Spring Cleanup

After a winter in the Pacific Northwest, cleanup begins in earnest. Some of the alder trees located along the riparian zone of the Nehalem River are beyond their prime years. We have been noticing the increasing decline as we clean up rotting limbs and upturned root balls. These trees are important to the waterway by keeping the water cool enough for the native salmon, trout, and other amphibians that live in the river. We are in the process of replanting areas along the river with diverse trees and shrubs natural to the area to replace the dead and dying alders.

In an effort to keep the pasture areas free of debris, the larger pieces of wood are cut and hauled up to the house. The wood is not good enough to sell. But it is nice to burn in the wood boiler to take the chill off on the cool spring mornings. Any limbs and smaller pieces are picked up from the pasture and put around the vegetation in the riparian zone where it will naturally decompose and compost to feed the vegetation.