Settling in Salem

Team Blue 4 will stay at this house, owned by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, at the Maud Williamson State Recreation Site for six weeks.

AmeriCorps NCCC Team Blue 4 is teaming up with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department in a six-week ecological restoration and monitoring project that began on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011 in the Willamette Valley. The NCCC team is working in six natural, recreational and historical sites to restore conifer forests, oak woodlands and riparian forests, and to conduct ecological monitoring of endemic and invasive species within the valley.

The NCCC members will start off the project by planting oak trees in the Champoeg State Heritage Site near St. Paul, followed by removal of the invasive English ivy in Tryon Creek State Park near Portland. In a task that will benefit the local flora and fauna of the sites, the NCCC members will also decommission unauthorized trails that run through ecologically sensitive areas.

Some of the most rare habitat types and scenic vistas are found in Oregon state parks. The team will help to protect and restore these natural resources while ensuring that the sites remain accessible and open to all park visitors. The plant and animal communities found in and around the parks will directly benefit from the team’s activities by having adverse habitat conditions corrected and habitats enhanced to a more fully functioning condition.

Corps Members unload the cargo van at the Maud Williamson House.

May Duong, Sydeney Lawson and Amber Anderson set up their cots inside the Maud Williamson House .

Corps Members continue to unload the vans.

Food shopping for the week.

Alyssa Pun stands outside the Salem Public Library in Oregon.

Sarah Gadomski, Alyssa Pun, May Duong and Sydney Lawson frolic in the leaves outside of the Salem Public Library.