Construction Underway at Alder Creek
Species Spotlight
Upcoming Events
Portland Harbor in the News
Multimedia
|
Great Willamette Clean Up
Join Willamette Riverkeeper and volunteers to make a difference, one trash bag at a time, at numerous cleanup sites along the river from Eugene to Portland.
October 4, 2014
10 AM - 4 PM
Community Advisory
Group Meetings
October 8, 2014
November 12, 2014
December 10, 2014
(ongoing, the 2nd Wednesday
of every month)
6:00 - 8:00 PM
City of Portland's Water Pollution Control Testing Lab
6543 N Burlington Avenue
Portland, Oregon
more details here
Within Our Reach Join us at this biennial conference focused on improving the health of the Willamette River.
December 11-12, 2014
Corvallis, Oregon
more details here
|
|
Portland Harbor
in the News
|
|
Greetings!
We hope you enjoy this edition of the Portland Harbor Natural Resource Trustee Council's newsletter. Read on to learn about progress at the Alder Creek Restoration Project and use of goats to manage invasive vegetation at Rinearson Natural Area.
Sincerely,
Lauren Senkyr
Outreach Coordinator
Portland Harbor Natural Resource Trustee Council
|
|
|
Construction Underway at Alder Creek
This summer habitat restoration efforts began at the Alder Creek site in Portland Harbor. This is the first habitat restoration project being implemented specifically to benefit fish and wildlife affected by contamination in the Portland Harbor Superfund site.
So far contractors have removed hundreds of yards of wood chips from the site, demolished several old buildings, and begun excavating wetlands and channels.
Construction will continue next summer. Once completed, the project will provide habitat for salmon, lamprey, mink, bald eagle, osprey, and other native fish and wildlife living in the area.
Newly created shallow water habitat will provide resting and feeding areas for young salmon and lamprey and foraging for birds. Restored beaches and wetlands will provide access to water and food for mink, and forests will provide shelter and nesting opportunities for native birds.
The site is owned and managed by a habitat development company called Wildlands. The company intends to sell natural resource "credits" from the project to potentially responsible parties to help them meet their obligations for environmental damages in the Superfund site. For updates on the Alder Creek Restoration Project, check out Wildlands' website.
|
|
Species Spotlight- Goats
 Photo credit: Cascade Environmental Group
Unlike most of the species we highlight in the Trustee Council newsletter, goats are not native to the Lower Willamette River ecosystem, and project developers are not trying to create habitat for them at their restoration sites. Yet goats are playing an important role at habitat restoration projects being planned for the native fish and wildlife impacted by contamination in Portland Harbor.
Goats were one of the first animals to be domesticated by humans about 9,000 years ago. Today, there are some 200 different breeds. Goats are an effective alternative to labor-intensive manual removal or potentially harmful herbicide treatments of invasive vegetation. Goats can access rough and hard to reach terrain, they are light and agile as they move across the landscape, and they will happily work all day clearing the way for native plants that restoration practitioners will seed or plant at a later date.
At the Rinearson Natural Area, pictured above, Cascade Environmental Group is using goats to manage invasive vegetation at the site as the first phase of a larger restoration project they are developing to benefit fish and wildlife affected by contamination in the Portland Harbor Superfund site. Construction at Rinearson is planned for next summer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
