It’s Our Nature is a year-long series of classes and field trips for adults. Northeast Portland resident Judy McLean completed the series as well as Metro’s Nature University program for volunteer naturalists in 2014.
Want to find mushrooms, follow cougar tracks and watch wild salmon spawn? Join a team of experienced nature educators to explore some of the region's most spectacular places during the It's Our Nature year-long field trip series.
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McLean has worked as a carpenter and in energy conservation and office administration. When she’s not taking natural history classes, she plays jazz guitar, kayaks and hikes. She recently walked the Camino de Santiago, a long pilgrimage route that ends in northwest Spain.
Q. Why did you sign up for It’s Our Nature?
A. I retired in 2011, and one of things I wanted to do was to get out in nature more. I saw the program offered in a Metro newsletter, and I signed up immediately. Almost every place was new to me. Even Oxbow Park, believe it or not. We got to see some awesome places that were not available to the public – newly acquired and yet to be developed. It was cool to go to places all over the broader Metro area and be opened up to a whole new world.
Q. What were some highlights of the course?
A. Animal tracking down on the Sandy River. Seeing beaver tail drags into the river was pretty cool. You can tell if it’s a beaver for sure because they have that big flat tail and it drags along and scoops the sand.
Deer tracks – what they were doing and how many of them – not just identifying the animal but learning to figure out the story by looking at the prints. I still – whenever I’m out walking – I’m looking for tracks.
I had never gone to the celebration of when the salmon spawn in the fall at Oxbow Park. To see the actual redd in the river – the female salmon spawning and making their beds and stuff – I’m getting goosebumps just talking about it.
Q. What did you learn that has stuck with you?
A. We delved into the intricate details of identification. Like on our mushroom walk, we had all the books out, knowing all the parts of things. I wish I could remember everything I learned. I don’t, but I have resources now. I have books and I have websites and I have different parks that I can go to.
One thing we did weekly was our “sit spot.” Our homework was to sit and observe and be still. I was pretty disciplined about that, even through the winter putting on my raingear and sitting out in my yard for 20 minutes and observing whatever came along. That was the first time I learned that hummingbirds actually make a sound. Now I hear hummingbirds. It was an adventure in birds and bird language, learning to hear new sounds and learning to be quiet, and learning to sit quietly and be part of nature.