Volunteers gather to restore the Metolius River area

Each year in the fall, a group of volunteers descend upon the Metolius River to attempt to restore the area to its natural state and reduce the impact caused by the thousands of people who come to visit every year.

"We do this once a year where we have what we call a Friends of the Forest (FOF) Day," said Kevin Foss, lead field ranger with the Sisters Ranger District.

"It is co-sponsored by the Forest Service and the NFF (National Forest Foundation). What happens is the forest foundation and the forest service get together and assist in organizing a volunteer work party this time of the year to get folks out on the ground to do some community service and help the Forest Service to restore some of the impact that has occurred along the Metolius."

Three main projects are at the top of the list for this year's crews. The largest one involves the moving of a trail which has adversely impacted the river.

"The trail that starts at the fish hatchery on the east side of the river and goes to Allen Springs Campground was originally built very, very close to the river, and it has created an impact associated with the water and erosion. What we are actually doing is moving that trail upslope about 20 to 30 feet, just to get it out of the river. We are moving three quarters of a mile of trail today in attempt to protect the river's edge," said Foss.

Access for those who love to fish is also being addressed.

"Part of the trail project is to create fishing access points that will allow the fishermen to access the river without creating an impact to the riparian vegetation. We are placing in what we call stepdowns, which are rocks which will protect the stream bank and allow fisherman to have a place to stand without impacting the vegetation," said Foss.

Because of the lack of the historic fires which do a lot of the work in keeping the forest clean, this year's second largest project is one that is designed to restore a meadow.

"There has been a lot of encroachment in the Allingham Meadow. It is where the forest service used to have a guard station on the Metolius. The meadow in the years past has started to receive some encroachment from ponderosa and other trees," said Foss.

According to Foss part of this year's work was done in advance of last Saturday's restoration efforts.

"What we have done is up there in the meadow with our civiculture crew, and we've done some thinning. The volunteers today are going to clean up the piles of slash and pull weeds. What we are trying to do is to restore the meadow to what it was like before we came here. We are not really able to have natural fire burn in that area due to homes in the area. Normal fire regimes would have cleaned that meadow up, but because we are not having natural fires we have to do it ourselves manually," Foss said.

This year's third area of focus for restoration is the river's most public and heavily visited area. This spot is also being brought back to good condition.

"We are also restoring the fish viewing platform that is across from the Camp Sherman Store, next to the main bridge. It is an area that allows the public to see the fish in the river, and there are signs that provide interpretation, so they can begin to understand what they are seeing. There is nothing really wrong. It has just seen some wear and tear over the years, and we are going to be staining it today, as well as building a fence around the sensitive areas there," said Foss.

A lunch was provided for the volunteers, and a historical discussion about the Metolius River was presented by a forest archaeologist.