Volunteers clear trails, plant trees
BLM employees Zach Jarrett (left) and Mike Marshall plant trees in the Molalla River Recreation Corridor Saturday. Twenty-four volunteers joined BLM and Department of Forestry employees for the annual Earth Day SOLV-IT Trail Work Party. It is one of several trail enhancement and trash clean-up events in the corridor this summer.
April 26, 2006
For Portland residents Loren and Dina Morse, April 22 is a day of significance.
“Every day should be Earth Day,” Loren said. “There are a lot of things to do on a weekend, but I think this is important.”
Formerly of Molalla, the Morses decided to spend this Earth Day working in an area they have enjoyed for decades: The Molalla River Recreation Corridor.
More than 20 volunteers, along with members of the Bureau of Land Management’s Salem office and the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Molalla office joined together Saturday for the Earth Day SOLV-IT Trail Work Party.
Projects included clearing debris from trails and replanting native vegetation at rehabilitated campsites.
Loren raked wind-fallen branches from a section of Leap Frog Trail, one of many in the corridor’s 50-plus miles of trails.
“There was a pile of them, let me tell,” said Loren, a mountain biker and member of Portland United Mountain Peddlers. “You couldn’t even see the trail in most places.”
The work party is an annual Earth Day event sponsored by Molalla RiverWatch, Bureau of Land Management, SOLV, Ricky D’s Pizza and Molalla Communications. Molalla RiverWatch Executive Director Kay Patteson said she was glad to see several new faces this year.
“Those that use the trails in the Molalla River corridor are the ones volunteering to help maintain the health and beauty of the area,” she said. “Volunteering inspires a feeling of ownership in an area that is all our public lands. This is a chance for us to work together to maintain the beauty of the Molalla River Recreation Corridor, Table Rock Wilderness and the river itself.”
Dina Morse said she comes from Portland down to the corridor for the beauty and quiet.
“If we don’t take care of the area and respect it, we will lose it,” she said.
“We are taking care of what belongs to us, what belongs to the people,” Loren added. “It seems like we are losing more and more of the commonwealth that everybody shares. I think we need to take care of what we own as a community.”
Every fourth Saturday of the month, volunteers meet at Hardy Creek Trailhead to conduct trail work.
The annual “Down By the Riverside” corridor clean-up event is May 20 and National Trails Day is June 3.
For more information, contact Molalla RiverWatch at 503-824-2195.