Albert Kelly Park

Located at SW Dosch Rd and SW Mitchell St., Portland, OR

The appropriately named “Restoration Creek” within Albert Kelly Park of the Bridlemile Neighborhood in SW Portland is in its fifth year of restoration. As of 2004, over 130 volunteers have been involved with the 2.5-acre park to remove invasive species such as Himalayan blackberry, English Ivy, and English holly along the creek, employ bank stabilization and erosion control techniques, and plant natives for increased diversity and wildlife habitat.

 The City of Portland’s Reveg Crew helped to put together a maintenance plan. Erosion control techniques such as using downed tree logs, erosion control bags, strategic native planting, and wood chips are in use. For invasive plant removal, an integrated approach was used and consisted of cutting, mowing, pulling, mulching, shading, and spraying with herbicide (triclopyr, brand name Garlon3A). Work on the site has been completed by the Reveg Crew, AmeriCorps Enviro crews, and numerous dedicated volunteers. Both restoration work and maintenance is made possible by grants obtained by the Bridlemile Creek Stewards. Continued maintenance on the site includes regular work parties and annual community events.

 The Bridlemile Creek Stewards have reported successes in improved wildlife habitat (there is reportedly a hawks nest on site!), increased park use by neighbors and the community, and more plant diversity, including new native seedlings that have made a come back. Thanks to dedicated volunteers, the restoration efforts within Albert Kelly Park have been well documented on their website, which can be found at http://swni.org/bridlemile_neighborhood_association/creek_stewards.

Audubon Society of Portland Sanctuary

Located at 5151 NW Cornell Rd., Portland, OR

The Audubon Society of Portland houses its sanctuary in a 150-acre location along Balch Creek in NW Portland. Sanctuaries Director, Tom Costello, oversees active invasive plant management projects for 42 identified invasive plants on the site, with nine designated as top priority. Previous challenges have prevented major documented success, however with the recent addition of a Sanctuaries Director, there is now the time and resources to put together a management plan. Invasive plant management is completed by volunteers and coordinated efforts with the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services and Parks and Recreation. Audubon Society of Portland has a strong commitment to habitat conservation and restoration work which is publicly well-known

 Audubon’s popularity with the local community is what makes the Sanctuary grounds an ideal demo site. Audubon Society of Portland publishes a monthly newsletter that is sent to its 10,000 members, with anywhere from 50,000-80,000 visitors annually who explore the 4.5 miles of trails within the Sanctuary. Audubon Society of Portland’s dedicated membership draws in 10-20 volunteers for monthly work parties, resulting in over 2,000 volunteer hours each year. An additional 3,000 volunteer hours per year are from volunteers running educational programs such as an annual native plant sale, and a home-based native plant program.

http://www.audubonportland.org/trails_sanctuary

Rippling Waters Site at Gales Creek

Located South of the intersection of Roderick Rd. and Gales Creek Highway (Highway 8), Washington Co., OR

The Rippling Waters site offers 20 beautiful acres along Gales Creek in Washington County along the Gales Creek Highway (Highway 8). Although invasive weed management has been going on since the fall of 2003, the recent flooding in the fall of 2007 deposited 2- to 8-inches of silted mud onto the banks, providing a unique opportunity to study how invasive plants spread. Site disturbance is not new to this area as previous logging and gravel mining in the area has helped to spread invasive plants. English ivy was the predominant focus through 2006, and in 2005 introduced a new partnership with Clean Water Services to control Japanese knotweed.  For 2007, Garlic mustard has been added as priority with aid coming from grants obtained by the Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District.

 Outreach efforts, mainly done by the Tualatin River Watershed Council, have brought in numerous community groups such as boy scout troops, school groups, and employee groups to manually pull Garlic mustard, English ivy, and Himalayan blackberry. Continued monitoring and maintenance includes plans to plant 1,000 native plants in the winter of 2008 and regular work parties to manually remove invasive plants. The dedicated volunteer groups, the scenic rural location, and the recent floodings make the Rippling Waters site at Gales Creek an ideal demonstration site.

http://www.trwc.org/council-projects/gales-rippling-waters.html

George Rogers Park

Located on the corner of Ladd and South State Street, Lake Oswego, OR

George Rogers Park, the most heavily used park in the City of Lake Oswego, is a 16-acre site with one acre currently devoted to invasive weed control. The new invasive removal program is just getting underway in the spring of 2008 with a focus on English ivy and clematis, and potentially Japanese knotweed and more. The Park’s heavy recreation use, including heavy pedestrian and bike use along a network of paved trails, provides many great educational opportunities to get the community of Lake Oswego involved.

With support from the City of Lake Oswego, George Rogers Park has been identified as a top priority site in the City and will join the City’s NeighborWoods program in the spring of 2008 which will involve organizing volunteer groups to aid in the manual removal of invasive plants, including regularly planned work parties.

Keller Woodlands

Located along SW Terwilliger Blvd, Portland, OR

Keller Woodlands, a 40-acre site in the Terwilliger Heights in SW Portland provides a great success story for just 4 years of active weed management. The Three Rivers Land Conservancy owns the site, and in 2004 began aggressive English ivy control using integrated pest management techniques that included both manual and chemical removal with sensitivity given to infestations near native plants. The volunteer crews at the site even implemented an innovative approach to pile ivy in such a manner that it does not re-sprout and composts itself. Although English ivy was the targeted invasive weed, attention is also given to the removal of other invasive plants such as Himalayan blackberry, English holly, Garlic mustard, Herb Robert, and Shining geranium. The Three Rivers Land Conservancy obtained an OWEB grant for some of the treatment as well as native plantings.

In addition to Keller Woods already serving as a demonstration site for the West Willamette Restoration Partnership, its location along the Marquam Trail, a heavily used hiking trail, as well as signage along the heavily trafficked Terwilliger Blvd provides great outreach opportunities. Three Rivers Land Conservancy continues to monitor and maintain the site with monthly volunteer work parties. Four years of combined chemical and manual treatment, along with extensive volunteer work, makes the Keller Woodlands site an inspiration!

Maricara Park

Located at SW 29^th Ave

and SW Maricara St., Portland, OR

(Photo shows: Lower wetland infested with invasive weeds in June of 2003)

Maricara Park, a 15-acre Natural Area managed by the City of Portland Department of Parks and Rec, has been undergoing invasive weed removal since 2003 with a unique collaboration between city staff and the surrounding neighborhood community. Maricara Park benefited from a vegetation survey completed by Parks staff which identified invasive species such as English ivy, Clematis, English holly, Japanese knotweed, European hawthorn, Cherry plum, and English laurel. The vegetation survey also identified natives which a crew used to go through and flag important natives. Using the color-coded flagging system allowed for the neighborhood community to identify areas to either manually pull invasive plants or to avoid areas with natives. Mechanical and chemical methods are also used to treat invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed, English holly, and Himalayan blackberry.

 (Photo shows: Areas that previously were covered with invasive plants, and are now recovering.  This photo depicts native vegetation re-growing in recent invasive removal area)

Maricara Park has popular trails and an existing kiosk that could provide a great education and outreach opportunity. The informal but high function relationship between Parks staff and the neighborhood community has proven to be a successful system. In the most recent vegetation survey, Maricara Park ranked 2 on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the highest score. Neighborhood volunteers continue to provide on-going maintenance of the natural area.

Moonshadow Park

Located at SW Alden Court, Beaverton, OR

Moonshadow Park, a long and narrow 4.8-acre park which is home to a stretch of Ash Creek, is a great example of a multi-agency effort in addition to an active neighborhood and volunteer community. Restoration began in the late 1990’s as a SOLV site, and was picked up by the Tualatin River Watershed Council (TRWC) in 2004 with support and maintenance provided by the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District (THPRD). Invasive plant removal is a top priority at the site with priority given to removing Himalayan blackberry, Japanese knotweed, hedge false bindweed, English ivy, and English holly. Creeping buttercup, bittersweet nightshade, sweet cherry, honey locust, and cherry laurel have been identified as secondary invasive plant species. A combination of manual, mechanical, and chemical control methods are used by THPRD. Volunteer work focuses on removing blackberries, ivy, bindweed and holly, and even planting native vegetation, mulching around the newly planted natives, and general site maintenance and trash pick up.

 Thanks to an OWEB grant obtained by THPRD, additional restoration efforts were able to take place, including restoring woody debris to the stream, using contracted spraying to reduce invasive plants by up to 80%, and purchasing thousands of native plants along with the help of Clean Water Services (CWS). The site serves as an urban case study with a sewer line running through the middle of the park, and with an equestrian center directly upslope of the park that allows substantial runoff to flow into the park.

Moonshadow Park benefits from having an active volunteer base including the local high school, Boy Scout troops, and the neighbors. The partnerships with SOLV and TRWC have also provided great opportunity to get the public involved in the park’s restoration efforts.

 http://www.trwc.org/council-projects/moonshadow.html

Raleighwood Marsh

Located at SW Raleighwood Way, Portland, OR

Raleighwood Marsh is a unique wetland site along Sylvan Creek in SW Portland. Though Raleighwood Park is owned and maintained by the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District, Clean Water Services has adopted the site to improve the water quality of the creek and to restore the marsh habitat. This 8-acre site was largely infested with invasive plants such as Reed canary grass, Himalayan blackberry, English holly, English ivy, Singleseed hawthorn, Japanese knotweed, purple loosestrife, garlic mustard, and yellow flag iris. With the use of manual, mechanical and chemical invasive weed control methods, multiple invasive species were targeted – however the successful control of reed canary grass is most impressive. The reed canary grass was controlled by heavily planting native plants such as willow and spirea so that the reed canary grass eventually became shaded out in less than two years.

 Wildlife habitat has improved with sightings of hawks and trout. Although volunteers have no been a part of the restoration efforts at Raleighwood Marsh, this site is a great example of a multi-agency effort to improve habitat and water quality.

 http://www.cleanwaterservices.org/PlansAndProjects/Projects/RaleighwoodMarsh.aspx

Rosa Park

Located at SW Rosa Road, Aloha, OR

Rosa Park provides another great example of a multi-agency effort to restore the areas of a small 1.2-acre suburban park that surrounds Celebrity Creek, which runs through the park. Rose Park, a mixed-use park complete with a trail, tennis courts, and a play structure, is somewhat challenging, but also provides an opportunity for education and outreach. Invasive species removal is focused on manually removing English ivy and manual and chemical control of Himalayan blackberry. Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District (THPRD) along with the Friends of Rosa Park group hold regular monthly work parties to manually pull invasive weeds. In 2006, both SOLV and Clean Water Services joined the restoration efforts of Rosa Park by reinvigorating volunteer efforts and helping to plant native plantings. With blackberry removal and native plantings finishing up in the spring of 2008, the ivy and blackberry removal will move into the maintenance phase where the Friends of Rosa Park will continue monthly volunteer work parties as well as with Earth Day and Down by the Riverside events with SOLV. The success of the blackberry control and the monthly volunteer work parties is visible, as the thorny hedge slowly disappears and native rushes move in.