River Steward Leads Girl Scout Troop on Tour of Crystal Springs Creek
Girl scouts gather around various stages of salmon eggs specimens, explained Mary Ann Schmidt, Crystal Springs Partnership member, at a tour of the creek for their troop. Photo by Tom Alkire.
Thanks to a generous donation from NFS River Steward Tom Alkire, a girl scout troop toured the Crystal Springs Creek Sept. 4 led by members of the Crystal Springs Partnership. The fourth-grade girls learned about the life cycle of salmon at the only salmon spawning stream within the city limits of Portland.
While less than three miles long, the creek has been rehabilitated by public and private groups and it is now not only a place for salmon and steelhead to spawn, rear and migrate but this little urban stream is alive with native plants and wildlife, too. The girls spotted a racoon at Westmoreland Park, and watched mallards and wood ducks along their way as they walked from the confluence at Johnson Creek to the park. While finding no salmon in the creek at the moment, they learned where the fish might likely spawn in certain rocky bottom areas, as well as what type of prey juvenile fish might need once they struggle out of the gravel and explore the creek.
Crystal Springs River Steward Tom Alkire donated the tour to this past spring’s NFS Homewater’s Run Wild Auction and it was purchased by the grandfather of one of the troop.