Elk NetworkVolunteers Get ‘er Done in Oregon Elk Country

Conservation | August 23, 2019

Below is a news release issued by the Malheur National Forest.

The 2019 Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Summer Rendezvous continues to be a great success.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has held the annual summer rendezvous at Lake Creek Camp for over ten years.  As part of the event RMEF volunteers from across Oregon and the greater Northwest gather and partner with the Malheur National Forest for a two-day habitat restoration work event to celebrate the RMEF’s continued conservation successes in Oregon.

The focus of the projects was on aspen restoration.  Projects occurred on Thursday, July 18 and Friday, July 19.  Thursday three small projects were planned at separate sites which included; barb-wire fence removal, big game aspen fence maintenance and buck and pole fence construction preparation.

Friday was the major work day as volunteers from RMEF worked with a 6-person AmeriCorps crew, North Fork John Day Watershed Council youth crew members and Forest Service staff worked as a large group to construct two buck and pole aspen fences on Blue Mountain Ranger District in the Damon Project area.

A total of 447.5 volunteer hours contributed to .75 miles of buck and pole fence protecting approximately 4 acres of aspen, .25 miles of aspen fence maintenance, .25 acres of invasive weed removal and 1 mile of 4-wire fence removal were all accomplished during the two day work event.

(Photo source: Malheur National Forest/Shawna Clark)