Metro natural resource technician Rick Scrivens stands on a grass berm at the Multnomah Channel natural area, gesturing as workers dig and plant a row of trees and shrubs.
"This area here was covered in Himalayan blackberry that was 10 feet tall. We cut and sprayed it last December," Scrivens says. "We're trying to get rid of invasive species and restore native species."
It's the constant work of Metro's science and stewardship team, and February is planting season. Metro is adding 165,000 plants to its natural areas this year, with 55,000 being planted at Multnomah Channel alone.
Since 1995, two bond measures have allowed Metro to acquire and protect more than 11,000 acres of land across the Portland metropolitan area. Multnomah Channel is one of those areas.
Located four and a half miles north of the Sauvie Island Bridge on the west bank of the Willamette River, the Multnomah Channel natural area has undergone a lot of changes since Metro first purchased property there in 1997. Metro expanded the channel in 1998 and eventually combined five different properties to create the present layout.
"This was actually a dairy farm when Metro first acquired it," Scrivens said of one of the planting areas. "The dairy farm had been finished for a while but the owner wanted to see it go back to its natural state."
Returning areas to their natural state is one of Metro's main goals in natural areas, but it can mean many different things. Depending on the property, Metro may have to rent out or tear down buildings, eliminate illegal dumping or remove invasive species. This month, it meant planting native species at the site – one of the focal points of this year’s planting efforts.
"It's not an easy process. This is going to be a solid seven years of maintenance to get these trees up and growing," says natural resource technician Chris Hagel. "The trick about restoring these sites is that we can never walk away. If we don't continue maintenance, we're going to end up losing the investment we made. Restoration takes time, money and a lot of energy."
As contractors put one- and two-year-old seedlings in the ground, Scrivens is optimistic about his project's chances.
Looking up and down the line of plants he says, "when it all grows up, we're going to have a number of Oregon ash with understories of snowberry, Oregon grape and twinberry. It'll look more like the area behind you," he says pointing to a slim line of natural woods near the river bank.
While the grass mound Scrivens stands on has a long way to go to mirror the nearby woods, restoration is well underway. "These will start sprouting out in a couple of weeks," he says.