The next 10 pictures show what our place looked like in 1996-97 (before) and pictures taken in May 2008 (After). When we bought our place it had been a cattle ranch for 73 years and was a virtual grass desert with no shade what-so-ever on the creek. No trash was ever taken to the dump but tossed on the property and it took us 3 months with friends just to remove the trash and clean the place up.
This photo shows the first trestle Kathy and I built and the old bridge. We had about 120 feet of track laid and you can see the young trees we planted in early 1996.
This photo taken close to the same place but 12 years later.
Baling hay on what the State calls "wetlands" in 1997. We had put a metal roof on the house but not yet on the barn.
No one wanted our hay anymore so we converted the hay field into a frog bog that has water about 10 months of the year. It has been planted with a few hundred native plants.
We've taken down the barbed wire fences and graveled the roads and planted a few trees, some near the elk.
Wire is underground to the house now and we have put up bird houses for well over 120 families.
Early 1998. The gravel has been placed for the railroad tracks and over an acre of blackberries removed from around the house. We started planting this reparian area soon after this photo was taken.
Looking at the skyline will show you this photo is taken from the same place 11 years later.
This photo taken January 1996. We had just begun to remove trash and old cars from the place.The house had a shake roof and you can see the catwalk used every winter to put out spot fires from the wood burning stove.
You can barly see the metal roofs of the house and barn near center of photo in May 2008.
I took this picture from about 2,000 feet from Dick Markee's plane and it shows just how isolated we really are. What Kathy and I have named the "Meadows" is completely surrounded by National Forest lands.
With my telephoto lens I got this shot and it shows Lake Kathleen (about the size of a football field) near the top of photo. House and barn can also be seen.
Fall 2005, Leslie Garoutte took this picture from the ridge above our place in the Coastal Range.
Steve Mizera took this beautiful shot from what we call the Upper Meadows.
Late fall and the mist gives an oriental look to the valley we have been given to cartake for our lifetime.
In October of 2006 we completed the new 6 foot deep "Frog Bog". It captures two seasonal creeks so will only have water 6 to 8 months of the year. From March through June, hundreds of frogs fill our valley with the most magical sounds.
Tom Utt took this rainy artistic photo of these decoy ducks in Lake Kathleen.
The orchard pond exists only from April to November. During winter months silt and fish are allowed free access.We feed about 500 silver salmon fingerlings over the summer of 2006 and then let them go in the fall.
One of three waterfalls along our driveway during winter months.
Sam keeps a watchful eye on the elk from our deck. The railroad can be seen in the background.
February 2007......42 elk make a watery exit when we accidentally startled them.
A rare Snowy Plover in Lake Kathleen lets me take his picture in 2005.
I took this picture of a King Salmon in our creek a couple years ago. We have several hundred spawn at or go above our place to spawn every fall. According to Oregon State Fish and Game, we have one of the healthest cutthroat trout streams in the state. We have also watched Pacific Lampery eel spawn here.
Michael Wilhelm got a great summer shot of a crawdad in our creek.
Michael also took this picture of a Weasel in our garden. We have seen the weasel only 3 times in 11 years and Michael happened to be standing on the deck with his camera.
I took this picture of a spotted owl on our property summer of 2003. He stayed around for about 2 hours mid-afternoon.
A Cedar Waxwing sits on a Foxglove....Michael took this picture in the upper meadows.
Here are 4 pictures of critters I took fall of 2005 with a remote camera just above Lake Kathleen. Elk, Bobcat, Black Bear and Cougar.
A couple friends gave us this sign as a gift to show us what they thought of our place.
A rare November dusting.
November 14th, 2006 when rains increased our creek to 45 feet wide. We received 119.9 inches of rain for 2006.
We have had water higher than the above picture five times but other than clean up and photo ops, the sun has always come out and renewed out blessings.