Marmot Dam Trip

                                                                 Lab # 4

                                                             Marmot Dam

First of all, Being outdoors exploring the nature is something that you won’t never forget . I visited  the Marmot Dam and it was one of the most experience that I have ever had . We met a couple of people and there was a guy with a girl. He told us that the Dam was built in 1913 and  destroyed in 2007, since that day the Dam started to be history. Where the Dam was built there were some buildings that were used for power facility that were destroyed as well. An organization called Western Beaver Conservancy  started to work in planting seeds and do some restoration project. There are some invasive plants such as: Scotch Broom and brinca that need to be pulled out before restoring. Also some people did some experiments for knowing what kind of plants can survive, and some trees have four years that have been planted. We were informed that Sandy River has 4 species of fish which are: Chinook, Salmon, Trout, Spring.

Some of us were close where the Dam was built. A study has shown that a million cubic yard of sediments was found in the river. Spooning is upstream lahars, Always there are sediments on the sandy river, people have measured it how much sediment is inside of it, so this process last 3 to 5 years. When I started to cross the bridge I walked very  close where the Dam was located. The bridge has been there since the Dam was built. The place where the Dam was located is surrounded by tall trees such as: Douglas fir, western hemlock, and also shrubs like vine maple, then I went inside of the forest and I saw a lot of woody debris, sword ferns, and a lot of trees with moss and lichen as well.

There was a tree fallen with a diversity of woody debris. The soil surface inside the forest was covered by decomposing material such as: needles from trees that have fallen off and logs as well, and the trees that I saw were filled with a variety of moss. Shadia Duery told us that when there are trees with 1 meter tall and there are others that are smaller can’t grow because all of them are fighting for obtaining sunlight.

A girl that gave us the tour told us that there is a fern called licorice fern which grows on the upper parts of the trees, and it is a different species. Some of us tasted it and was very sweet like sugar cane. Also the gravel  that is along the bottom was formed after the Dam was removed. To me hear about the Dam is something that amazed me, and as I wrote I have learn many things about it.

Marmot Dam Video