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Stewardship Projects2008 Projects September 27th - Volunteer Paddle and Work Party at Sand Island Marine Park You are invited to participate in this stewardship event hosted by the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership in conjunction with the St. Helens Parks Department. If you plan to be there, please RSPV to Chris Hathaway at the Estuary Partnership: hathaway@lcrep.org, 503-226-1565 ext. 228. Details: Meet in the Skappoose Bay Marina Park parking lot at 8:45 AM on Saturday, Sept. 27th. We'll be paddling ~2.5 miles to Sand Island Marine Park, which sits in front of downtown St. Helens, to clean up trash and perform light maintenance. Work will likely run 2-3 hours, and paddle back into Scappoose Bay before 3:00 PM. Please bring your own kayak (or rent one on site from Scappoose Bay Kayaking), paddle, PFD, appropriate clothes for working and paddling, drinking water, and lunch/snacks. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the Estuary Partnership. August 8th - Corporate Volunteer Work Party at Reed Island One of the Estuary Partnership’s famed Big Canoes made its first trip to Reed Island, bearing a full load of staff and volunteers to clean up the Water Trail campsite on the west end of the island. The volunteers were employees of the software giant Symantec, and they proved apt voyageurs as they paddled to Reed Island and back from the Port of Camas-Washougal. Using brush-cutters and tools brought to the island by a Washington State Parks boat, the volunteer crew battled mosquitoes as they rescued picnic tables, tent sites, and fire rings from waist-deep reed canary grass. Firewood was also added to the site, provided by WSP staff as they sawed up a couple of fallen trees near the site. This volunteer event was a follow-up to the ill-fated attempt to clean up the Reed Island campsite on May 31st, which was cancelled due to unusual flooding of the site by the swollen Columbia River.
2007 Projects Water Trail Volunteers Clear Illegal Camp Site from Hump Island
Working more or less non-stop from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm on Saturday July 7, a group of 13 volunteers removed nearly all traces of a squatter’s camp on Hump Island. The island, which is owned by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and is located downstream from Longview, is a popular recreation spot.
Volunteers paddled from the Willow Grove Boat Launch to the site. Once there, clean up efforts began almost immediately. Whenever possible, garbage was bagged, although many items such as bicycles and outboard boat motors were stacked and piled on a floating barge and boats provided by the Longview Yacht Club. Volunteers also dismantled the wood shack constructed on the site and stack lumber for DNR to burn at later date. According to a Washington Fish and Wildlife official, the extent and activity at the illegal camp site was negatively impacting efforts to re-introduce Columbian White-tailed deer to the Fisher-Hump island complex.
The clean up was coordinated by the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership in conjunction with its Lower Columbia River Water Trail. Washington State DNR and Fish and Wildlife provided support for the project. Longview’s Waste Control donated a 40 yard dumpster, Cowlitz County facilitated a site for the dumpster at the Willow Grove Boat Ramp, and Alder Creek donated a couple of kayaks for volunteers. Volunteers Spruce Up Reed Island Camp Site for Summer Paddling Season In early may a handful of paddlers and personnel from Washington State Parks headed out to the island (a Washington State Park) for a day of mowing, weed whacking, vault toilet reconstruction, and general clean up to prepare the site for a summer of camping at Reed Island. Facilities include the vault toilet, a half dozen picnic tables, and fire pits with grills. This was the fifth year the Estuary Partnership has coordinated the Reed Island Stewardship Project in conjunction with the Lower Columbia River Water Trail.
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Some of the more interesting items included, ~ 12 car batteries, ~ 20 fishing poles, ~ 10 gas
