International Watershed Group Exchange
Posted
March 5, 2008
In late February,
the Youngs Bay Watershed Council (YBWC) and Columbia River Estuary
Study Taskforce (CREST) hosted a group from Japan interested
in developing a watershed group in Hokkaido. With the exception
of their interpreter, all are members of a local conservation
NGO called Sarufutsu Itou no Kai. This group is made up of local
town members and sport fishermen dedicated to the conservation
and sustainable use of the Sarufutsu River, one of the last
free flowing wild rivers in Hokkaido, Japan. The Sarufutsu River
is the last stronghold for the Sakhalin taimen, the largest
freshwater fish in Japan. Sarufutsu Itou no Kai came to Oregon,
courtesy of the Wild Salmon Center based out of Portland, Oregon,
to study the Oregon Watershed Council system and see if the
system could be exported to Japan. CREST and YBWC took Sarufutsu
Itou no Kai to one of their project sites at Fort Clatsop where
an under-sized culvert was replaced with a bridge, and then
to a watershed council meeting, where Sarufutsu Itou no Ka interacted
with local community members about watershed issues.

The
Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST) and Youngs Bay
Watershed Council (YBWC) explain the process of completing a
habitat restoration project to a watershed group from Japan.
Pictured above (left to right) are: Mr. Kensuke Ota, Mr. Kei
Kabaya, Lori Lilly (YBWC), Mr. Koichi Osanai, Mr. Mikiya Kasai,
Ms. Nobue Kaite (interpreter), Micah Russel (CREST) Lauri Aunan
(Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board) and Tom Shafer (Oregon
Watershed Enhancement Board).
Click
here for more photos from the project.
New
Watershed Education Coordinator
Posted December 26, 2007
The North Coast Watershed Association has recently hired a Watershed
Education Coordinator, Julie Ann Oldenkamp through Americorps
to help better serve the community of Clatsop County.
Julie
Ann is local to the community of Astoria and has recently
received her AA degree in Wildlife Natural Resources through
Mt. Hood Community College. Born in Portland, Oregon, Julie
Ann is home to the Rose City, as well as the surrounding Mt.
Hood region and has been resident to the North Coast over
the years.
Julie
Ann has spent three seasons working for Metro Regional Parks
& Greenspaces throughout her college career. She hopes
to bring involvement and enthusiasm to the community with
experience in basic watershed knowledge, invasive species
control, trail maintenance and natural area restoration. Julie
Ann prefers to spend her free time enjoying nature through
various recreational hobbies. “I am dedicated to conservation
and restoration of ecological relationships between watersheds,
wildlife and forest health in our remaining greenspaces. This
begins with community involvement and awareness.”
For 2008,
projects through on-going CREST field monitoring, water-quality
monitoring, natural area tree plantings and trails restoration
are underway. Please contact the NCWA for more information
about how you can volunteer.
North
Coast Visioning, A Presentation to the Oregon Watershed Enhancement
Board
January, 2008
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