Wet Wednesday Walk

I took a cold, wet walk today on Green Island. It's an 1100 acre property at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers. It formally was a farm - here you can see remnants of the old ferry crossing to the island.

The McKenzie River Trust acquired the property in 2003.

Along the rivers the property was generally untouched. 

Now this part of the river is changing with snags in the river...

...and developing gravel bars.

Great habitat for the Black Phoebe in this photo.

But much of the property was farm fields - and these have been slowly replanted with native shrubs and trees - over 500,000!

Loved these old seed pods.

Algae in a side channel.

Reseeded lupine is thriving. 

Looking east toward the Coburg Hills.

Mosses and lichens.

Willows

There are also three old quarry ponds which have been reconnected to the rivers.

I think we saw a beaver.

What do you think?

While it was a cold, drizzly day, it was heartening to see all the progress toward returning this piece of property to its natural state.