The day was warm, the hike was long, the work was short and the river sparkled. Squad enjoyed many creature sightings in the O'Grady Natural Area including salmon fry/parr darting through the noxious reed canary grass, fresh elk scratchings (removing their antler velvet), a plethora of caddis fly larvae, stoneflies (see last pic), jumbo(!) banana slugs and many Oregon spotted millipedes- not to mention a bonanza of gorgeous salmonberries / Rubus spectabilis and luxuriant stinging nettles / Urtica dioica, which make for a painful picking affair, though the kids hardly minded. After rambling and eating, we reached our work site where a new section of trail is being completed. Our task was to remove rocks larger than a golf ball and chuck them into the woods! Quite fun. After which we cooled off in the Green River (AKA the Duwamish) which was low from the lack of snowmelt this year. King County manages the property as part of the 922-acre Green River Natural Area. Squad has worked at this lovely site on several occasions now, we look forward to further events and maybe even the chance to be invited to a PAWS release!
Marah oreganus / coastal manroot is a native vine in the Cucurbitaceae, related to pumpkins, cukes, gourdes, etc.
Stonefly molt (one of many in their lifecycle) indicating good water quality. Here is an interesting article from King County on stream health indicators.