Yesterday we grabbed our cameras first thing in the morning and followed around after some volunteers from Wolf Creek Community Alliance while they worked in Bennett Meadow (off Bennett Road near Lava Rock Road), near Wolf Creek. They spent several hours removing black mustard, an invasive (non-native) plant that moved in after star thistle was removed from the same area.

One of our favorite jokes comes from comments we’ve often read in places like the discussion threads in The Union, where environmentalists are often derided for “kicking back and living off of grant money.” This would be hilarious if it were not so pathetically ignorant.

Most of our colleagues in the WCCA live busy lives of work and family, more than full-time. Somehow they still manage to do this volunteer work — including monitoring for toxics at regular locations in the Wolf Creek watershed — in their “spare” time, for no acknowledgement except what they give each other.

We’re working on another form of acknowledgement, a video project describing the watershed, including their role in restoring and preserving it.  Some of the images below will probably end up in that documentary eventually.

Much of the Wolf Creek watershed is very beautiful, a fact largely unknown to the community. This will change.