Gales Creek Watershed Conference, April 6 & 7, 2007

Sharing Success Stories in the Gales Creek Watershed

One of the four field trip groups explore a restoration site along a Gales Creek as part of the Gales Creek Watershed Conference held last Saturday. Paul Sansone, Tom McCall MS students, Madi Vanderzanden and Bailey Turpin, teacher Charlie Graham, Richard and Anne Hanschu, Ted Delamarter

Saturday was a good day for story telling and story sharing in the Gales Creek watershed. Over 65 people shared stories about how their actions improve watershed conditions in the local Gales Creek and larger Tualatin River watersheds. Will Hornyak, a local storyteller, reminded the Celebrating Successes, Finding Solutions conference attendees about how working together and each person speaking up can collectively make a big difference in watershed health.

The Tualatin River Watershed Council, its partners and conference sponsors presented the Friday evening and Saturday day long conference focusing on the Gales Creek sub-basin. April Olbrich, the Council coordinator, said, “Many Gales Creek residents are concerned about watershed health and that is reflected in their practices and actions. From our story sharing, I learned about perma-culture farm practices, organic forestry practices and weed control, and how fish can now access Bateman Creek because two fish-passage barriers were removed and bridges installed. We are all learning from one another.”

On Friday night, storyteller Dave Barrett kicked off the event, enthralling listeners on the logging history of the upper Gales Creek watershed that included the devastating wildfires known as the Tillamook Burn.

The film Legacy of Fire told the story of the Tillamook Burn and the combined efforts of Oregonians to reforest the area. A second film, Source to the Sea, the Columbia River Swim, captured how an individual chose to swim Columbia River from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean to focus attention on Columbia River conditions.

James and Erin Mahaffy gather information from the TRWC table at the Gales Creek Watershed Conference held last Saturday at Pacific University.

James and Erin Mahaffy, recent Forest Grove residents who moved from the Coos Bay area, came to learn more about what was going on in the Gales Creek watershed.

On Saturday, diverse presentations included the fish and wildlife living in the Gales Creek watershed, how the City of Forest Grove manages the Clear Creek watershed for its drinking water, and what steps are being taken to prevent wildfires in the rural areas. Other sessions included watershed friendly household and yard practices, urban tree care, Naturescaping and invasive weed control.

Participants also could talk to many local and state agency personnel on various programs and opportunities that could help them make a difference. Forest Grove middle school, high school and college students also described activities in which they are participating to help improve and monitor watershed health.

Conference participants ended the conference by choosing one of four field trips to local Gales Creek sites such as Fernhill Wetlands and the A.T. Smith House, Gales Creek watershed restoration sites and the newly installed fish ladder at Clear Creek.

For information on the conference and future watershed events and volunteering opportunities contact April Olbrich at trwc@easystreet.com.