Published July 1, 2022
This week the Lomakatsi youth crew applied the foundations of ecology that they learned last week to lower fire hazard and restore vegetation and habitat in the Ashland Watershed. They started high in the mixed pine and hardwood forest stands by lopping madrone sprouts to reduce highly flammable ladder fuels in areas previously treated by The Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project. Then they spent another day with Lomakatsi’s restoration forestry professionals, helping to evaluate previous ecological thinning and burning treatments by measuring the remaining trees and recording valuable data. The crew had a strong finish to the week in the lower part of the watershed, along Bear Creek, where their invasive plant eradication was the latest effort in our decade-long history of streamside restoration and community engagement at the site.