Beginning this afternoon, City Creek reopens to unrestricted non-motorized use, and as a bonus, free wood is available for community harvesting.
City staff thank everyone for their patience while Russian Olive trees were being removed. Below Bridge 1, the stream corridor has been opened up providing access to the river. Horses removed the tree trunks in this area and the contractor, CR Fence, chipped the remaining branches onto the ground providing mulch for revegetation seeding and planting later this spring.
Above Bridge 1, the Russian Olive trees were killed in place due to access challenges. The trees will now provide nesting habitat as they age. On the hillside between Bridges 10 and 11 (along Serengeti and Cross Cut), the Russian Olive trees were masticated (chewed up) with heavy equipment, opening up this hillside as well.
City staff member Hannah Sanger said, “I am very excited with how this project turned out. Our contractor did a great job and it will be exciting to see what native vegetation emerges this spring where there used to be a heavy canopy of Russian Olives.”
There is free wood available for community harvesting at the Lower City Creek Trailhead. This wood is in 8’ lengths. The City is able to use volunteer hours spent collecting firewood as match for the grant received to cut trees, so please report the names and hours spent collecting wood to 208-234-6518 or hsanger@pocatello.gov.
Later this spring, Portneuf Valley Partners, working with the City, is spearheading planting willows and other native shrubs within the opened areas. In addition to revegetation work, there is some remaining trash cleanup at the base of City Creek from abandoned tents and may be some trail cleanup work where the trails are covered with mulch. If you would like to lead a group in either of these activities or if you have additional questions about the project, please contact Hannah Sanger at hsanger@pocatello.gov or 208-234-6518.