14th Annual Watershed Wide Event results!

We had a great Watershed Wide Event this year! Thank you to everyone who played a part!

This year, we saw some good trends in decreasing numbers of particularly tricky invasive plants like Garlic mustard and Italian arum at some of our sites, spotted many little critters in the soil and nearby trees, and we all totally lucked out with beautiful weather.

To our volunteers: whether you were planting native plants, pulling or cutting English ivy, or lopping & digging out Armenian blackberry, your collective impact makes a difference to the health of the Tryon Creek watershed. Thank you! It was great to see so many of you at the pizza party, too!

Together…
🌱 162 volunteers, including 48 youth (second graders through seniors!),
🌱 planted 559 native trees and shrubs,
🌱 removed tree ivy from 94 trees,
🌱 and removed invasive plants from 3.8 acres of work space
(of course, the densities of invasives varies!)
🌱…across nine sites throughout the Tryon Creek watershed!

Below, enjoy collections of photos from each site!

At the Lake Oswego United Church of Christ site for Watershed Wide Event, we had 18 adults & 3 kiddos, most of whom are members of the congregation, join us to remove ivy and blackberry in a project area where TCWC has been implementing grant-funded work via the City of Lake Oswego’s Habitat Enhancement Program. LOUCC has been a leader in stewarding their slice of the watershed: they were the first church in Clackamas County to achieve Gold Star Sustainability Certification! Michael with Sound Native Plants brought a brush cutter with a mulching blade, which made for some fantastic headway at this site!
Thanks to Michael at SNP and Kathy White at LOUCC for these photos

At the Boonesferry Terrace Greenspace site, we were joined by both neighbors from throughout the watershed, and students from Riverdale High School’s National Honors Society! With neighbors who have been longtime stewards of their HOA’s shared greenspace to co-lead the day with TCWC’s Board members Jill and Megan, a lot of good work got done. Here we saw reduced Italian arum numbers and planted 20 native trees & shrubs, but mostly focused on managing regrowth of invasive blackberry, clematis, ivy, and holly shoots.

At Lewis & Clark College, West Multnomah SWCD staff (Araon, Martina, & Mary) worked with TCWC’s Board Members & LC Student Representatives, Mateo Kaiser and Jack Fiocco. Together with fellow students and some community members, folks here worked behind the Huston Sports Complex. They focused on clearing Armenian blackberry, Scotch broom, and ivy regrowth. This is a site that has previously been regularly treated for Garlic mustard with hand pulling, and in the immediate area, none was spotted! (Martina had to walk a ways to find the first of these invasive weeds) After invasive removal, volunteers here got to plant 30 native plants. Several of the volunteers here also recently attended a Watershed 101 Workshop put on by TCWC, Jack & Mateo, and SEED (Students Engaged in Eco Defense) on campus. It was nice to follow up the on-campus work with work party a bit further off the main campus!

We love the group photos from Lake Oswego High School‘s Watershed Wide site! This site was led by Allie at Oswego Lake Watershed Council – our watersheds share a border that runs through campus, so this is a great way to collaborate! LOHS has an active Green Team who turned up in strong numbers – all but 2 of the 20 people here were high schoolers! Together they removed invasive species throughout campus and -lucky ducks- were first to arrive to the post-Watershd Wide Event pizza party at the Flying Pie. Hooray and thanks to the LOHS Green Team and OLWC!

At Marshall Park with Portland Parks & Recreation, Watershed Wide Event volunteers focused on removing invasive species at the Frey-Marshall parcel where a trail connection will connect Marshall Park’s trail network to SW Taylor’s Ferry Rd later this year! This area has seen consistent support from volunteers the past few years, and we’re excited for the trail connection and habitat restoration that’s been happening here. 
Thanks to Mary Verrilli at PP&R, Stuart Myers, and Laura Reda for these photos

At Mountain Park HOA‘s Greenspace, Jack at Oswego Lake Watershed Council led a group who focused on tree ivy removal, but also planted a few dozen plants. OLWC is working on a fuels reduction project with Mtn Park HOA, and this slice of the project area -despite being based in the Oswego Lake watershed- brings folks to the headwaters of Arnold Creek, an important tributary to Tryon Creek. Volunteers also planted 70 native plants during their work parties here!
Thanks to Jack and volunteer Krista Jackson for these photos

At Squire Crest HOA‘s Greenspace, neighbors came together to continue advancing the on-the-ground restoration work that’s currently being implemented by Mosaic Ecology as part of an OWEB Small Grant through TCWC. Down the slope to the left of these photos is Park Creek, a tributary to Tryon Creek, which the restoration project will help to protect by planting trees for future shade and erosion control. The week prior to Watershed Wide, we held the presentation part of a Watershed 101 Workshop at a neighbors’ house – this unlocked the plant funds for planting during Watershed Wide! Together neighbors installed 113 native plants & trees, and removed ivy vines from 8 trees after that too.
Thanks to Eric Taxer for these photos

At Tryon Creek State Natural Area, volunteers got muddy! As part of a larger project the Friends of Tryon Creek have been implementing, volunteers planted 325 native shrubs and trees along the main stem of Tryon Creek. This will lead to future shade and erosion control, and you can see the flags and tree protectors when you hike through the park! Some extra donated plants from BES made a difference at this site, which was unsurprisingly a popular one with 19 adults and 15 youth!

At Tryon Life Community Farm, volunteers focused on removing blackberry along an ephemeral tributary to Tryon called Willow Creek. It was great to reconnect with the folks at TLC farm who have been working to tend to their part of the watershed, with volunteers getting to join them for the good, hard work that is blackberry grubbing!

And finally, to round us out, a handful of photos from behind the scenes! Each year, our Watershed Wide Event sees the unfolding of a lot of logistics in a short period of time. We couldn’t organize simultaneous work parties happening across the watershed without our organizational partners and volunteers, and the support of local businesses makes a difference as well. We had extra bareroot plants donated, borrowed tools from the Westside Watershed Resource Center (via BES in downtown Portland!), and picked up & distributed all of this plus loads of food and fuel (coffee) that was donated by Voodoo Doughnut, Grand Central Bakery, Safeway, and Starbucks; not to mention, Flying Pie Pizzeria hosted our post-event pizza party. To recap, across nine sites we had 162 volunteers, including 48 youth (second graders through seniors!), come join us. Together, everyone removed invasive plants from 3.8 acres of work space (of course, the densities of invasives varies!) and tree ivy from 94 trees, and planted 559 native trees and shrubs! Phew! Go team! Without funding from BES, TCWC Board Members volunteering to help with logistics & to lead several sites, and organizational partners who were able to lead or co-lead with them, this day couldn’t have happened!