WCF hiring students for summer jobs

This summer the Wahkiakum Community Foundation is again sponsoring habitat restoration jobs with high school students.

Two grants have come for two different projects. One from the Community Salmon Fund will support 7 high school students and their teacher, Jeff Rooklidge, for 5 weeks while they work to remove Japanese Knotweed along Birnie Creek from the headwaters to the fish ladder at Strong Park. Rob Stockhouse, Environmental Education Director at WCF, and Jeff Rooklidge, Wahkiakum High School science teacher, will oversee use of herbicides each morning while the students work to remove Knotweed. In the afternoons, Jeff and the students will conduct habitat assessments along the Creek. Their removal area includes the intersection of SR 4 and SR 409 at the entrance to Cathlamet so Knotweed and blackberries will be fully removed from that area. Applications for jobs with this project are available from Jeff Rooklidge at the high school.

A second group of advanced students who have worked in the program before will be working on the Columbia Land Trust's new property on Nelson Creek and continue working along Duck Creek in partnership with Hancock Timber. These students will be handpicked by Jeff Rooklidge and Rob Stockhouse and personally invited to participate based on their work ethics and knowledge gained from previous summers working in the program. Three students from Naselle have been invited to participate: Rachelle Thomas, Jenny Klinger and Amanda Wilson. They studied Japanese Knotweed for their senior projects so their knowledge and expertise will be invaluable. This group will also work under the guidance of Rob Stockhouse. Rob Dalton from Naselle High School will be the supervising teacher for this group.

Other students working for WCF this summer include Ebony Cothren as a summer intern working at the Julia Butler Hansen Heritage Center in Cathlamet, and Doug and Stephanie Wise working at the Appelo Archive Center in Naselle.