Student Reflection of Working With NOSC

Sadly, the reign of Salmon Crew 2013-2014 ended in June, 2014. On the bright side, we were replaced by some awesome students ready to learn about salmon!  As Salmon Crew 2014-2015 nears its end, student Dylan reflects on his experience planting trees with NOSC: 

   "Working with the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC) has provided me with many different chances to meet new people, to contribute to my society, and to get outside and have some fun. I have been to exactly two different tree plantings with my crew.  It was a whole lot of fun working with them and meeting other people who are interested in learning the different types of native trees and shrubs and the areas they prefer to be planted.

   What we do at tree plantings is just that: we plant trees. But we also talk and see all the views in the area in which we are working. Working with NOSC we do a lot of traveling both to faraway and close places, such as Discovery Bay,  Nash’s Farm Store, and  Matriotti Creek. Of course, to plant trees you must get out of the house, go to different locations, and be outside working for several hours at a time. While that sounds like a lot of work, it really isn't.  We generally will be working in medium to large -sized groups, making the work move faster because there are more people to help.

   One of the tree planting trips we went on took us down to the lower part of Matriotti Creek, where we were asked to plant trees on someone's property. On the property we had planted native trees just as we always do. The reason we only plant native trees is because we want to encourage the invasive plants to get choked out and be replaced by the natives such as 9 Bark, and Dogwood. While planting the trees we make sure each one is about 5 feet apart so that every plant has enough room to grow. We also made sure that each tree got planted in the area that would most suit it. Dogwood, for example, was planted in  areas closer to the creek on account that they prefer to have a lot of water, while 9 Wood was planted a little ways away because they do not handle as much water as well as Dogwood and have a chance of drowning.

   Generally when we meet to plant trees it is on a Saturday. To make sure that enough people are open to come and help, while planning we get the information from our group leaders via email. If you want to come plant some trees with us, you can visit nosc.org. There is quite a bit of them, so I hope to see you at one!"