The Museum of Natural and Cultural History has awarded its sixth annual Oregon Stewardship Award to a youth group that restored part of a Clackamas County watershed.
Administered by the museum’s advisory council, the award recognizes a project that has significantly involved its community in an environmental or cultural heritage project, one that aligns with the museum's mission to inspire stewardship of our collective past, present and future.
This year’s award recipient is Youth Rebuild Mt. Scott Watersheds, a project of the Rivers of Life Center. Through the project, more than 200 youth restored more than five miles of creeks and streams of Mount Scott in Clackamas County. They built habitats for beaver, muskrat, otter and native birds, as well as a network of trails and interpretive exhibits.
“Where there was nothing but debris and waste materials throughout the project area, a clean and beautiful wildlife-naturescape exists now,” wrote Jerry Hermann, founder and president of Rivers of Life Center.
Under mentorship from biologists, naturalists and architects, participants in the program learned skills and discovered opportunities for careers in rebuilding environments during climate change. Interpretative programs brought together experts on natural and cultural history in the community, from a program on birds of prey to one tracing the interaction between local tribes and white settlers in the region that included members of the Clackamas and Molalla tribes living in the area today.
“The museum’s stewardship mission brings us into contact with Oregon heroes every day, people doing amazing work to protect and preserve our ecosystems, landscapes and cultures,” said Jon Erlandson, executive director at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History. “The Youth Rebuild Mt. Scott Watersheds project exemplifies innovative work that is mitigating the effects of habitat degradation and climate change throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.”
Original source can be found here.
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