Russ Plaeger is not stashing his boots, he’s lengthening his stride.

His footprint will not disappear, but will likely become more apparent.
A fixture in the Mountain community for 12 years – from planting trees,
removing invasive species, leading students on environmental adventures,
and in general improving watershed health – Plaeger stepped down from his
position of community stewardship coordinator with the Sandy River Basin
Watershed Council and takes up as program director at Bark.

“I’m excited by the opportunity to move from a focus on the Sandy River to
working on water quality issues throughout the Mt. Hood National Forest,”
Plaeger said. “Clean water is one of the highest values of our public lands.
This national forest is the source of drinking water for thousands of
Oregonians ... Water supply will become even more important as a result of
climate change.”

Plaeger’s tireless toils on the Mountain are legend.

When coho salmon spawn in the side channels of the Salmon River, there is
Plaeger’s reflection in the water.

When students came to our streams to toss salmon carcasses from the
hatcheries, there was Plaeger guiding their efforts and laughing at the odor
wafting through the woods.

When an army of volunteers trudged along our rivers and streams digging out
the dreaded invasive plants, there was Plaeger pointing out the Scotch broom,
policeman’s helmets and hawkweeds with a steely glare and a beguiling smile.
The watershed council will miss him.

“Russ Plaeger completed a more than 12-year career as the council’s first
coordinator,” Council Director Steve Wise wrote in a staff memo. “We
sincerely appreciate his hard work in getting the council established as a
leading partner in the Sandy’s restoration, and helping beat back a rash of
invasives along the Sandy over the years.”

In his fashion, Plaeger credited most of his basin work to others.

“I appreciated the great response and support from local landowners,” he
said. “Many important projects were completed because they were interested
in partnering with the watershed council, Forest Service and other groups to
restore high quality salmon habitat on their land ... It was fun to work with
landowners to replace culverts, remove invasive plants and to plant
streamside areas with native trees – those things add up and improve
watershed health.”

Bark is a Portland-based environmental group dedicated to transforming Mt.
Hood National Forest into a place where natural processes prevail, where
wildlife thrives and where local communities have a social, cultural and
economic investment in its restoration and protection.

Not surprisingly, Bark is excited about their new program director.

“Bark is thrilled to have Russ join our team,” Bark’s Executive Director Alex P.
Brown wrote in an email to The Mountain Times. “He brings over a decade of
experience restoring Mt. Hood National Forest to the organization and in his
second week he is already helping jumpstart our watershed restoration effort.
I have immense respect for Russ’ work ... and look forward to benefitting from
his leadership.”

Immediately, Plaeger’s footprint grew.

“Our public forests provide wilderness areas, trails, campgrounds and related
opportunities that you can’t find on private timberland,” he said :Those things
are a real treasure for present and future generations. Public recreation needs
to be a top priority for this national forest.”

Far from gone, Plaeger will continue to be haunted by our waters and
streams.

The Scotch broom and its invasive despots will have no place to hide.