OSU Extension is offering a offering a bilingual event — “Walk with a Beaver / Paseo con un Castor” — at Snag Boat Bend in partnership with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The event will be on two coming Saturdays in June as part of OSU Extension’s “Get Outdoors Day.”
In celebration of Get Outdoors Day, the community is invited on an interpretive walk to learn about beavers at the Snag Boat Bend
loop that travels next to Lake Creek. The interpretive spots will be up for the entire month of June (in both English and Spanish), and will be included guided interpretation by two Pat and Bobbie Allaire on Saturdays, June 12th and June 26th from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Snag Boat Bend is a unit of the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge located just south of the community of Peoria on the Willamette River. The gallery forests at the refuge provide essential habitat for migratory, neotropical songbirds, and the backwater slough creates critical slow-water habitat for native salmon and trout. Restoration efforts led by the Long Tom Watershed Council and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have included three phases of earthwork and five phases of floodplain reforestation. This work has reconnected 110 acres of the 2-year floodplain to the river, increased channel complexity in 25 acres of side-channel and alcove habitat, and planted native trees and shrubs across 185 acres of floodplain forest.
Thanks to Wildlife Refuge volunteers Pat and Bobbie Allaire for providing the on-site interpretation! You can read more about the beaver walk here, as well as more about Get Outdoors Day and the suite of bilingual activities being offered.