Join us for our pre-Super Bowl "Super Bowl-ing!"

For all you football fans, please note our event is from 1-3pm; Super Bowl television coverage begins at 3pm with kick off at approximately 3:28pm. You can do it all!

We'll be bowling from 1-3pm. The cost is $12 per person which includes shoes and 3 games. And 50% of the entry fee goes directly to the Council!

So grab your friends, your family and let's bowl for Johnson Creek!

Space is limited; please RSVP by emailing Lori at .

Milwaukie Bowl is conveniently located just off of Highway 224 and SE Harrison in Milwaukie, just 5 minutes from Sellwood. Bumper bowling lanes are available for the little ones, just let us know when you RSVP.

Thank you Milwaukie Bowl for hosting this event!

JCWC Watershed Wide Event 2010: Register Now!

March 6, 2010
Work Parties: 9am-12pm
Volunteer Appreciation Lunch: 12-1:30pm

Please join us for our 12th Annual Watershed Wide Event with hundreds of volunteers working together to restore a valuable community resource we all share- Johnson Creek.

For our 12th year there will be 12 restoration sites throughout the watershed where volunteers will remove invasive species and plant native plants.

Afterwards, all volunteers are invited to a Volunteer Appreciation Lunch!

If you or your group are interested in joining us for a morning of rewarding work on Johnson Creek, please register here.

Historically, this has been a very popular event — please sign up early!

Please bring gloves and water. We will provide tools and snacks. We will also have extra gloves. To reduce our environmental footprint, we will no longer be providing individual plastic water bottles.

For volunteer questions, please contact Amy at .

There are numerous ways for businesses to get involved with this community event. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lori at or (503) 652-7477.

Thank you to everyone who has generously donated to the Council during our annual Friends Campaign! We have raised over $4,400!

We are so close to reaching our goal of raising $5,000! Help us reach this goal!

If you haven't renewed your annual financial contribution to the Council yet, or would like to become a new Friend, now's the time! Simply contact us at (503) 652-7477, mail in the donation envelope inserted in the last newsletter or donate online at http://www.jcwc.org/getInvolved/support.htm.

Automatic monthly contributions set up through Network for Good on our website are also available.

Thanks again for all of your support! We couldn't do this work without you!

We are very pleased to introduce our new Restoration Coordinator, Robin Jenkinson, who will begin work with JCWC on March 15. Please drop Robin a line to welcome her to the Johnson Creek Watershed Council community; her e-mail address is .

Robin comes to the JCWC with a broad range of experience as a watershed scientist and restoration practitioner. She's worked as an associate program director with an environmental foundation, as a stream survey technician with a rural conservation district, and as a lecturer in river restoration monitoring. She has a strong background in long-term monitoring and adaptive restoration planning as well as on-the-ground experience designing and implementing restoration projects.

With an undergraduate degree in Botany and a Master's degree in Fisheries Management, Robin has one foot in the plant kingdom and the other in the animal kingdom (we don't like to take sides). One of her first tasks with the Council will be to facilitate a restoration planning and prioritization process with our jurisdictional partners and other interested parties to ensure that our work remains strategically focused where we can have the most impact.

Welcome Robin! We're glad you've joined the JCWC team.

Instead of our regular "Weed of the Month" section, we will be presenting invasive plants commonly found in gardens, along with a native alternative to use instead. Happy gardening!

Rogue: Spurge Laurel (Daphne laureola)

Characteristics

Spurge laurel is a slow-growing, shade-tolerant, long-lived evergreen shrub from Europe and the Mediterranean region. It can grow in a wide range of conditions, but it thrives in full to partial shade and well-drained soils. The berries, leaves and bark are poisonous to humans, cats and dogs; handling the plant can cause contact dermatitis. The plant looks somewhat like a small tree, 2 to 4 feet tall, with dark green, shiny leaves densely whorled near the top of the stem. The flowers, which appear from late January to late March or early April, are small and inconspicuous, light green with orange stamens, in clusters of 2 to 10 at the base of the leaves, and particularly fragrant at night. The fruits are oval-shaped black berries, produced in early summer.

Spread

Spurge laurel's primary means of spread is by birds and rodents eating the berries; it can also spread vegetatively by root sprouts.

Control

Once established, this plant is very difficult to eradicate. Seedlings and young plants can be hand-pulled. Larger plants can be pulled with a weed wrench or similar tool, but be sure to remove all of the root to avoid re-growth from root sprouts. For large infestations, plants up to three years old can be controlled fairly effectively (up to 95% mortality) with a weed whip or similar tool by cutting the plant close to the ground level. Due to the irritating toxins in the sap, fruit and leaves, wear gloves and other protective clothing when removing or cutting spurge laurel. After removal, the area should be monitored for new seedlings and covered with a deep mulch.

Native Replacements

Sword fern (Polysticum munitum) is an excellent evergreen native for shady areas, with elegant, bright-green foliage; Oregon grape (Mahonia nervosa) will do well in partial shade, and provides glossy, dark-green leaves and bright yellow flowers in spring.