Use this presentation to prepare your students for their tree planting field trip with NREP!

2. The First People
•The NisquallyTribe
•“Squally-absch”, or “People of the
river, People of the grass country”.
•Traditionally lived off the land and
rivers, sustaining their people
through respect and protection of
natural ecosystems
•Salmon are important to their diet
and culture.

3. European Settlers came….
• Built dikes
• Cleared local vegetation
• Farmed crops and animals
• Ditched creeks

4. Modern Life….

5. Is there room for wildlife?

6. Our region changed…
1972
1996

8. Other project partners….

9. Our Purpose
Replant native vegetation to re-establish a
healthyriparian zone.
• Benefits wildlife, especially salmon
• 5 Nisqually salmon: Chinook, Coho, Chum, and Pink salmon and Steelhead

10. Ohop Valley Restoration

12. The Ohop Valley Story
 The Nisqually Land Trust owns over 200 acres in Ohop Valley.
 Ohop Creek runs is 2nd most important salmon-producing
tributary of the Nisqually River.
 More than a century ago immigrant Swedish farmers turned
the creek into a straight-flowing ditch in an attempt to dry out
the valley and create better pasture for their dairy cattle.

13. Why Re-meander a stream?
 Meander= to follow a winding, bending course.
 Provides temperature control
 Creates different speeds of water, giving fish rest areas
instead of one fast stream
 Stabilizes river banks
 Helps protect flooding of man-built parts of the Nisqually
watershed including: Highway 7, Peterson Road, bridges,
and adjacent neighborhoods.

14. Engineered Log Jams
Mimicking
Nature

15. Restoration Activities
•
•
•
•
Re-meander stream
Removing old buildings
Removing invasive plants
Replanting the large
floodplain

16. Phase 1:
Replanting 100 acres along the river
Installing 40 logjams 400 trees

17. Phase 2:
Realigning
ditched channel

18. Our Purpose
Replant native vegetation to re-establish a
healthyriparian zone.
• Benefits wildlife, especially salmon
• 5 Nisqually salmon: Chinook, Coho, Chum, and Pink salmon and Steelhead

19. 5 Main Reasons We Plant Trees For Salmon
A. Roots hold dirt, preventing erosion which can the
smother the redds within the stream.

20. 5 Main Reasons We Plant Trees For Salmon
B. Large woody debris (LWD) provides pools,
resting spots, feeding areas, and hiding spaces
from predators.

21. 5 Main Reasons We Plant Trees For Salmon
C. Trees provide shade, keeping stream temperatures low, a
necessity for the survival of salmon.

22. 5 Main Reasons We Plant Trees For Salmon
D. Trees provide oxygen, which is good for not only
the salmon, but us too.

23. 5 Main Reasons We Plant Trees For Salmon
E. Trees are part of the food web.

24. What is a
Native Plant?

25. Native Plants are
Native to our Bioregion!

26. Red Alder
Alanusrubra
•The red alder is a deciduous tree that can grow taller
than 120 feet.
•The bark is thin, grey, and smooth. They are usually
covered with patches lichens making the bark appear
white.
•The leaves are sharply pointed, dull green and smooth above and
rust-colored and hairy below. Edges are slightly rolled under with
coarse, blunt teeth.
•Brownish cones remain on the tree
throughout the winter months.
•This tree has the ability fix nitrogen,
contributing to the abundance of this limited
nutrient.

27. Oregon Ash Fraxinuslatifolia
•The Oregon ash is a deciduous tree that can grow over
80 feet tall and live up to 250 years.
•Leaves are arranged in 5-7 leaflets, bright green, and
oval shaped. Leaves are yellow in the fall.
•The bark is thin and green when young and is
grey-brown when mature.
•Flowers in the spring are pale greenish and yellow and
produce wing shaped fruit

28. Balsam PoplarPopulusbalsamifera
•Balsam poplar is a fast growing deciduous tree
that can grow up to 98 feet tall
•Green and red cylinder shaped flowers (or
catkins) bear green fruit which turn dull greenyellow before dispersal.
•Buds are brown-red
and excrete an aromatic
resin
•Leaves are oval, finely
toothed, with a pointed tip.

29. Sitka Spruce Piceasitchensis
•The Sitka Spruce is an evergreen tree that can grow
over 340 and is the largest species of spruce.
•Needles are light green to bluish-green, stiff, and
sharp. Cones are reddish to yellowish brown and their
seed scales are thin, wavy, and irregularly toothed.
•The bark is very thin, brown or purplish grey,
and breaks up into small scales.
•Natives used softened pitch to caulk and waterproof
boats, harpoons and fishing gear.

30. Pacific Crab Apple Malusfusca
•The Pacific crab apple can grow up to 30 feet tall and has
can look like a multi-stemmed shrub.
•The yellow to purplish-red apples look more like berries
(about 1inch in diameter) . After a frost, they turn brown
and soft.
•Natives would cook and mash the apples. The wood is
hard and somewhat flexible and was used to make tool
handles, bows, wedges, and digging sticks
•The flowers are small, white or pink and grow in
clusters.

31. Red Osier Dogwood Cornussericea
•Red osier dogwood is a woody, deciduous shrub
with a rounded form and can grow in thickets of up
to 3-10 feet.
•Young bark is bright red in fall and winter and turns
more green in spring and summer. Mature bark
begins to crack and turn more brown.
•Flowers are in white clusters with a hint of
blue and bear clustered, white berries that
ripen in the late summer.
•Leaves are bright green in spring and
summer and turn bright red-orange in the
fall.

32. Twinberry Honeysuckle
Lonicerainvolucrata
•Twinberry is a deciduous shrub that grows between 610 feet with a 6-10 feet spread
•Flowers grow in tubular shapes in June and July and
bear two, dark purple-black berries.
•Leaves are bright green and can grow up to 5 inches
and have a hairy underside
•The berries are incredibly bitter and attract
birds, bears, and small mammals.

33. Pacific NinebarkPhysocarpuscapitatus
•Pacific Ninebark is a deciduous shrub that can grow 10-15 feet.
•Flowers in white domed clusters in spring. These clusters bear
papery, red-brown fruits that attract bids and small mammals.
•The bark is copper colored
and sheds in strips.
•Natives would use parts of
this plant for medicinal
purposes.

34. Cascara Rhamnuspurshiana
•Cascara is deciduous and can
grow as a shrub up to 15 feet or
a small tree 50 feet.
•The bark is thin, brown, and
grey.
•Flowers are white-yellow, small, crown shaped and bear dark
purple-red berries between 1/4-1/2 inches in diameter.
•Natives would use the bark of this tree as a medicinal laxative

35. Swamp Rose Rosa pisocarpa
•Swamp or cluster rose is a
deciduous shrub that
grows in thickets up to 3-6
feet tall.
•Bright, pink flowers grow in groups of 2-10 and bear fruit or
“rose hips.” These attract and provide food for birds and
mammals.
•In addition to reproducing from seeds, swamp
rose can spread through its roots.
•Leaves are bright green, oval, toothed,
and grow in leaflets of 5-7.

36. Rose spireaSpiraeadouglasii
•Rose spireaor hardhack is a deciduous shrub that grows in
thickets of 3-12 feet.
•Pink, pyramid shaped flower clusters form in June and July
•Reproduce from rhizomes (an underground stem) that allows
it to grow in thickets

37. Sitka willow
Salix sitchensis
•A large, deciduous shrub that can reach heights of 25 feet.
•Young leaves are velvety, while older leaves are dark green
above, hairy with rust-colored hairs or hairless below with
smooth margins.
•Catkins appear well before leaves.
•Natives pounded the bark and applied it topically wounds as a
healing agent, ground it to a powder and mixed with cereal to
make bread, and for making rope.

38. Remember,
Safety First!
 Walk, don’t run.
 Stay in sight of the group at all times.
 Shovels:
 Sharpened regularly, which makes them dangerous.
 Never carry shovels over your shoulder.
 Tip should always be pointed towards the ground, like
walking sticks.