Willow and Black Cottonwood Harvesters

By Toni Johnston
Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society

Members of Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society spent a couple of hours on this gorgeous Easter Sunday cutting and pruning branches of willow and black cottonwood trees.

They prepared about 450 cuttings. These cuttings look like sticks now and will be planted along the banks of the river to grow into trees to help prevent erosion.  Cadets will be employed to do the planting on May 14 and 15.  You can see in a photo below a large area where the bank has slumped toward the river.  The cuttings will be flagged so bikers and walkers know where they are.

This is the second phase of the Greenbelt planting program funded by the CBT.  Phase one was the planting of 200 evergreens last fall. We checked these trees and the survival rate is excellent.

Here are photos from the pruning:

Barb Kemerer and Brian Dubasov cut and prune willows. Photo courtesy of the Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society
Louisa Fleming is planting one of 20 black cottonwoods planted on the banks of the river. Photo courtesy of the Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society
Bundles of 20 cuttings are prepared by Toni Johnston. Photo courtesy of the Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society
Don Pegues looks at a trailer load of cuttings which will be covered with snow until planting by Cadets. Photo courtesy of the Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society
Louisa is twisitng off the top of a broken branch of a thriving cedar from last fall's plant. Photo courtesy of the Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society

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