How does IAE get all of those plants in the ground?

December 2019

Fall is planting season, which means IAE’s restoration ecologists are in the midst of their busiest time of the year. Most of the restoration work that takes place the rest of the year is in preparation for planting and seeding each fall. This year, nearly 116,000 plants were planted and over 450 pounds of seed were sown to enhance native habitats in the Willamette Valley and the foothills of the Coast Range, as well as at the Oregon coast! Most of these plants were put in the ground by volunteers who are critical to the success of IAE’s restoration efforts. IAE volunteers have already logged hundreds of hours to support restoration projects such as the prairie, oak and riparian restoration work at Herbert Farm and Natural Area just outside of Corvallis (Photo 1) and Champoeg State Heritage Area near Newberg (Photo 2).

In addition to planting, Blue 5 helped IAE remove woody plants to expand rare meadow habitat at several locations, including Marys Peak – a tiresome but rewarding task (Photo 6) that came with some great views (Photo 7)!

Blue 5 left IAE in mid-December to head back to California, where they will find out the location of their next project in early 2020. We are thankful to NCCC and the U.S. Forest Service, as well as our many other project partners and funders including the Benton County Natural Areas and Parks Department, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Metro, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, City of Corvallis, and Columbia River Youth Corps, for enabling us to host such a hard-working team. Special thanks to Sevenoaks Native Nursery for donating native plants to IAE’s restoration efforts.  We appreciate their contribution to our restoration efforts!