Only days after moving in to their new residence halls at Oregon State, 12 freshmen Honors College students joined MRWC at Pioneer Village in Philomath on September 23rd to enhance the riparian habitat along Greasy Creek. The event was held as part of Plant-A-Tree Day, an annual event sponsored by One Tree Planted.
On a clear and sunny morning, the students removed invasive blackberry and cultivated plum trees and replaced them with over 350 live stakes of three native plants: willow, Douglas spirea, and red twig dogwood. With this work, the students augmented an acre of native trees planted by the Council in 2016. Jessica Ewton, a new Honors College biochemistry major, said that the restoration work was “surprisingly fun!”
The community of Pioneer Village supports the restoration work and recognizes the positive impacts the work has on bank stability, native plant growth, and stream ecology.
A big thank you to our OSU volunteers and One Tree Planted for their support as well as to Oregon Wetlands for the donation of the live stakes!
