A crew gets set to plant vegetation at one of Metro's natural areas. Crews and volunteers planted nearly 200,000 trees and shrubs in the past month.
Survival just got a little easier for wildlife in Metro's natural areas.
Crews and volunteers planted almost 200,000 native trees, shrubs and other vegetation throughout Metro's natural areas over the past month, giving a boost to habitats that provide critical food and shelter for wildlife, including native salmon runs.
In many places, the new vegetation – ranging from ponderosa pine to alders, from huckleberries to sedges and even wildflowers like Oregon sunshine and delphinium – replace invasive species that threaten the ecological balance that creates a healthy, diverse and vibrant wildlife habitat.
"Our native wildlife are dependent on our native plantings," said Metro scientist Kate Holleran, who oversees plantings in the natural areas.
Replanting is a vital, ongoing element of Metro's Natural Areas Program, which was established by a bond measure in 1995 to protect wildlife habitat, water quality and outdoor recreation. A second bond measure, in 2006, expanded the program. In all, Metro has invested $360 million to purchase and protect 12,000 acres of undeveloped lands, including 90 miles of river and stream banks, as well as rare and threatened habitats, such as Oregon white oak savannah and wet prairies.
About 1.7 million trees and shrubs have been planted since the Natural Areas Program began less than two decades ago, while the areas themselves are about double the size of Forest Park.
One of the first priorities at all of the Natural areas is getting rid of non-native plants, such as the aggressive Himalayan blackberry. While blackberries provide a banquet of fruit in late summer, their value to wildlife is limited.
"Non-native plants create a mono-culture," Holleran said. "They fill an area up. They flower at one time and they produce fruit at one time."
A healthy ecosystem has plants producing nectar and fruit at different times throughout the seasons.
"We put in a palette of food," she said. "We put in roses. We put in ocean spray. We put in twin flowers and Indian plum. Their blooming and fruiting times are overlapping."
Riparian plantings also help to keep fish streams cool, hold banks in place and prevent erosion.
Plantings included 22 sites, from Gordon Creek in the Sandy River watershed to Baker Creek in suburban Sherwood to Chehalem Ridge near Forest Grove. Most of the work was done by four contractors, who had crews of 40 to 50 workers in the field daily through February, working in bitter weather to take advantage of the short, optimum window when plants are dormant before spring signals the rush to grow.
Metro scientist Kate Holleran and volunteers from Mt. Hood Community College helped plant vegetation at a Metro natural area last month.
Volunteer planters also were critical to getting so many plants into the ground. Some, such as a group of foreign students at Mt. Hood Community College, have volunteered planting for years.
The crews also had to work quickly because the trees and shrubs, purchased from local and regional nurseries, began to dry out as soon as they were removed from the ground in late December and early January. The quicker they were put back in the ground, the greater their chance for survival, Holleran said.
During planting, weeds and grass were hacked back to give the new plants growing space. Rigid netting protected some plants from hungry rodents or deer, while some of the young oaks were protected by tubes that act as a mini-greenhouse, giving them extra help to survive.
Putting plants into the ground is only the first step to successful habitat restoration. It might take several years of watchful care to re-establish a successful, diverse ecosystem.
"We spend the whole year getting ready to plant," Holleran said. "We walk away for a little bit and we come back to see if we have survival.
"We want plants that are vigorous and big," she added. "We want trees that are well above the blackberries. And we can do that in three to five years. But that means I have to have crews going out and knocking over the weeds and blackberries."
The Metro Council will ask voters in May to approve a five-year local option levy that would raise about $10 million a year to maintain its regional parks and its natural areas, continuing the restoration work underway.
The levy of 9.6 cents per $1,000 of assessed value would cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $20 per year for five years.
Half of the money raised would target natural areas restoration – the on-going work at streams, woodlands, wetlands and prairies that Holleran said is needed to make sure the restored native habitats thrive. The rest would go to maintaining Metro's regional parks, improving public access, conservation education and community project grants.