Restoration

Day 75: The restoration work you see here along the margins of a small backwater of Ohop Creek may be recent, but it was thirty years ago, give or take a few weeks, that I worked on my first live-staking project in Ohop Valley. Today, I am a Site Steward for the area, making forays now and then to clean up litter (of which there seems to be a limitless and constantly replenishing supply), to check on the status of plants, to report wildlife and human activity, to monitor invasives and remove them when possible (obviously, the War Against Reed-Canary Grass is one which cannot be won by the hands of Man alone). Thirty years, and still the valley gives the appearance of a new planting. Yes, I can see changes from thirty years ago, but the real effects of restoration may take a century or more to make themselves visible to the inexperienced eye. I look at these young Red Osier Dogwoods and think, "That's Warbler habitat which wasn't there ten years ago." I see the clear water, and my mind runs to the Great Blue Heron who is doing his part to eliminate the invasive Bullfrogs. I see young willows and twinberry, their fruit and bark food sources for birds and mammals, and off over in the distance, I see taller Red Alders. "Those are my kids!" I might say to you proudly, if you were standing beside me. They're thirty years old now, and survived being thrust as bare twigs into wet soil by my own hands. I see my legacy to the Earth rising tall and green on the horizon, and I say to myself, "Well, I tried."