Here are some recent ACCF events and activities, in reverse chronological order. Click on any
event title or photo to bring up a slide show from our Google Picasa web album.
 July 2010: Americorps and OYCC Teams
In July ACCF hosted two crews doing trail construction: another Americorps NCCC team and an Oregon Youth Conservation Corps team. These teams helped us complete our trails network with two connector trails and the 1/2 mile long Northwest Slope trail. Many thanks to these fine youth for their hard work, and come back and hike our trails soon. |
 June 2010: Americorps NCCC Team
Our first Americorps NCCC team for the summer arrived on June 11 and stayed through July 2, camping at the pavilion and doing a huge amount of work on the ACCF site including several thousand feet of trails construction, seedling management on our six-acre regrowth area, building a pole structure, and other tasks (see their press release and KPIC news story). We very much appreciate their contribution! |
 June 2010: Project WILD/Oregon Explorers
On June 14, a variety of K-12 educators met at Canyonville School and the Alder Creek Children's Forest site to learn about Project WILD and how outdoor wildlife learning activities can be enhanced via Oregon Explorers via pre- and post-field mapping and related computer activities. Thankfully some summery weather arrived for the day! |
 June 2010: Canyonville School Field Trip
A number of schools have been visiting the ACCF site this spring—during breaks in the late rainy season! As one example, on Monday June 7 Ralph Johannessen brought his Canyonville School fifth grade class out to the forest to learn about forest ecosystems. The youth discovered a bird's nest, a caterpillar, a seedling growing in a surprising place, and lots more on this sunny day.
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 October 2009: Oregon Explorers Workshop
On Friday October 16, one dozen educators from throughout Oregon gathered for a one-day Oregon Explorers workshop, including Moodle, Google Earth, and online tour computer activities before and after a field session on the ACCF site featuring the Project Learning Tree curriculum. Thanks to the Oregon Natural Resource Education Program for cosponsoring the event.
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 August 2009: Pioneer Days
ACCF's Pioneer Days booth included actitivities for kids such as matching animals with their scat, building birdhouses, and making tree cookie name tags. Alot of kids got practice hammering nails, identifying poop, and other practical skills. It's always great to see such energetic and inquisitive youth!
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 July 2009: Explore Your Forest Day
Explore Your Forest Day was held on July 18 to introduce the community to ACCF's site and new facilities. We have recently been the lucky beneficiaries of a lot of donated time and materials, and as a result our trail system and infrastructure have improved by leaps and bounds! Thanks to all who have supported ACCF.
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 July 2009: Week in the Woods Camp Days 3-4
During July 14-17, ACCF held a day camp in conjunction with Safe Place for Kids. The camp featured activities in and near our new pavilion as well as adventures out in the forest, plus special visits by Smokey the Bear and wild animals from Wildlife Safari! It all proved a big success for the kids, and we look forward to hosting our next camp.
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 July 2009: Phoenix School Work Day
Special thanks to the hardworking youth of Phoenix School, who were a big help in preparation for our July events by bringing equipment and supplying the expertise and labor to trim our ever-growing weeds down to size. Here are a few pictures of their efforts.
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 May 2009: Wolf Creek Job Corps Trail Construction
On Saturday May 2, a team of youth from the Wolf Creek Job Corps constructed an impressive trail on the north side of the ACCF site, connecting Fern Draw and Back Ridge trails. They even got to discover a bit of forest wildlife, including the lizard who posed for the picture at left. Thanks, Wolf Creek Job Corps crew, for your hard work! |
 April 2009: Healthy Kids Day
South County YMCA hosts healthy kids day. It is an event that is dedicated to improving the community through a commitment to children. ACCF hosted a display table and helped the children make a "natural" bird feeder with pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed. |
 March 2009: Pavilion Construction
Construction of ACCF pavilion and restrooms as of March 2009. Funding provided by Douglas County Commissioners via Title III, Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, as well as Gray Family Fund. Completion slated for summer 2009. |
 March 2009: Youth Trail Building
Earth Service Corps (Douglas County YMCA) and Tapped In (Riddle afterschool) volunteered to build a connector trail on the ACCF site, linking Cedar Grove Trail with Eastside Trail and providing an alternate point of departure to the forest trail network. They got lots of practical experience and really helped out ACCF. |
 February 2009: Commonwealth Seed Planting
Seed planting activity with ACCF VISTA worker Gabe Engeland at Kid's Place afterschool program in Riddle. Commonwealth Garden Shoppe in Canyonville graciously donated materials for the activity. The kids learned a lot about seeds, soil, sunlight, and water…and a bit about how fun it can be to get dirty! |
 February 2009: Youth Volunteer Tree Planting
Students from the Riddle after-school program, Tapped In, volunteered to plant 200 incense cedar and ponderosa pine trees in the forest regrowth zone at Alder Creek. Following are photos from the event, including training by site manager and ACCF board member David Parker, and an afternoon of hard work by Tapped In members. |
 January 2009: Riddle After-School Programs
Riddle after-school programs Kids' Place (elementary school) and Tapped In (junior high level) visited Alder Creek Children's Forest one nippy afternoon for some outdoor education and hiking with our VISTA worker Gabe. The ACCF site has recently seen bear, elk, of course lots of deer, and other animals: what critter evidence did they find? |
 November 2008: Explore Your Forests Workshop
Teachers from Douglas County gathered for a daylong workshop cosponsored by the Oregon Natural Resource Education Program illustrating computer lab and field opportunities to learn about forest wildlife, all part of a new ACCF program titled Oregon Explorers utilizing the Oregon Explorer digital library and the Alder Creek Children's Forest site. |
 October 2008: YMCA Pumpkin Carving
Alder Creek Children's Forest sponsored a Halloween pumpkin carve for all the kids at the South County YMCA in Canyonville. Sounds like a fun spooky time was had by all the youngsters in attendance—though they got a bit tired of photos by the end! (They don't know how cute they are.) |
 August 2008: Pioneer Days
ACCF's Pioneer Days booth celebrated the annual Canyonville event this year with birdhouse and birdfeeder activities for youth, maps showing the last 70 years of the Alder-Jordan watershed, and opportunities to support ACCF via a raffle and Friends of ACCF. The three-day event culminated in a Friends of ACCF barbeque on the ACCF site. |
 May 2008: Project Learning Tree Training
On Thursday May 29, approximately a dozen educators from throughout Douglas County gathered at the ACCF site to learn the Project Learning Tree curriculum, a nationally-adopted standard for forestry education administered in Oregon by Oregon State University and the Oregon Natural Resource Education Program. ACCF plans to host two teacher training days annually in conjunction with ONREP. |
 October 2006: Outdoor Education Day
On Friday October 13, a statewide teacher's in-service day, ACCF educational consultant Dave GrosJacques and a number of technical experts conducted an outdoor education day for teachers. ACCF also received its Hands on the Land Community Collaboration award in a special ceremony. The weather was great and everyone learned a lot about how to bring field-based activities into the elementary and secondary curriculum. |
 May 2006: ACCF Spring Fair
ACCF hosts an annual Spring Fair for local students, including a wide range of hands-on field activities to learn about forestry, forest and watershed conservation, and forest products manufacturing…plus have fun outdoors! The 2006 Spring Fair featured about 80 students from Canyonville, Days Creek, and Riddle schools. Here's a News-Review article on the event. |
 Fall 2005: ACCF Education and Site Management
A variety of ACCF activities took place in fall 2005, ranging from timber harvesting to native plant identification, from researching the history of the Alder-Jordan Creek watershed to learning about the complex decisions made today on public forestland access and recreation. Many of these activities took place on Proctor Memorial Forest (PMF), the home site for ACCF, though other activities included the entire 2300-acre Alder-Jordan Creek watershed in which PMF is located.
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 August 2005: Pioneer Days &"My Children's Forest"
ACCF sponsored a picture contest at Canyonville's Pioneer Days in August. The theme was "My Children's Forest," with young people imagining if they had a forest what it would look like. We had nearly three dozen entries over the weekend, from preschool through high school youth. Cash and honorable mention winners come from Riddle, South Umpqua, Canyonville, Myrtle Creek, and Days Creek, and as far away as Sacramento! We could all learn something from their enthusiam and creativity.
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 July 2005: Summer Area Teacher's Institute
Our first of an expected annual series of summer institutes for local teachers was held in Canyonville Middle School, the ACCF site, and the Alder-Jordan Creek watershed from July 25-28. The six teacher participants came from throughout Douglas County, and were taught by John Punches, Douglas County Extension Forester and OSU Associate Professor, and Jim Proctor, Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies Program, Lewis & Clark College. Many other technical volunteers helped as well. We are grateful to the Hands on the Land Program and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute for their support. |
 November 2004: Bland Mountain Fire Site Tour
As the first of three activities connected with ACCF's Fall Educational Forum, participating junior high and high school students from Days Creek High School, Canyonville Junior High School, and Riddle Education Center toured the Bland Mountain fire site between Days Creek and Tiller with foresters from the Bureau of Land Management and ACCF. The objective was for students to learn firsthand about the varied terrestrial and hydrological effects of fire in forests. Bland Mountain is the location of a roughly 5000-acre fire in August 2004, following a 10,000 acre fire on the site in 1987. For a background on the recent Bland Mountain fire click here, and here for a newspaper article covering this site visit. |
 August 2004: Natural Resource Science Camp
Conducted by Al Springer, Director of Riddle Education Center, and with teaching assistance from Leonard Schussel (Umpqua Community College) and members of the ACCF Board of Directors, nearly two dozen junior high and high school youth participated in a natural resource science camp on the ACCF site. Students learned about tree identification, forest inventory and ecology, and carbon sequestration. They developed skills in map and compass and orienteering, navigating a route through the forest. Students also learned about riparian area ecology, and with the assistance of Marv Mizell and other community volunteers developed skills in trail and footbridge construction, producing something of value to other visitors to the ACCF site. |
 August 2003: Douglas-Fir Beetle Kill Tour
Dave Overhulser, Oregon Department of Forestry State Entomologist,
led this field inquiry in which we attempted to answer
the question: why are many Douglas fir trees dying on the east
side of the ACCF site, and what is the role of beetle infestations?
We learned that Douglas firs are marginal on south-facing, poor-soil
slopes in the forest, and the drought over the last several years has left them
susceptible to beetle infestations, primarily flatheaded fir borer (Melanophila
drummondi) but also possibly Douglas-fir beetle (Dendroctonus pseudotsugae).
In short, the problem is not beetles but climate and tree species: these
areas are more suitable for a Ponderosa pine/incense cedar mix than the current
Douglas fir/incense cedar mix. |
