~ Full Circle Schools Restoration Ecology
When
a student plants a tiny seedling into a pot, cares for it and watches it grow into a strong tree with good roots, a lasting bond is made when he or she finally plants it into the ground.
This full circle of forest and watershed restoration is shared with hundreds of students from the Ashland School District, private schools, and alternative education programs. Beginning with classroom presentations, students are then taken to Lomakatsi’s four native plant nurseries. Here they learn to identify their favorites among up to 25 native species, learn local ecotype recognition and general nursery care.
Next come field trips to active forest and riparian restoration sites in the Bear Creek watershed. Here, students learn how to match the needs of each species through specific placement on each site. Later, students complete the circle by planting the trees they have grown in the places they’ve gotten to know well. This commitment continues as teachers take students back to their restoration project to caretake their tree and maintain their adopted site.
In the Ashland Forest Resiliency Project, several classes toured project units, made stand assessments, collected sample plot data and implemented simple thinning prescriptions with handsaws and loppers. Students learned, hands-on, about local forest health.
Our annual Streamside Forest Recovery Week, November 8-13, focused on the Ashland Creek Ponds. Hardworking volunteers of all ages came out for productive and fun days of planting in a group effort to help reclaim this beautiful stretch of Ashland Creek, accessible from the Bear Creek Greenway.
Also planted on that day was the seed of inspiration!
~ Ashland Creek Ponds Riparian Restoration Project — This 11.5 acre blackberry removal and native revegetation project (~2000 trees planted) is a collaboration between Lomakatsi, the City of Ashland Parks Department, the Bear Creek Watershed Council and Helman Elementary School and is funded by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.
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Full Circle School’s Program Sequence of Community-Based Ecological Restoration
