The Crawdads are Coming!

Clash of the Crawdads

Every year the Friends of Tryon Creek holds its annual Daryle Seil Tall Tale Contest, and this year the contest theme is "Why Crayfish Swims Backward". First established in 1995, the contest encourages young people from kindergarten through sixth grade to use their writing ability, creativity, observations, personal research and imagination to craft a tale (think Aesop's fable).

This year's Tall Tale Contest Award Ceremony will be held in Tryon Creek State Natural Area in April. Contest participants and their families will enjoy an evening of crawdad activities (crawdad relay race, anyone?!) and listen to readings by winners.

Crawdads will make a live appearance at the Tall Tale Contest Award Ceremony, and to make sure these special guests are at the top of their game and prepared for their turn in the spotlight, the Friends have been treating them with care, keeping them safe, and trying to keep their squabbles to a minimum.


I love you, no I hate you! I love you, no I hate you!

This is proving to be easier said than done, as the little critters have a natural tendency to "confront" each other with great vigor. Their fighting is also a courtship behavior, so between their expressions of affection and competition, the Friends have their work of protecting the crawdads cut out for them.

Last year over 400 children from around the Portland metro area participated in the Tall Tale Contest. The Friends are once again accepting submissions from students from kindergarten through sixth grade through Friday, March 15th. Please visit the Tall Tale Contest webpage to learn more.

Vital Nature

Photo credit: Michael Barton

As 2013 looms on the horizon, we at the Friends are moved to look back over our organization’s history, to pause and reflect on the challenges and opportunities that face those of us involved in the environmental movement.

Buzzwords like climate change, species loss, ecosystem collapse, and threats to biodiversity, inspire both fear and hope. Ultimately, these terms underscore the need for unified, proactive effort among the public to preserve, conserve, protect, and sustain what remains of our planet’s wild spaces, our park lands, our backyards, and our green meeting spaces.

The Friends of Tryon Creek has proven that we have the mettle and the drive to take the necessary action. Our history – which is now our legacy – is living proof.

The Friends’ mission – to preserve and protect the land we love for future generations – is holding strong and serves as a reminder in this day and age that a united citizenry can achieve great things.  

Since its inception, the Friends have provided field trip opportunities for children to experience Tryon Creek’s forested acres in an experiential, personal way (the Friends has been providing day camp experiences for nearly as long, with the program’s founding in 1976). Over the years, program offerings have expanded to include environmental education and stewardship opportunities for people of all ages.

In 2013 and beyond, the Friends will continue to provide opportunities for people of all ages and of all backgrounds to connect with the natural world, to engage them in the wondrous experience of hearing birdsong in the forest and the whispering of the trees and the murmur of the creek. That connection with the earth is essential for the preservation of our planet and our species.

Teen volunteer champions ivy pull project at Tryon Creek

Maddie Tritico pulling ivy for her Girl Scout Gold Award

Submitted by Maddie Tritico:

 

I have been a park goer at Tryon Creek State Natural Area for as long as I have been a Girl Scout. This year I am a senior in high school and want to achieve my Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award you can receive in Girl Scouts. To earn this award you have to create a long-term sustainable project that helps your community and helps you grow as a person and as a leader. For my Gold Award I created a monthly Saturday program at Tryon Creek where volunteers may come and help pull ivy.

Ivy pull volunteers at Tryon Creek

Ivy is a highly invasive species that has a very negative effect on trees. It keeps water from reaching the trees; can put so much weight on the trees that it causes them to snap; acts as host to a bacteria called Leaf Scorch; and prevents sunlight form getting to plants on the ground, such as the Trillium. Tryon Creek State Natural Area is no exception to this invasive ivy.

 

Taking a break to have some fun...

The Friends of Tryon Creek host "Stewardship  Saturdays" every week and "Stewardship Fridays" ever other week.  The purpose of these events is to involve volunteers in the effort to help pull ivy. Sadly this isn't enough. If you can, please come and help the trees. This planet does not belong to one person, it belongs to everyone and it is our job to help take care of it.

 

Maddie and her hardworking group of volunteers

Tree Planting to honor long time Tryon Creek volunteers

Friends' Executive Director David Cohen and OPRD's Park Manager John Mullen honor Linda Nash, who volunteered at Tryon Creek for six years

On Thursday, November 29th, the Friends of Tryon Creek and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department honored three long-time volunteers - Linda Nash (six years of service), Sandra Hoover (ten years of service), and Pete Browning (twenty years of service) - by planting trees to show our gratitude.

John and David honor Sandra Hoover, who volunteered at Tryon Creek for ten years

The Tree Planting event was the brainchild of Friends' Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator Sarah Kreisman who felt that these volunteers, now retired from service at Tryon Creek State Natural Area, should be recognized for their outstanding dedication and support over the years. "I can't think of a better way to honor these volunteers' extensive commitment to Tryon Creek than by planting a beautiful Western Red Cedar in the forest," says Kreisman. "These trees will live on in representation of their service for as long as this park exists."

Volunteer Pete Browning, who volunteered at Tryon Creek for 20 years, with wife Barb

The Friends of Tryon Creek thank Linda, Sandra and Pete for their incredible efforts over the years. We appreciate their hard work and loyalty and wish them well in their future endeavors.

Eagle Scout project benefits Tryon Creek State Natural Area

Construction preparations begin for Mitch Bernards' Eagle Scout project at Tryon Creek

Mitch Bernards has helped as an assistant counselor for the Friends of Tryon Creek day camps the last 3 summers.  He chose Tryon Creek State Park as the site for his Eagle Scout project: 16 steps on a slippery slope of the Lewis and Clark Trail, about 70 yards west of the paved pathway.  Here are notes from his father and a few photos from beginning to end. 

Building forms for the 16 steps...

The forms were made on a prior weekend with volunteers from Mitch’s Boy Scout troop. He finished installing the steps this weekend with troop volunteers and friends.

Step forms ready to go!

After measuring the site twice; with his grandfather and with his buddy Brian, Mitch built 12 full size steps. The 13^th was full width but the sides were shorter. Fourteen, 15 and 16 were narrower with the shorter sides.

Supply transportation begins...

Mitch looked pretty nervous and took time with the level and tape measure before scratching a pattern in the dirt and declaring where to dig.

Step construction progresses...



Carrying step forms to the park site...

Well – the 13^th step just happened to fit up to a root with its shorter sides. The measurement was for the rise. The step spacing adjusts as you go to match the grade and the run takes care of itself.

Carrying gravel to fill the step forms...

The next two needed to be trimmed to fit but he planned on that and we brought the tools. The insides of the steps were filled with gravel.

Eagle Scout project complete!

Mitch and his Construction Crew

 The park ranger, Dan Quigley was pretty complimentary. He asked who the project engineer was and Mitch proudly accepted the honors.

(Story submitted by Lanette Bernards)

A Walk Down Memory Lane at Tryon Creek

Steve Barton at Tryon Creek State Natural Area, November 2012

In 1966, when Steve Barton was in the 8^th grade, his family moved from Portland Heights to Lake Oswego’s SW Stampher Road, near the confluence of Tryon Creek and the Willamette River. Barton likens his experience growing up along Tryon Creek to that of young Huckleberry Finn: shortly after moving into the house on Stampher Road he became the proud owner of an old wooden rowboat and spent whole days exploring the creek while his parents were at work. A neighbor boy taught Barton how to tie flies and a budding fly fisherman was born. Fishing became a common theme of his expeditions as Barton caught salmon, steelhead, carp and suckers, and once nearly caught a huge sturgeon. He also came across Tryon Creek’s resident lamprey (one of which tried to wrap itself around his arm on their first encounter!).

Steve Barton loved spending time in the wild. Back in the ‘60’s there was no evidence that an urban population was just a few miles down the road from Tryon Creek: the forest was dense and the well maintained trails that wend through the park today were nowhere to be found.

Barton’s early kinship with nature inspired a lifelong ethic of stewardship in him. To this day he lives in a house whose backyard faces the forest, and owls and deer are common visitors. Barton has imparted that same stewardship ethic – a reverence for nature and desire to protect and preserve it – in his children, both grown.

The Friends thank Steve Barton for sharing his wonderful childhood story and the impression Tryon Creek and the forest made upon him.

Congratulations to Michael Barton, "Why I Love Tryon Creek State Natural Area" video contest winner

Michael Barton, with son Patrick, accepts award from Friends' Executive Director David Cohen

In August 2012 the Friends of Tryon Creek kicked off their first-ever video contest on the theme, “Why I Love Tryon Creek State Natural Area”. Entries were accepted through October 31^st and the Friends were struck by the fact that each entry, regardless of its content, captured the beauty, tranquility, inspiration and joy that one experiences in the forest at Tryon Creek.

Michael Barton, a regular park visitor who recently welcomed his new daughter into the world, won the contest, and on November 14^th he received congratulations from the Friends' Executive Director David Cohen. Cohen also presented Barton with a prize package valued at $370 featuring items from contest sponsors Columbia Sportswear, REI, Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, and Voodoo Doughnut, as well as a copy of “Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine”.  

The Friends appreciate the efforts of all who submitted entries and wish them luck next year.

                             "Let Me Show You", Michael Barton's winning video contest entry