Envision standing underneath a magnificent old oak and looking down into the Willamette River to see salmon and trout making their way into the mouth of Johnson Creek. Now imagine watching an invasive weed new to the Portland metropolitan area clog ponds at the Blue Heron Wetlands and make its way to nearby waterways including Smith and Bybee lakes.
Efforts to protect, restore, promote and celebrate nature throughout the Portland metropolitan region received a nearly $1.6 million boost from Metro on Thursday. The Metro Council awarded 17 Nature in Neighborhoods grants to a variety of worthwhile projects.
Of the 17 projects getting funding, six will get capital grants from Metro’s Natural Areas Program, which is funded by a 2006 voter-approved bond measure. The program supports efforts to preserve or enhance natural features and habitats that will benefit communities now and for generations to come.
The other 11 projects have been awarded restoration and enhancement grants paid for through Metro’s general fund. These grants benefit hands-on restoration activities and environmental education programs that protect water quality as well as fish and wildlife habitat.
Clackamas County
Boardman Creek fish habitat restoration project
Recipient: Oak Lodge Sanitary District, Clackamas County Department of Transportation and Development
Partners: North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council, Oak Lodge Community Council, Jennings Lodge Citizen Participation Organization, Clackamas County Urban Green, North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District
Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $485,000
Total project cost: $1,667,000
Location: Southeast River Road and Southeast Walta Vista Court, Jennings Lodge
Boardman Creek is slowly being transformed from an overgrown urban ditch to a refuge for fish and wildlife. This grant will support the keystone to the restoration of this basin — replacing two culverts near the mouth of the creek with bridges, and allowing fish to return to more than a mile of the creek between the park and the Willamette River. This transformation will daylight and restore instream habitat along 300 feet of the creek, and demonstrate how bridges can also create a “wildlife crossing” for amphibians and land animals.
Klein Point overlook and habitat enhancement
Recipient: Johnson Creek Watershed Council, City of Milwaukie
Partners: Willamette Riverkeepers, Milwaukie Rotary, Oregon Dental Services (ODS), Gary and Sharon Klein, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, PGE Salmon Fund, FishAmerica Foundation, City of Portland
Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $225,000
Total project cost: $670,399
Location: 1900 SE Jefferson St., Milwaukie
Someday soon, Milwaukie Riverfront Park will provide a unique vantage point on the history and restoration of fish and wildlife habitat along the Willamette River. This grant will initiate the first phase of a master plan for the park, constructing an interpretive overlook and a new trail tracing the river bluff. Visitors will be able to stand in the shade of a magnificent old Oregon white oak. Below, they might see salmon and trout making their way into the mouth of Johnson Creek, where six acres of restored riparian habitat will provide refuge to help threatened fish species thrive.
Mount Scott Creek restoration at North Clackamas Park
Recipient: Clackamas Water Environmental Services
Partners: City of Milwaukie, North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District, Friends of Trees, North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council, Friends of Kellogg and Mt. Scott Creeks, Friends of North Clackamas Park
Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $150,034
Total project cost: $450,222
Location: 5440 SE Kellogg Creek Drive, Milwaukie
Restoring lower Mount Scott Creek at North Clackamas Park will balance the needs of people and fish, creating a model for improving habitat at popular recreation destinations. Located in a densely developed urban area, Mount Scott Creek is a priority for restoration because of the salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout that have been documented there. This project will restore the stream bank and its riparian areas, and remove a small culvert at the confluence of Camas Creek. It will also redesign access to the creek, installing two new visitor overlooks to reduce the heavy foot traffic that has trampled plants and habitat.
Camassia and Wilderness Park Restoration Project
Recipient: Nature Conservancy
Partners: City of West Linn, West Linn/Wilsonville School District, West Linn High School
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $25,000
Location: 5464 West A Street, West Linn
This project spans three landowners, 138 acres and multiple habitats. The Nature Conservancy is expanding restoration efforts at part of its Camassia Natural Area, along with at neighboring property owned by the City of West Linn and by West Linn High School. During the first year, partners and volunteers will control invasive species and prepare for replanting and reseeding. During the second year, they’ll plant local willow cuttings and other trees and shrubs along 200 feet of degraded stream. They will also sow more than five pounds of native forbs in oak woodland and herbaceous bald habitats, which have declined dramatically in the Willamette Valley.
Springwater Corridor Ecology Project
Recipient: Lent Elementary School
Partners: Lents Springwater Habitat Restoration Project, Ecology in Classrooms & Outdoors, Portland Parks & Recreation, Johnson Creek Watershed Council, City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $24,700
Location: Springwater Corridor, between Southeast 80th and 112th avenues
Lent Elementary School will expand experiential learning opportunities for underserved students, while restoring habitat along the Springwater Corridor and nearby Johnson Creek. During the two-year project, some 300 students will get hands-on ecology lessons in the classroom. They’ll apply their new knowledge during restoration field trips, with 150 high school students serving as mentors. Community work days will give adult volunteers a chance to help out, too. All told, the school will plant 6,000 native trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers along more than one-third mile of the region’s signature trail.
LOUCC Stormwater Management Phase II – Parking Lot Rain Garden
Recipient: Lake Oswego United Church of Christ
Partners: City of Lake Oswego, Clackamas County Soil & Water Conservation District; Dana Thompson Tanks and Soil; Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon; The Friends of Tryon Creek; Forest Highlands Neighborhood Association; Otak, Inc.; Tryon Creek Watershed Council
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $12,129
Location: 1111 SW Country Club Rd., Lake Oswego
Lake Oswego United Church of Christ (LOUCC) is taking on the second phase of a three-part project to manage stormwater – and, in the process, creating a model for private landowners to improve watershed health. The church’s “Green Team” along with members of Beit Haverim, a Jewish community sharing worship space with LOUCC, plan to install a natural way to collect, filter and slow runoff from its parking lot, with a goal of eventually managing all water before it reaches Nettle Creek and the Tryon Creek watershed. By removing part of the parking lot, replacing it with a native plant garden and making other improvements, project leaders expect to clean 430,000 gallons of rain water every year. They also aim to educate the community at large, other faith communities and their own congregation.
Rinearson Creek Feasibility Study
Recipient: SOLV
Partners: Willamette Riverkeeper, Wilderness International, North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council, City of Gladstone, Rinearson Homeowners Association, Robinwood Riverie Homeowners Association, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $10,000
Location: Rinearson Creek, Gladstone
SOLV and its partners are exploring long-term restoration opportunities in the lower Rinearson Creek watershed. An independent scientific assessment will narrow down five alternatives, which include restoring a pond area and removing a dam, and will help the Rinearson Coalition pick one approach to move forward. Meanwhile, SOLV will restore the upper watershed near Rinearson Creek, engaging volunteers through community planting days. Students will help monitor water quality, wildlife and vegetation.
Site Restoration at the John Inskeep Environmental Learning Center
Recipient: Clackamas Community College
Partners: Greater Oregon City Watershed Council, Clackamas County Office of Sustainability, City of Oregon City, Oregon State University Extension for Clackamas County
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $10,000
Location: 19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City
Clackamas Community College will revive its work to redevelop a five-acre environmental learning center. The project had been abandoned several years ago due to budget cuts. This planning project will lay the groundwork for a regional outdoor learning laboratory, demonstration site and natural area that showcases innovations in stormwater management, landscape design and sustainable living practices. Ultimately, the learning center will improve water quality in the Newell Creek watershed and create a network of partners committed to protecting its health.
Healthy Streams Program
Recipient: City of Gresham
Partners: Johnson Creek Watershed Council, Columbia Slough Watershed Council, Sandy River Basin Watershed Council, Central City Neighborhood Association, Northwest Neighborhood Association
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $7,000
Location: Throughout Gresham
Gresham’s Healthy Streams Program creates awareness and momentum for managing stormwater and reducing non-point source pollution. Using effective community-based social marketing techniques, this program will directly engage citizens. This grant will translate to 20 home visits, canvasses of three high-priority neighborhoods, safety assessments and downspout disconnect work at nearly 50 homes as well as outreach at five community forums and events.
Multnomah County
Wildside boardwalk
Recipient: Pleasant Valley Elementary School
Partners: Ace Academy, City of Gresham, East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Johnson Creek Watershed Council, Pleasant Valley School PTA
Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $112,350
Total project cost: $478,893
Location: 17625 SE Foster Road, Gresham
Restoring the Wildside natural area has been a learning experience for students at Centennial’s Pleasant Valley Elementary School ? and now the lessons will multiply with a new network of trails and boardwalks. This project will allow students to explore the seven-and-a-half-acre natural area more easily, enhancing environmental education without sacrificing habitat. Students and teachers have already built rain gardens, a greenhouse and small overflow dams that improve the health of a seasonal stream. The new boardwalk will be constructed and installed by students from Ace Academy, a charter high school that specializes in architecture, construction and engineering.
Balch Creek and Cornell Road Corridor Invasive Removal Project
Recipient: Audubon Society of Portland
Partners: Forest Park Conservancy, West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, Audubon’s national “Together Green” Program
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $20,000
Location: 5151 NW Cornell Road, Portland
The Audubon Society of Portland and its partners will finish a restoration project in the Pittock Bird Sanctuary, a 22-acre parcel along Balch Creek. Volunteers have already helped control invasive species and planted native alternatives. Now, paid contractors will tackle the remaining infestation, on steeper and sensitive slopes. Volunteers can then replant, monitor and maintain the area ? using human and financial resources efficiently.
Blue Heron Wetlands Restoration Project
Recipient: East Columbia Neighborhood Association
Partners: North Portland Community Works, Portland Bureau of Environmental Services, Portland State University’s Center of Lakes and Reservoirs, Multnomah County Drainage District/Pen#2, Columbia Slough Watershed Council, Port of Portland’s Natural Resources Program, Oregon Invasive Species Council, USDA Research Services Aquatic Weed Laboratory at the University of California/Davis, Columbia Edgewater Country Club
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $20,000
Location: Blue Heron Drive, between Northeast 16th Drive and Northeast 20th Court, Portland
The East Columbia neighborhood in Northeast Portland is teaming up to oust a highly invasive weed from the ponds at the Blue Heron Wetlands. While the weed called Ludwigia is new to the region, it has created a mess in California. This project will launch a community education program, create a sustainable management plan for the weed and spread the word about the restoration effort. Wetland restoration will engage many partners, including 50 neighborhood volunteers. Ultimately, they will work together to control or eliminate the invasive weed and improve watershed health. Leaders also hope they’ll inspire similar projects elsewhere.
Community Based Freshwater Mussel study
Recipient: Xerces Society
Partners: Johnson Creek Watershed Council, Tryon Creek Watershed Council, Clackamas Basin River Council,
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $11,500
Location: Johnson Creek Watershed
Freshwater mussels are some of the most at-risk animals in the United States, but their decline has received little attention in the Pacific Northwest. Freshwater mussels are also a great indicator of a waterways overall health. A better understanding is needed to guide future projects and management decisions. Volunteers will survey mussels in area waterways and record information that will allow local watershed advocates to begin protecting the declining mussel population ? which also tends to help amphibians, birds and native fish.
Gateway Green Planning Project
Recipient: Friends of Gateway Green
Partners: ODOT, City of Portland, Northwest Trail Alliance, Groundworks Portland, Friends of Gateway Green
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $10,000
Location: Northeast Portland, between I-205 and I-84
A 30-acre parcel of neglected public land wedged between I-205 and I-84 will be reinvented as a regional asset. By enhancing ecological conditions, this project will improve water quality and biodiversity, as well as provide nature-based recreation opportunities at the site, which is owned by the Oregon Department of Transportation. Hundreds of native trees and shrubs will be planted. This transformation is part of the larger Gateway Green project, which aims to increase diversity, quality and accessibility of recreation opportunities in one of Portland’s most park-deficient areas.
Washington County
Green Alley
Recipient: Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center
Partners: City of Cornelius, Adelante Mujeres, Centro Cultural, Verde, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve
Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $322,234
Total project cost: $1.2 million
Location: 85 N. 12th St., Cornelius
With this project, the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center takes the concept of wellness and expands it from the personal to include the community and the environment. The nonprofit healthcare provider will transform an alley outside its Cornelius Wellness Center into a linear parkway that integrates nature and engages the community. The former alley will feature native plants, porous paving, on-site stormwater management, and exhibits highlighting the area’s ecological, cultural and historical significance. It will serve as a model for adjacent landowners and the city’s vision for a transformed downtown.
Wapato Marsh wetlands restoration project
Recipient: City of Hillsboro
Partners: Ducks Unlimited, Clean Water Services, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve
Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $129,200
Total project cost: $1.2 million
Location: 2600 SW Hillsboro Highway, Hillsboro
At 725 acres, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve already serves as a destination for hiking, bird watching and environmental education in Hillsboro. It’s about to get even better. This grant will help in a major restoration effort to transform 120 acres of degraded wetlands located within the Tualatin River floodplain into a healthy ecosystem, and improve water quality in the Tualatin River. Native plants will gain a foothold and support diverse wetland wildlife, including amphibians, fish and migratory birds. By connecting an isolated pond to a forest on the preserve’s north side, the project will provide improved habitat for many native species, including threatened red-legged frogs.
Diverse Partners for Nature Awareness
Recipient: Tualatin Riverkeepers
Partners: Vose Elementary School, West Washington County Family Literacy Collective, City of Tigard, Adelante Mujeres, The Wetlands Conservancy, Cleanwater Services, Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District, Center for Diversity and the Environment
Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $24,606
Location: 11645 SW Hazelbrook Rd., Tualatin
Diverse Partners for Nature Awareness will engage low-income Latino families and youth in hands-on nature experiences, growing a new generation of watershed stewards. Building strong relationships with diverse communities will help meet the Tualatin Riverkeepers’ goal of clean water and a healthy environment. Immediate plans call for engaging 350 participants in hands-on experiences such as school field trips, summer day camp and a new event, Rumba al Rio. The Riverkeepers will take steps to continue this outreach by training volunteers, expanding programs and identifying sustainable funding.