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. And, if you visit Oak Grove’s Stringfield Park in a few years, you might think you’ve traveled back in time as the lower Boardman Creek slowly transforms from an overgrown urban ditch to the refuge it once was for fish and wildlife.
The Metro Council on Thursday, May 19, awarded Nature in Neighborhoods grants that will bring in more than $900,000 to Clackamas County for seven environmental projects. Three of the projects are receiving capital grants funded by the natural areas bond measure approved by voters in 2006. The four other projects will get restoration and enhancement grants that come out of Metro’s general fund.
One of the projects will kick off construction of the Klein Point overlook on Milwaukie’s waterfront. Once it's completed, visitors will be able to stand in the shade of a magnificent old Oregon white oak, an increasingly rare experience because the tree has declined dramatically across the Willamette Valley. Below the overlook, they might see salmon and trout making their way into the mouth of Johnson Creek.
The Klein Point project, which received a $225,000 Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant, will also restore six acres of riparian habitat in Johnson Creek, with 16 new logjams and boulders that provide refuge to help threatened fish species thrive. Students from the Clackamas Web Academy will join other volunteers and workers to help with the restoration work, something science teacher Terri Gibson is very excited about. “I hope to make the Willamette and Johnson Creek confluence a special place with special meaning in the hearts of my students," said Gibson. “In performing restoration work in upper stretches of creek as an effort to improve habitat, my students can feel a physical connection to the place where, hopefully one day, millions of salmon will make an easy turn up Johnson Creek to spawn.”
The Nature Conservancy teams up with West Linn students
One of the projects chosen for a Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant will engage students in West Linn High School’s field sciences program. The Nature Conservancy will use the $25,000 grant to expand rehabilitation efforts at its Camassia Natural Area into the high school’s neighboring property, as well as land owned by the City of West Linn. “I am excited about the opportunity to work with both the Nature Conservancy and the City of West Linn to form a coordinated program to manage our respective properties with the common goal of restoring the ecological function of this area,” said Jim Hartmann, West Linn High’s AP Environmental Science teacher.
Church "Green Team" tackles stormwater runoff in Lake Owego
Some church ladies in Lake Oswego, however, have pushed one of the more interesting projects forward. The Lake Oswego United Church of Christ won a $12,129 restoration and enhancement grant to manage stormwater runoff from its parking lot and, in the process, create a model for private landowners to follow. The church’s “Green Team” along with members of Beit Haverim, a Jewish community sharing worship space with the Church of Christ, plan to install a so-called rain garden to collect, filter and slow runoff from the parking lot. The ultimate goal is to eventually manage all water before it reaches Nettle Creek and the Tryon Creek watershed. The project is expected to clean 430,000 gallons of rainwater every year.
Other projects around the county will benefit Boardman Creek, Mount Scott Creek and Rinearson Creek.
“It’s exciting to see the ideas and passions of community members, government agencies and local organizations come together to benefit our environment,” said Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette, whose district includes much of Clackamas County. “These grants will not only help restore and protect habitat for fish and other wildlife, they create great opportunities for residents to connect with the nature that makes our region so beautiful.”