at the Moody easement on the Kinni. There will be seeding/ mulching opportunities in the coming months at the new Von Holtum easement on Plum, some possible work on the South Fork and a possible chance for involvement on the North Fork of Wilson Creek in Dunn Cty if the Clearwaters TU chapter needs additional volunteers. I hope to meet many new volunteers during next season’s habitat work. If you haven’t yet participated, come out and give it a try. I think you will like the feeling of community besides knowing that you’ve done something special that will benefit the entire eco-system that each project encompasses. |
Habitat Improvement 2024 – 2025
