CHS Environmental Club plants more than just trees

Central High students learn how to transplant cuttings during an Environmental Club activity

As the 3:15 bell rang out to announce the end of the school day, an exuberant buzz of voices echoed down the hallways of Central High School. Sylvia Hoagland, a biology teacher at CHS, looked over at me, and said she was really hopeful at least half of the students who signed up would show up for our first Environmental Club meeting. And then they started coming. First one, then two at a time, then three... and soon fourteen students were sitting in the classroom, joking and chatting with each other. Sylvia and I looked at each other in silent amazement, and then suddenly it was time to begin.

The idea of a CHS Environmental Club had hatched as a result of a discussion of ways in which the Luckiamute Watershed Council could collaborate in more ways with our local High School. Sylvia, who had just recently started teaching at CHS, had a strong desire to introduce her students to hands-on ecology, environmental science and botany activities, and the LWC had a strong desire to work with CHS students to nurture a stewardship 

ethic and encourage volunteerism among the local youth. After several meetings and conference calls, the concept of an Environmental Club was created, and a proposal submitted to the Jubitz Foundation. A few months later, on November 30, we were informed that our proposal had been awarded a grant, and that we had secured additional funding for plants and supplies by the Willamette Habitat Restoration Fund. Since we were already in the midst of the school year, we ramped up the planning process and fleshed out a schedule and list of topics as quickly as we could. ​The club's first meeting was this past Tuesday, February 16, and will continue to meet every first and third Tuesday of the month until summer break. While there is some classroom time, the focus leans heavily toward hands-on learning about botany, restoration ecology and environmental stewardship. Having 14 students show up for the first meeting seemed to send a strong signal that this after-school club was filling a niche that many students were hungry for. Though most of the students were unfamiliar with terms like "watershed," "restoration," and "riparian zone," they quickly absorbed the concepts and related them to the things many of them did know about and ardently believed in - the need to take good care of our natural resources. After about 15 minutes of introductions and discussion, we headed off to do what the students had almost unanimously declared that they had joined to do--get outdoors. 

As we walked through school property towards the stretch of Ash Creek that flows behind Talmadge Middle School, the students were clearly excited to be out of the classroom. Though the sky was colored a distinct Oregon gray, one student remarked how bright it was outside compared to the classrooms. A middle-schooler that was tagging along with his older sister was already deciding that he would join the Environmental Club when he was in high school. When we approached the site where the trees were to be planted, another joked about wanting to go swimming instead. "If I had a stream in my backyard," he said, "I would be there every single day!"

​Though exploring the creek sounded appealing, it was not what the students had signed up to do. The task at hand was to transplant cuttings -- or branches -- along the banks of Ash Creek to fill in the gaps that had been left when last year's hot, dry summer killed many of the trees and shrubs that had planted here as part of our Ash Creek Restoration Project. Not all 

Willows thrive in the moist, waterlogged soil near the river's edge

trees and shrubs can be propagated by cuttings, but certain species do readily sprout roots from branches that are lopped off and immediately planted deep into the soil. The five species in the waiting buckets - red osier dogwood, willow, douglas spirea, snowberry and Pacific ninebark - were carefully selected not only because they are relatively easy to propagate this way, but because they provide a lot of benefits to the fish, birds and wildlife communities that rely on healthy streamside habitat for their survival. The students made sure to step gingerly around the young plants already in the ground, as they dug deep holes for each cutting and marked each site with a green flag. For about an hour, they worked hard, laughed a lot, asked many questions, made new discoveries, and ended up transplanting close to 60 cuttings!

Bright green flags mark the sites where cuttings were planted.

Wrap-up time came before many of the students were ready to stop. One student asked when they would know if their cuttings would survive. "Not until after the summer," I said. "Make sure to join the Environmental Club in the Fall, and we will check on them as one of our first activities!" Luckily, because this group was mostly sophomores and juniors, that will definitely be possible when they resume high school as juniors and seniors.

When all is said and done, maybe some of these trees weren't quite planted to the right depth, and maybe a harsh summer will wipe some of them out. Maybe some will be washed away by high water, and some might succumb to deer or voles. But one thing has already been planted within this group that is certain to thrive -- the desire to make their community a better place.