Despite the damp afternoon, Hillsboro community members poured into Orenco Woods Nature Park Feb. 4 to celebrate the grand opening of the region’s newest nature park.
Metro and the Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Department hosted the grand opening celebration of Orenco Woods, a 42-acre park that was once home to the Oregon Nursery Company, the largest nursery on the West Coast.
The event featured speakers, a variety of family-friendly activities, guided tours, children’s activities and informational booths with Hillsboro Parks & Recreation naturalists on site.
“The turnout was amazing, but not surprising because people love Orenco, and they’re so excited for this park,” said Hillsboro Mayor Steve Callaway. “During the speeches, you saw people already walking the trails, so they understand the most important thing is getting out and being active.”
Orenco Woods sits nestled between Orenco Woods Elementary School to the west, Northwest Cornelius Pass Road to the east, the MAX Blue Line to the north and neighborhoods to the south. Rock Creek, a tributary of the Tualatin River, quietly meanders its way through the park, with a variety of vegetation covering the park’s wetland, oak savanna and forest habitat.
After the nursery closed in 1927, the land eventually became a nine-hole golf course once owned by the Hillsboro Elks Lodge. Developers in 2006 planned to turn the area into a large housing development, but plans came to a halt when the recession hit in the following years. Orenco community members then told city officials that they wanted to see the open space turned into a park.
The City of Hillsboro and Metro jointly purchased the land in December 2011 using money from the 2006 Metro natural areas bond measure. Restoration work in the following years included building log jams in the Rock Creek floodplain to provide fish habitat and planting native trees, shrubs and flowers to provide wildlife habitat.
“If I know one thing about Washington County residents, it’s that I know we love having a bit of nature in our community’s backyards,” said Metro Councilor Kathryn Harrington, who represents the area.
The park features a number of trails and viewpoints, picnic tables and play areas. Visitors will also be able to walk past by the historic Malcolm McDonald House, a 1912 Craftsman-style house named after the co-founder of Oregon Nursery Company. The house, owned by the city, is not currently open.
Visitors can see several remnants from the site’s history, including repurposed sequoia trees that now serve as benches, and two tulip poplar trees from the original Orenco nursery.
“As we walked the trail, people mentioned to me how excited they are to have this park in their community,” Harrington said. “There’s so much here for them to enjoy.”
Art is another important element in the park. As part of an effort to promote the arts in the park, the City of Hillsboro installed the first of two sculptures that pays tribute to the Orenco apple, the nursery’s signature product. Visitors have the chance to check out the bright green apple sculpture by sitting inside of it.
“The goal of the public art program is to make magical places, to bring art into the places we enjoy together,” said Valerie Otani, the public art program supervisor for Hillsboro. “For art to be part of the way you think of Hillsboro.”
“If I know one thing about Washington County residents, it’s that I know we love having a bit of nature in our community’s backyards,” said Metro Councilor Kathryn Harrington, who represents the area.
Though the creation of the park was a collaboration between Metro and Hillsboro, Hillsboro Parks & Recreation will provide day-to-day management.
“We couldn’t have had a better partner than the City of Hillsboro quite frankly,” said Metro Council President Tom Hughes, who previously served as Hillsboro mayor. “We worked through a lot of knotty details and came up with this beautiful experience that we have here today.”