The students building surrogate nurse logs, a habitat feature that supports wildlife and overall forest health, at Valley View Forest.
During the week of April 14-18, 2025, Jefferson Land Trust was pleased to offer Youth Corps, our annual paid spring break internship for high school students.
Guided by Land Trust staff and our AmeriCorps crew member, as well as experts from the community, six students gained hands-on experience and education about the importance of thoughtful management activities for forest and stream health. health. Throughout the week, they undertook a variety of key restoration projects at several of our nature preserves across East Jefferson County: Lower Donovan Creek Preserve and Silver Reach Preserve, in Quilcene; Chimacum Ridge Community Forest in Chimacum; and Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve and Duckabush and Oxbow and Wetlands Preserve, south of Brinnon.
At these preserves, the students learned about land stewardship practices, ecology, land use history, and more as they helped the Land Trust with many important projects: removing noxious weeds like blackberry, tansy ragwort, and bittersweet nightshade; improving trails for community use; and creating habitat piles, nurse logs, and standing snags for wildlife.
One of the participating students, Enrique, served as “Communications Officers” for the week by photographing the week’s endeavors and writing down their activities. We hope you enjoy viewing the day-by-day “Field Report” below. Thanks to Enrique for taking all these great photos!
Day 1: On Monday, the group headed to Lower Donovan Creek Preserve to learn about riparian (waterside) functions, hydrology, and stream habitat restoration. They helped us restore habitat by removing a whole lot of bittersweet nightshade, a noxious weed, from the stream corridor.
Day 2: On Tuesday, the students visited Valley View Forest, the gateway to Chimacum Ridge Community Forest (slated to open to the public in September 2025) to learn about noxious weed removal and forest stewardship practices. They created habitat piles as well as surrogate nurse logs. These human-created structures mimic the natural woody debris that’s important to wildlife and overall forest health. They also did some shovel work to improve drainage, which will support a healthier forest ecosystem.
Day 3: On Wednesday, the students traveled to Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve for an introduction to ecological forestry with Land Trust staff and experts from the state’s Department of Natural Resources. The students learned about the critical importance of standing snags (trees that are dead, but still standing) to wildlife, as well their impact on overall forest health. (The Land Trust stewardship team and volunteers often create standing snags at our preserves.) Journeying deep into the forest, the students learned how to identify trees that are suitable candidates for creating snags and also learned how to create these snags.
Day 4: On Thursday, the students went to Silver Reach Preserve on the Big Quilcene River to learn about stream health and gain an introduction to salmon habitat restoration projects. They learned how to identify Himalayan blackberry and tansy ragwort, invasive noxious weeds which crowd out native plants, and worked to remove them, giving the native plants a better chance to grow. Kevin Long, Senior Project Manager at the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, joined to teach the group about salmon behavior and the significant positive impact that salmon habitat restoration activities — like the activities the students undertook that day — can have on our local salmon populations.
Day 5: On Friday, the group headed to beautiful Duckbush Oxbow and Wetlands Preserve, near Brinnon, to learn about wildlife habitat features and human impacts on plant and animal life. They tackled a lot of invasive Himalayan blackberry, removing it from the land in order to make room for native plants to grow. They also got an introduction to wildlife biology job opportunities from Land Trust staff and guest expert Dylan Bergman, wildlife biologist from the Point No Point Treaty Council. The students finished the day at First Security Bank in Port Hadlock, where they got a “Finance 101” lesson in personal finance. It was a great end to a great week!
