The McKenzie Watershed

With only one week left in Eugene, time is flying by so fast. But today we got the amazing opportunity to see the wonderful McKenzie watershed: “A watershed is a land area that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, rivers and streams, and eventually to outflow points”.

Our first stop with the vans was at the bottom of the river, a little sneak peek of the beautiful views that were yet to come. The next stop was the Bull Trout fishery. Here we learned from two experts of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Services why it is very important that these threatened species are being breed and reintroduced in the river. There were big basins with hundreds of Bull Trout’s and we were also able to see a hydro dam which was just around the corner of the fishery.

We drove further to HJ Andrews experimental forest were we had lunch and a tour through the forest with Dr. Mark Schulze from the Oregon State University. He told us everything about the ongoing longitudinal Forestry Research and took us to different parts of the forest to show the difference and the impact of their Research and Forest Management. It was really interesting to learn about the Western Hemlock and Douglas fir trees and how they can make large changes in landscapes.

And then the moment was finally there, we hiked the Koosah and Sahalie Falls trail. It was breathtaking to see the Falls, a view I will never forget, and we all posed a lot to get the best pictures!