Valley Catholic Middle: Mulching & Maintenance Madness!

Written by SOLVE Jesuit Volunteer Northwest Member Charlie

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Tuesday saw the ever-energetic students from Valley Catholic Middle school visit the restoration site in their backyard next to Johnson creek. Between spurts of sunshine and showers (and sometimes hail), some students got to work mulching the native plants they had planted last time they were out while others took a stab at removing the young blackberry plants that have started to sprout back in the restoration area. Students knew that the mulching was important for the young native plants for not only providing nutrients but also for providing a nice layer of organic material that will help keep moisture around the plant when things dry out in the summer (which is hard to imagine right now). They were also excited about getting rid of the small blackberry shoots before they can grow into a large unmanageable bramble.

While we were mulching and removing blackberry, students came across a lot of a strange plant growing in the under story. With no true leaves and a scale-like stem, it looks like a visitor from Mars. This plant is called Equisetum, more commonly known as horsetail, and is considered to be a living fossil. The several species of this odd-looking plant around the world make the only remaining genus of the Equisetopsida class which once was much more diverse and dominated the under story of Paleozoic forests, some as tall as 30 feet! These plants are remnants of a time when plants didn’t reproduce by seed like the rest of the flowering angiosperms we see in the forest, but by spores. Scientists have seen fossils of these plants over one hundred million years old, and they look largely unchanged. Knowing this, with our history as a species of being merely 200,000 years old, it’s humbling to stand in their presence and know that these guys have something figured out.

Equesetum (Horsetail)

As always the students at Valley Catholic Middle School were very knowledgable and hard working. We wish all of the eighth-graders good luck in high school and we look forward to working with many of you in some of our high school Green Teams in the area!

Blackberry Subjected to Valley Catholic 8th Graders

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It had been silently growing for several years. After arriving in the scat of some long-forgotten bird, the Armenian blackberry had been slowly taking over the riparian forest of Johnson Creek. Nothing could stop it: it grew faster than the helpless alder saplings, it grew taller than the poor snowberry shrubs, it grew thicker than the native trailing blackberry. It looked like all was helpless and that the entire forest community had to bow down to this thorny tyrant. But there was hope!

This Tuesday, a pack of 8th graders from the nearby Valley Catholic School arrived on the scene, shovels, clippers, and rakes in hand, and the ideal of freedom in their minds; the freedom for all native plants to have a chance to cohabitate together in a biodiverse ecosystem. They battled the invasive bully, and fought valiantly. The brambles, however, stood their ground and fought back hard. Despite some casualties of scratched and occasionally punctured skin, the noble 8th-graders were able to push back the leafy oppressors and won back much of the forest for a freer, healthier plant community. Other invasive species heard the battle and fled in fright of also being subject to the 8th-grader’s vendetta against non-native persecutors, including an American bullfrog who fled through the battle grounds. Ultimately the Valley Catholic 8th-graders won back much of the forest floor for the persecuted native species.

The Johnson Creek community thanks the brave 8th-graders who showed up this day to help save them from the tyranny of these thorny autocrats.

Here’s to a successful school year!

Thank you Green Team students, teachers, sponsors and supporters for successful year!

West Side Students Share Their Stories!

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Valley Catholic High School’s auditorium was abuzz with watershed restoration terms and techniques last week as students in Green Teams at Valley Catholic High School, Valley Catholic Middle School, Deer Park Academy, Mountain View Middle School and Rachel Carson Environmental Middle School joined together to present on their year long commitment to creeks near their schools.

Each of these groups of students came out weekly, monthly or just a few times over the year and were able to come away with some important lessons.  Over the course of the year, these students planted native trees and shrubs, removed invasive species, enhanced wildlife habitat, bioengineered stream banks, maintained and monitored native plants.  Lori Hennings, senior natural resource scientist at Metro, congratulated the students on their continued efforts and dedication to stream health.

Valley Catholic High School students presented on invasive reed canary grass and how they have begun controlling it at Johnson Creek behind their school with coffee bags and native plants.  Deer Park Academy students shared what they have learned about stream bioengineering, or using natural elements to help stabilize stream banks and provide shade; they did this by installing live willow stakes and fascine bundles in the banks of Willow Creek.  Rachel Carson Middle School students presented their research on native western pond and western painted turtles and how we must provide habitat for them to thrive.  Mountain View Middle School students shared their results from testing a Beaverton Creek tributary for macroinvertebrates and how this is a good indicator of water pollution.  Valley Catholic Middle School students shared their insight on Armenian blackberry removal methods and how important native plantings are for our environment.

Thanks to our friends from Clean Water Services, The Wetlands Conservancy, Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District, Oregon Natural Desert Association, Tualatin Riverkeepers, Friends of Beaverton Creek , Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve and the Tualatin River Watershed Council for sharing the day with us and supporting our students!

THANK YOU, TEACHERS for your support of students and the Green Team program!  THANK YOU, STUDENTS for making your communities healthier places to live, work and play!  Have a wonderful summer exploring and we’ll see you in September!

Spiders, Worms and Midge Larva, Oh My!

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Both Valley Catholic high school and middle school students joined us out at Johnson Creek today.  Students pulled on hip waders and got in the water to sample for macroinvertebrates.  SOLV uses a method of macroinvertebrate testing called Pollution Tolerance Index and this allows students to determine how clean a waterway is by the aquatic bugs and organisms they find.  Students came across a variety of organisms including scuds, beetle larva, aquatic sowbugs (Wide Range species worth 2 points each), snails, midge larva, and aquatic earthworms (Pollution tolerant species worth one point each).  Based on our data the stream rated a 9 which equals poor water quality.  (>23 = Excellent, 17-22 = Good, 11-16 = Fair, <10 = Poor)  We are planting native trees and shrubs along Johnson Creek to hopefully one day shade the stream and filter pollutants to improve water quality in Johnson Creek.

Students also coffee bagged and mulched native trees and shrubs they planted earlier in the year.  The coffee bags were donated to us from Boyd’s Coffee Company and when placed around our new plantings they shade out weeds, especially invasive Reed Canary Grass, and prevent competition.  Mulching our plantings is a critical part of the restoration process.  The mulch mimics growing conditions in a healthy riparian forest.  A healthy forest has a natural layer of ‘mulch’ (leaf litter and decaying organics, or duff layer) that provides a protective covering for immature plants.

Check out the photos below to see just how much students have accomplished in the forest!

Johnson Creek is going green

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Just in time for Earth Day, 120 students from Valley Catholic Middle School joined SOLV this week at Johnson Creek to plant over 250 native trees and shrubs.  The 7th and 8th graders in June Poling’s classes learned a little bit about the benefits of native planting for the ecosystem, such as cooling stream temperatures, preventing soil erosion and creating habitat for native birds and other animals. 

Students planted spirea and other wetland plants in the lower portion of the site, as well as upland species in a forested area of the campus.  Thimbleberry, salmonberry and dogwood are amongst the native trees and shrubs planted to replace the invasive Himalayan blackberry that covered the area just a few months ago.  Way to dig in, Valley Catholic!

Sticky Fingers

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Last week, over 120 Valley Catholic Middle School students worked in the forested area behind their baseball fields to remove invasive Himalayan blackberry. 

Students used rakes and loppers to remove nearly 1,000 pounts of blackberry, readying the area for native planting of trees and shrubs.  By taking out this invasive species, students uncovered native plants already in the area, such as snowberry and sword ferns.  Our next step will be to dig out those stubborn blackberry roots so they will be less likely to grow back.  Though they might have come away with a few scraped legs and hands, their hard work has really paid off!