Sunny 17th Annual Watershed Wide Event and Community Tryon Creek Celebration!
This year’s Watershed Wide Event was a treat with the sun coming out for a cool, sunny morning, followed by a warm afternoon community creek celebration with highlights including delicious catering and a community pie table.
Together we had 145 volunteers, including 48 youth, join us at eight sites spanning the watershed to pull a total of 8,320 square feet of invasively growing plants, free 61 trees and shrubs of ivy, and plant 667 native plants across parks, natural areas, school campuses, and neighborhood greenspaces throughout the Tryon Creek Watershed.
What a feat! We couldn’t have done this without our fantastic volunteers, board members, and partners–thank you to every single one of you who came out that morning, ready to get to work. We are also grateful to the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services and District Four Coalition for their funding for this year’s event.
After a morning of working across the watershed, many volunteers gathered at Riverdale High School and were joined by additional community members to hear from our partners, enjoy burritos and bowls from Salsas Locas –a local Latina-owned small business in Portland– plus dig into a truly outstanding community pie table. A big thank you to everyone who contributed a pie and other appreciated snacks.
Please enjoy some highlights from the morning below!
Jackson Middle School [above], led by Seth from Westside Watershed Resource Center, Colleen from BES, and TCWC Board member Terri. 25 volunteers planted a whopping 154 native plants and cleared 1500 square feet of invasively growing plants. Sightings from the morning included a salamander and a red-tailed hawk!
Lewis & Clark College [above], led by TCWC Board members plus SEED and Native Student Union students Gwyn, Jordan, and Isa, as well as Ariana from West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District. At this site, 19 volunteers cleared 2900 square feet of invasively growing plants, freed 3 trees of ivy, and planted 13 native plants.
[Images pending from Mountain Park site]
Mountain Park HOA [above], in partnership with Jack from Oswego Lake Watershed Council. A group of 10 volunteers cleared 1000 square feet of invasively growing plants, pulled out one garbage bag worth of trash (plus a tire!), freed 23 trees and shrubs of ivy, and distributed packets of native seeds.
Boonesferry Terrace Homeowners Association [above]. These longtime stewards led a Riverdale student-heavy site alongside TCWC Board member Megan, W3 Development Manager Ruth, and Riverdale’s National Honors Society student leader Stella. 25 youth volunteers and 9 adult volunteers worked across 1.6 acres to remove invasively growing plants and freed 10 trees and shrubs of ivy. Riverdale students found a salamander while clearing at this site!
Tryon Life Community Farm site [above], led by Arwen, Hindi, and TCWC Board member Dusty. The group was cheered on by resident goats as 9 volunteers cut and dug out Armenian/Himalayan blackberry roots, clearing 420 square feet of invasively growing blackberry and freeing one tree of ivy.
Marshall Park [above], with Monica of Portland Parks & Recreation. The slope on the east side of the main stem of Tryon Creek has been stewarded for several years, with volunteers at No Ivy Day and Watershed Wide working slowly upstream along the riparian area to remove English ivy and holly. This Watershed Wide, 21 volunteers followed up that work by installing 400 native plants and freed one tree of ivy.
Lake Oswego United Church of Christ [above], in partnership with their active Earth Justice team led by Kathy of LOUCC and TCWC Board member Will. A total volunteer crew of 18 folks converged alongside Spirit Creek, a tributary to Nettle Creek, to remove 2500 square feet of English ivy throughout the work area – including from 24 shrubs and trees.
Tryon Creek State Natural Area [above]. Friends of Tryon Creek’s Nanda and Lena, plus the Friends’ Green Leaders cohort led 8 volunteers in planting 100 native plants along the main stem of Tryon Creek.
Thank you to everyone who came out to help do this good work and celebrate! We are already looking forward to next year’s Watershed Wide Event together.
