Sisters High Students give back on Earth Day

Mother Nature did plenty of favors for those in Sisters last weekend, blessing us with blue skies and warm afternoons. In celebration of Earth Day, a group of Sisters High School biology students gave back to Mother Nature too, planting about 400 trees near Whychus Creek.

The students volunteered as part of the National Forest Foundation's (NFF) and U.S. Forest Service's Tale of Two Rivers conservation campaign to restore the Metolius River and Whychus Creek.

"We really wanted to bring the high school group to this area that is notorious for misuse," said Maret Pajutee, district ecologist for the Sisters Ranger District. "We hope that today their efforts really invest them in this place and that they will start to care for it."

In addition to tree planting, the group helped to naturalize closed roads, working to blend them with the forest floor. The U.S. Forest Service and NFF hope to limit destructive use with the road closures while protecting sensitive riparian zones and upland habitat. The new Whychus Creek trail invites recreationalists to explore while diverting them away from these fragile areas.

"With the trail and with this Earth Day event, we are trying to grow stewardship in the community for Whychus Creek," Pajutee said. "Working with kids is such a great way to do that."

"I thought it was really fun and would definitely do it again," said biology student Breanna Perry.

Perry and another student, Maddi Boettner, kept count of the trees they planted together throughout the day. The pair's final count was 60 trees.

"It felt really rewarding to plant so many trees," said Boettner. She even showed up with extra trees to plant during the volunteer day, donated to the project by her mother, Sue Boettner.

"It's so great to see kids like that," said Gary Guttormsen of Sisters Trails Alliance, a partnering organization at the event. "The work they've done today really shows me that the future is in good hands."

Trout Unlimited was also on hand to support the Earth Day efforts of the students. Together all the organizations and students made a visible impact, restoring multiple acres of habitat and planting and caging hundreds of trees.

"I thought it was great to hear students say that they wanted to come back," said Kalin Emrich of The Garden Angel. Emrich came to the event to volunteer and lend his expertise.

"The students I worked with wanted to come out and work more," Emrich said. "They even mentioned coming back in five or 10 years to see how their trees have grown."

Glen Herron was happy to have his students outside in celebration of Earth Day.

"I guess there's three words that come to me when I think about Earth Day-sustainability, stewardship and appreciation," said Herron. "It's time we give back, and it will pay down the road," he told his students.

NFF's Earth Day Friends of the Forest Day with Sisters High School was sponsored by Ray's Food Place, Columbia Sportswear, and The Garden Angel.