Metro's Native Plant Center, located near Wanker's Corner in Tualatin, provides an important supply of rare locally adapted native seeds and plant stock to support Metro's natural area restoration projects. At the center, staff and volunteers gather, grow and distribute native species for planting at restoration sites throughout the region.
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Native Plant Center
Planning and conservation › Natural areas, parks and trails › Restoration › Native Plant Center
Metro's Native Plant Center provides an essential supply of rare native seeds and plant stock to support Metro's restoration projects.
Metro’s Native Plant Center, located near Wanker’s Corner in Tualatin, provides an essential supply of rare native seeds and plant stock to support Metro’s restoration projects.
In its first year more than 4,650 native trees and shrubs grown at the plant center went into the ground at ten different Metro natural areas. A long-term goal of the project is to be able to share stock and seeds with other organizations working on restoration throughout the region.
Why a native plant center?
At targeted natural areas around the region, Metro’s restoration work is aimed at reestablishing rare but vital habitat types that once thrived throughout the Willamette Valley. Often the native plant materials needed to do the job are hard to come by. Commercial stock can be unavailable, insufficient or too expensive and, at times, the genetics and collection practices are in question.
Volunteer opportunities for every season
Each season brings new volunteer opportunities at the Native Plant Center. From constructing propagation beds to collecting seeds and maintaining plant stock, from organized Saturday work parties to employee sponsored volunteer workdays and solo projects; volunteers are integrated into all aspects of the center's operations. There's a volunteer opportunity waiting for you that's a match for your time availability and interests. Learn more about volunteer programs
Seed scout fieldwork training
Interested in enhancing your knowledge about the diversity of local native plants in the Portland metropolitan area while exploring less traveled places on Metro's properties? Consider becoming a volunteer Native Plant Center seed scout. This year's comprehensive fieldwork training will take place over two Saturdays on April 3 and June 5. To apply, download and submit a completed application to marsha.holt-kingsley@oregonmetro. gov. Download a volunteer fieldwork application
Video: Native Plant Center brings back rare habitats
Watch a video about efforts to restore oak woodlands and other rare habitats at natural areas throughout the region using the native plants and seeds sorted and grown by volunteers at Metro’s Native Plant Center.
Related Documents
Files that are downloadable from this page
- Volunteer at Metro’s Native Plant Center 587K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published June 6, 2008
- Metro Native Plant Center volunteer fieldwork application 137K MS Word | Published February 26, 2010
To view PDF files, download free Adobe Reader. To translate PDF files into text to assist visually-impaired users, visit Access.Adobe.com.
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