Coyote Spencer Wetlands - saved

A public land trust buys the Coyote Spencer Wetlands

By Adeline Bash; The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon)
Saturday, March 17, 2012

Oregon white oak and white ash trees grow side by side in a swampy, forested wetland along Coyote Creek west of Eugene — a type of soggy ecosystem that’s on the decline in the Willamette Valley.

The endangered northern red-legged frog has been seen along the banks of this creek that, come summer, will be blanketed in purple Camas blooms — a flower whose roots were a staple food of the valley’s Native Americans.

Now, thanks to the purchase of the 161-acre plot by the McKenzie River Trust, the Coyote Spencer Wetlands — home to an assortment of some of Oregon’s most important and threatened plant and animal species — will offer sanctuary.

“We’re a public trust,” said Ryan Ruggiero, land protection manager for the local nonprofit land trust. “We do this by protecting special lands that have unique value. This is a really special place.”

The land, along Crow Road west of Eugene, contains over three miles of streams winding through mixed forest and wet meadows that the trust has been working for nearly a decade to protect.

The nonprofit organization first tried to acquire the property in 2003 but was beaten out by another buyer, Ruggiero said.

In the following years, Ruggiero said, the area was targeted by housing developers.

However, those projects went nowhere, giving the trust the opportunity to buy the land now.

For years, the property was owned by Roseburg resident Stanley Stevens, who about a decade ago sold the land to a Eugene development group. The development group, however, failed to make purchase payments to Stevens.

So in 2009, he took back the land through foreclosure, according to land records filed with Lane County.

That same year, the trust again sought to buy the property. But the deal was delayed when the trust learned that the property had been under investigation by the state since 2005 for unauthorized waterway filling activities.

The Oregon Department of State Lands had issued an enforcement order and potential fine of $3,000 against the development group for building several roads and a bridge in the wetlands without permits.

Last fall, as the enforcement order was being resolved, the trust contacted Stevens once again about purchasing the property. As part of the enforcement resolution, the state waived the fine, one of the access roads was removed, and a concrete bridge over Coyote Creek and some rock used to stabilize an existing access road were permitted to remain in place.

The trust paid Stevens $375,000 for the land, using federal and state funding. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided $225,000 and the Department of State Lands the remaining $150,000, the trust said.

The purchase was finalized March 1.

Since its founding in 1989, the trust has been acquiring and preserving important tracts of land across Lane County.

Between 1994 and 2005, the Willamette Valley suffered a net loss of 3,932 acres of wetlands, according to the trust. Many wetlands in the Long Tom Watershed — of which Coyote Creek is part — have been converted to farming, making large, intact expanses of wetland such as the Coyote Spencer Wetlands increasingly rare, the trust said.

“It’s a new anchor site,” Ruggiero said of the property. “From here, we’ll work with private landowners to grow a network of protective lands.”

The trust wants to continue to acquire land through voluntary conservation easements and donations from landowners, as well as purchases. The hope, Ruggiero said, is to protect a big swath of land from Fern Ridge Lake south to the upper reaches of Spencer and Coyote creeks.

So far, the trust has identified, in addition to the red-legged frog, at least one federally endangered plant species — Bradshaw’s lomatium — at the new site.

In the next few months, the trust will enlist the help of local botanists to identify more rare plants in the area as well as any invasive plants that might need to be removed. Much of the work will be fueled by volunteers, Ruggiero said.

The property attracts a diverse animal population, including coyotes, bobcats, bears and several bird species, he said.

“In the springtime, this place is just going to be alive with bird activity,” Ruggiero said. “There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on.”

The trust will host guided public tours of the area starting this summer. Several University of Oregon classes will visit the property throughout the year. In the spring, Ruggiero will lead his UO wetlands landscape architectural design class that will take at least two trips to the property.

Because of the trust’s limited staff, the wetlands will not be open to the public apart from the guided tours.

To help manage the area and prevent trespassing and littering, Ruggiero plans to meet with residents in the surrounding neighborhoods to encourage them to keep an eye on the property.

So far, Ruggiero says, “We’ve experienced a lot of support for what we’re doing out here.”

Efforts by developers to put housing on the property most likely would have gone nowhere, Ruggiero said.

Still, he said, the trust made a good move buying the property.

“Leaving something be and hoping for the best is not the same as proactively protecting it,” he said.

“Now, there are so many opportunities for doing good things with it,” he said. “You miss that if the property doesn’t enjoy some sort of protective status.”

Salem, Oregon's urban OWO forest

From Willamette Live, by Helen Caswell

Englewood Forest is a term given by urban foresters and naturalists to a unique stand of trees in Salem and the life that accompanies it.The heart of the grove is Englewood Park, a 7-acre city property situated between 19th Street and 21st Street, and Nebraska Avenue and Virginia Street – in an older northeast neighborhood of town.  But Englewood Forest extends beyond official boundaries, across street divisions and into the civic life of Salem and its ecology and history.

The park in the forest’s center is historical and beloved.  Englewood is Salem’s oldest, located on land purchased in 1926 from the Kay family.  Its trees are primarily Douglas fir and Oregon White Oak, with two varieties of cedar intermixed in small numbers.  It contains paths, play equipment and a splash fountain and is tended by a band of passionate residents in the Northeast Neighborhood Association (NEN) as well as the City of Salem Public Works Department.

Jude Geist, Parks Operations Supervisor with the City of Salem, admires the “unique band of Douglas fir and oak of Englewood Park, because you seldom find that density of forestry stand in any city.”  Kristin Ramstad, urban forester with the Oregon Department of Forestry, highlights the tract’s importance further; “Englewood is what urban foresters call a ‘Native Remnant Park’ which means it is an area of older trees that are actually remnants of native forests.  They aren’t “old growth” but are certainly trees that predate settlers.“

“The value of an area like Englewood Park, from an urban forestry perspective, typically doesn’t focus on timber but instead on the value the trees give a neighborhood, and the environmental services they provide.  Mature trees like Native Remnants intercept greater rainfall and are good for mitigating steam water run-off.  They intercept particulates like smoke and pollution in the air.  They also have wildlife habitat values, since critters live in the canopies of mature trees that can’t exist in younger trees.”

Kasia Quillinan is a member of NEN and has been active in Englewood Park’s well-being for many years.  She also understands the ecological value of Englewood.  “Parks are important to our city,” she says, “because of all the oxygen they produce.”   Quillinan’s husband, David Engen, another dedicated park supporter, adds, “Cities raise the area temperature of regions like the Willamette Valley.  A city park serves as an “urban heat island,” because its trees cool and modify the warmer temperatures of concrete and buildings.”

The couple has picked up trash daily in the park and up and down 21st Street between Nebraska and Market, for more than three years.  When six Douglas fir were lost in 1996 rains, the two were part of a neighborhood effort to dig holes for replacement trees.  Another NEN member, Laura Sauter, actually donated a post-hole digger to the project.   When one tree didn’t make it to 1997, schoolchildren from Englewood Elementary, which occupies the same block, dug another.  Episodes like these account for Quillinan saying “the whole area community is involved.”

After the felled trees were cut by park staff, Engen took the opportunity to study the rings.  His count verified that the Douglas fir would now be between 80 and 100 years old.  The Oregon White Oak may be even older, according to foresters who say the taller, faster-growing fir may have shaded them over the decades.

The unique forest atmosphere draws neighbors in, Quillinan says.  “Practically everyone who has a child or dog in the area goes there.  Mothers take young children and it’s also great for middle school kids; there aren’t too many things Salem neighborhoods offer middle school kids, but this is definitely a positive one.  The toys are well used, and in summer the basketball court is well used.  And there’s almost no graffiti because it’s so beloved.”

Englewood forest is larger than just Englewood Park, because Native Remnants still live and grow in streets neighboring the park and extend to 21st Street, to along D Street, across D Street into the Jason Lee Cemetery and onto State Hospital grounds.  Residents have large trees in yards that they haven’t cut down, and those are part of the forest, too.  These trees can be seen clearly; they are distinct from surrounding buildings and younger trees, organisms of an earlier era.

Kristin Ramstad explains how a forest can extend beyond boundaries; “The way urban foresters view things, urban forests include street trees, riparian growth such as along the Willamette River, yard trees and the oaks you see in Bush Pasture Park.   Most people consider each part just a mini-forest, but they’re are all part of the urban forest.  But the Native Remnants are special.  It really is unique here to have an older conifer stand in a neighborhood.  The trees are extremely important to nature and the city.”

Englewood Forest contributes to the urban ecosystem in ways younger trees in new developments can’t.  The life it supports is varied.  Birds come down from the hills in winter and fly back in summer.  Native squirrels, opossums and skunks thrive.  A few of the many birds NIN members have seen include; Varied Thrush, Robins, Stellar’s and Western Scrub Jay, Oregon Junco, Black-caped chickadees and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, owls, Red-tailed Hawks and Ring-necked Pheasants.

The grove shows poignantly when it crosses D Street, which is almost lined with the tall old fir,  and into historic Jason Lee Cemetery.  The graveyard, established in 1842, has its west and southern edges still populated with Native Remnants.  The trees were already standing when Salem residents were buried on the grounds a hundred years ago.  Ramstad appreciates the qualities of the grove here.  “Often graveyard trees grow in the open, so we can see the natural form of them, the way they want to genetically express themselves.  It’s a wonderful metaphor for life; a place an organism can reach its best self, like all who were buried aspired to.  The forest (in Jason Lee Cemetery) conveys a sense of place and really connects us to our history.”

Englewood Forest has myriad facets. It gives Salem value by keeping our atmosphere cooler and our rainwater better managed.  It exists in the affection of elementary school children and in the respect of city park managers.  Its neighbors give it their energy and care.  Many of our ancestors are buried beneath it.  It is intertwined with Salem’s ecology, with its history and with its future.

Arborist has a say in an OWO's fate

Arborist has a say on oak’s fate: Report could save old tree in the path of light-rail project

By Raymond Rendleman 

The Clackamas Review, Feb 8, 2012, Updated Feb 8, 2012

A 60-foot Oregon white oak has been at the center of a debate in Milwaukie over the look of a TriMet light-rail line through the city. 

The city of Milwaukie will hire an arborist to determine if the 60-foot Oregon white oak in Kronberg Park is healthy enough to survive light-rail bridge construction.

The tree was going to be removed to make way for the bridge project that is part of the Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail work, but citizens came forward with an alternate arborist report.

Milwaukie City Manager Bill Monahan will select an arborist to deliver a report by Feb. 17. TriMet plans to begin rail construction activities in Kronberg Park, and enacting a plan to protect the tree, if required, on March 1.

“The city and TriMet are working with local residents in the selection of the arborist,” said Milwaukie spokesman Grady Wheeler. “The arborist’s report will not only weigh the biological health of the tree, but just as importantly, whether the tree poses a risk to personal safety or property, as it has been determined the city is liable for any harm or damage the tree creates.”

“This is a mighty good compromise,” said Councilor Dave Hedges. “If the tree is savable, I thought it should be saved.”

The process was put into motion when City Council made Milwaukie’s final decision on the Kellogg Bridge land-use application at its regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 17. Milwaukie’s elected officials, acting without Mayor Jeremy Ferguson who stepped aside because he is employed by TriMet, unanimously voted 4-0 to affirm the Planning Commission’s approval of the bridge with revised findings and conditions of approval specific to TriMet’s use of Kronberg Park for construction staging.

If the arborist determines the oak is healthy enough to survive construction and all possible safety issues can be addressed, TriMet will be required to take reasonable and necessary measures to protect it from harm during construction.

If the arborist recommends removal of the oak, the city is requiring that TriMet reuse wood from the tree in or near Kronberg Park. Also, TriMet would have to plant 24 trees and 116 shrubs in Kronberg Park — primarily along the bank of the Kellogg Lake — to mitigate for the loss of the tree.

That also doesn’t include other mitigation plantings required in the area for bridge construction impacts.

KLCC Natural World audio program

This one speaks extensively about the Oregon White Oak savannah (author John Cooney; you can hear other editions of this program here).

Clear Creek Natural Area restoration underway

Metro’s Nature University prepared Beavercreek resident to be a site steward
By Ellen Spitaleri, The Oregon City News,Nov 9, 2011


Leo Mellon points out deer tracks in the mud at the Clear Creek Natural Area near Carver. Mellon is the site steward for the area, which was purchased by Metro in 1995.

Leo Mellon finds inspiration in the Clear Creek Natural Area near Springwater Road, two miles from the Carver Boat Ramp.

The Beavercreek resident also likes the opportunities for reflection at the natural area. He is a volunteer steward for site that includes 502 acres of prairie, forest and wetland. It is home to elk, cougars, coyotes, foxes, deer, beavers and more than 50 species of birds.

“I’ve been the site steward since the spring of 2006,” Mellon said. “A steward is supposed to be one who takes care of something, and in my own small way, I take care of this site. There is not much better a person can be.”

Mellon is one of several area stewards trained through Metro’s Nature University. His duties include keeping an eye on the site, planting trees, removing invasives, leading work parties and field trips, picking up trash, observing wildlife and filing reports after every visit.

Metro purchased the Clear Creek site in 1995, through the Greenspaces program, Mellon said. The land had to meet criteria as habitat and as a buffer between housing developments. Metro is working on a long-range plan to restore the prairie area closer to what its natural state would have been, he said.

The Clear Creek site is not open to the public, but at some point will be, he said. Clear Creek (the actual creek) forms the southern boundary of the site. The creek originates in the Cascade Mountains and flows into the Clackamas River at Carver.

Near the creek are large stands of towering timber, including Douglas fir, red cedar, western hemlock, big leaf maple and Oregon white oak – all native species.

Because part of the site is adjacent to the Oregon City School District’s Springwater Environmental Sciences School, students and teachers treat the natural area as a learning lab, and Mellon has worked with the elementary school students planting trees there.

“I’m impressed by how smart the kids are – they really have a good sense of the natural world. Kudos to their teachers and parents,” he added.


Mellon retired as principal at Washington Elementary School in Woodburn in 2002, and decided to enroll in Metro’s Nature University in 2004. The 12-week program from late January through mid-April develops volunteers who work with children and adults interpreting natural areas. Each volunteer puts in 40 hours of work after completing the training.

After he finished the program, Mellon found out about Metro’s site steward program, and he chose to be the steward at Clear Creek Natural Area, because it was in Clackamas County and so close to his home.

John Sheehan, Metro’s education program manager, sold Metro benefits in several ways from its Nature University program.

“Trained volunteers help us offer small-group nature exploration experiences to groups as large as 60 with only one Metro staff naturalist on hand and Nature U. gives participants the skills, tools and know-how that allow them to deepen their connection to the natural world, and the confidence to do so with others in their community,” Sheehan said.

The program also offers participants “a community and a structure in which to transform their relationship with the natural world and learn how to help others do the same,” Sheehan said.

“I thought I was knowledgeable about nature, but I found out how much more there was to learn. The classes give you an appreciation for the beauty and complexity of this home of ours and you see the interconnectiveness of it all.”


Nature University is a free, 12-week training course that starts people along the path of becoming naturalists and teachers. No special experience is needed, but a background in natural history and biology and working with groups is helpful.

The application for Nature University 2012 is now available; the due date is Monday, Nov. 21.

Classes meet from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, starting the last Tuesday in January, and running through mid-April.

For more information, call Sandy Jamison, 503-813-7565, or visit the website to see a course catalog and to download an application: www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=11884.

A Scientific Argument for Intervening in Nature

Jessica Hellmann, an ecologist at Notre Dame University in Indiana, is in the midst of exactly the kind of painstaking study that can help guide those who want to move species. Hellmann works, among other places, on Vancouver Island​, studying a kind of oak savanna ecosystem that most people associate with California. The star players of these savannas are called Garry oaks or Oregon white oaks, large trees often gnarled into unique shapes. Under their canopies grow mossy meadows of wildflowers, including buttercups and star- shaped blue camas. For Canadians, this kind of ecosystem is a beloved break from the evergreens that otherwise dominate the landscape. And according to the nonprofit Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team, "approximately 100 species of plants, mammals, reptiles, birds, butterflies and other insects are officially listed as 'at risk' in these ecosystems" in Canada. The range of these Garry oak savannas hugs the Pacific coast from central California to just about halfway up Vancouver Island. These savannas are quite rare in Canada and threatened by land development. Hellmann thinks that British Columbians might be interested in establishing such ecosystems farther north on the island or even on the province's mainland as the climate warms. So one set of questions that her study is asking bears directly on whether such a move would work.

Read the rest of the article from Scientific American here.  

Students work to restore Oak Savanna

Nearly 200 students from Willamette Primary School and West Linn High School recently helped plant 1,000 blue camas bulbs at the White Oak Savanna Oct. 20 (2011).

The savanna’s 14 acres is located near 10th Street and I-205 at 2000 Tannler Drive. The property, once overgrown, is now being restored to its natural habitat thanks to the Neighbors of a Livable West Linn and volunteers across the city.

The rest of the story here.

Oaks on Woodpecker Loop trail at Finley National Wildlife Refuge

Eulogy for the tree that says Vancouver Island

A Garry Oak tree found in the Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic site of Canada looms over University of Victoria students as they remove evasive species like the non-native Scotch Broom from the Garry Oak ecosystem near Victoria, BC.

VICTORIA—From Monday's Globe and Mail
by Tom Hawthorn
Sunday, Oct. 09, 2011

O gnarly Garry oak, how majestic you stand.

In summer, you offer leafy shade beneath an umbrella canopy, your branches reaching out to offer protection from harsh sunshine.

Alas, the summer warmth is but a memory. The sun hangs lower in the sky. The oaks now prepare to go dormant. Every zephyr causes a cascade of debris. The oaks shed every leaf in a downpour that includes acorns and coarse woody debris. Some fallen branches are as thick as a man’s thigh.

It is advisable to wear a hardhat while raking the yard.

The detritus accumulates in a pile at curbside, a brown pyramid of dead leaves as crunchy as potato chips.

Halloween approaches and bared Garry oaks now look spooky with knobby limbs reaching out as though to grab the slowest of the trick-or-treaters.

Lone Garry oaks dot the local landscape – three are rooted in my yard – but one of the richest ecosystems in Canada is also one of the most endangered. Other than two small stands in the Fraser Valley, the tree is found only on the southern Gulf Islands and on Vancouver Island.

Once common in these parts, Garry-oak meadows now cover less than five per cent of their former territory.

Happily, a group of botanists, zoologists and vegetation ecologists are coming to the rescue. The Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team, formed 12 years ago, has just released an online guide – www.goert.ca – for preserving and restoring Garry oak meadows.

One of the lead authors is Conan Webb, who chairs the team’s restoration and management recovery implementation group. By day, he works for Parks Canada as a species-at-risk recovery planner. (Those who are trying to preserve the Garry oak have titles as gothic as the trees.) Mr. Webb, 33, said the tree’s ecosystem is one of the most diverse to be found on the planet.

“It’s so different from the rest of the West Coast rain forest,” he noted.

Some 1,600 species of native plants and animals can be found in the Garry-oak ecosystem. About 100 are threatened with extinction.

The meadows are under assault by encroaching land development, as well as by invasive species such as Scotch broom and English ivy. European starlings and eastern grey squirrels displace native birds and eat their eggs. Garry oaks were infested by winter moths in the 1980s, an invasion repulsed over time by the voracious appetites of predatory ground beetles. The moths were followed by the jumping gall wasp and the pesky, sap-sucking phylloxera.

Before the arrival of Europeans, oak meadows blanketed the islands, thriving in the protected rain shadow found behind the Olympic Mountains and the Vancouver Island Ranges. It is a pocket of Mediterranean-like weather.

The meadows are known for their brilliant wildflower displays in spring. The first nations cultivated camas, whose bulbs are rich in carbohydrates. Early European settlers mistook distant fields of the brilliantly blue flower for lakes, a floral mirage. James Douglas, the first colonial governor, pronounced the land surrounding Victoria’s natural harbour to be “a perfect Eden.”

Much of what is now the city of Victoria was covered by Garry oak meadows. Today, one has to go to Beacon Hill Park, or the grounds of Government House to see a meadow in a natural state.

Elsewhere in the city, small patches of meadow are maintained, with volunteers supervising the well-being of the sites. Near my own house, two small city-owned plots of land, smaller than a residential lot, are home to Quercus garryana, a species named for Nicholas Garry, deputy-governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Fort Garry in Winnipeg is named after him, too, which is how far east you have to go in Western Canada to find another native species of oak.

Mr. Webb, who graduated from the University of Victoria with a biology degree, grew up in Port Hardy, outside the range of the ecosystem that now dominates his working life. As a boy, he played in the surrounding rain forest, building forts and playing hide and seek.

In Victoria, he reminds himself to make an effort to introduce his young son to natural wonders.

In the city,” he said, “it’s so easy to get disconnected from nature.”

We live amid natural wonders, from the arbutus, whose bark peels like the aftermath of a bad sunburn, to the towering Douglas fir. No tree says Vancouver Island, or the Gulf Islands, quite like the Garry oak, for which we can all give thanks, even as we spend the holiday rake in hand.

Why restore Oregon white oak habitat?

A recent article in the St. Helen's Chronicle:

By Caroline Skinner Friends of Nob Hill Nature Park

St. Helens is fortunate to still have many of its native white oak trees. These majestic trees are native to much of the West Coast, with a range from Vancouver Island, B.C., down to Los Angeles. While many oaks have been lost to development, there is now a renewed appreciation of not only their beauty, but also their importance in our ecosystem. Many communities are creating and preserving oak woodland habitat, including the new Baltimore Woods Park in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, as well as the Nob Hill Nature Park in St. Helens.

A recent program held by Friends of Baltimore Woods featured a speaker on native oak restoration and preservation. Mary Bushman, from Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services, shared information for Baltimore Woods that also applies to Nob Hill Nature Park.

Oregon's white oaks are the only oak trees native to the greater Portland area. We are in the middle of a corridor for migratory birds that use the oak habitat while traveling the range of their yearly migrations. The oaks provide food specific to some of these species, as well as resting places during their travel.

Oak woodland and savannah once covered 625 square miles of the Willamette Valley. That is more than half a million acres, including some wet areas. Little of that area remains now. Some of the large heritage oaks remaining indicate where other oaks used to live, showing how extensively they used to range. They can live for up to 500 years before starting to falter.

Typically, white oaks don't start producing acorns until at they are least 20 years old, dropping acorns from August to November. Trees growing from sprouts or re-growth grow faster than trees starting from acorns, since they can use the existing root system. As anyone who has seen them in Columbia County knows, they grow in dry, rocky hillsides but can also grow in flood plains.

Why restore Oregon white oak habitat?

Some of the native wildlife associated with oak and sheltered by it includes gray squirrel, western bluebird, white-breasted nuthatch, madrone, larkspur, biscuit root and aster. Invasive plants crowd out and suppress native plants. Also, some invasive species, like blackberry, are highly flammable. Oak has value in wildfire risk reduction. They do not create the large load of fuel found in Douglas fir forests.

For new native plants to succeed, invasive plants should first be under control.

Phase one for woodland restoration is intensive removal of invasive species. At Nob Hill Nature Park, the "friends of" group toiled for several years, starting with a SOLV trash removal event, followed by removal of ivy, holly and blackberries, with much help from their partner group, Scappoose Bay Watershed Council.

Phase two involves adding native plants, shrubs, trees and possibly grasses. At NHNP, overlooking the Columbia River, we've planted flowering red currant, vine maple, spirea, willow and Columbia lily, among others. Native plants, including several kinds of wild lilies, are starting to rebound after the removal of blackberry and ivy at the park. Spring plantings are more difficult to keep alive through summer's dry season, so fall planting is best when possible.

Phase three involves maintenance, including weed control, adding plants as needed, and follow-up watering. This phase should continue for at least three years for best results, according to Mary Bushman, who is leading the Baltimore Park project.

"Friends-of groups can be the eyes and ears of the area, and make long-term management possible," she said.

Also, holding volunteer work parties is a great way to continue to make progress, as well as to see and appreciate the changes. At Nob Hill Nature Park, work parties take place twice yearly, on the first Saturday in April and November. Volunteer work crews there have removed nearly all lunaria, vinca and holly. The park faces an ongoing battle against blackberry and ivy. Reed canary grass is a new, emerging plant problem, showing up in some areas where blackberry has been removed. Cutting, and eventually shade, might help reduce it over time.

Baltimore Woods, at approximately 30 acres so far, is at an earlier point in the restoration process. Land acquisition is still under way. Plans for this summer include the removal of a large, paved area, as well as the development of a pathway through the park. Much work lies ahead for the volunteer corps to create a new oak savannah where one was long ago, along a bluff overlooking the Willamette River and the St. Johns Bridge. A trail through the park will provide connectivity from Smith and Bybee lakes all the way to downtown Portland.

Damage has been done to our natural areas for a long time. Restoring them is not a quick or easy process. It takes a sustained commitment, over a period of time, to bring back a natural state. Even then, non-native species constantly threaten to re-invade. Oaks grow very slowly. But Nob Hill is ahead of the curve with oaks already growing well in their historic setting. Also, huge advances have been made against unwelcome plants in the last five years, thanks to great support from the City of St. Helens and the many volunteers from the community. It's important to preserve and protect our oaks while we still can, and is a way to bring something of value from the past into our future.