Watersheds 101

"Watershed" has been a buzzword I've been hearing since I joined the Friends of Tryon Creek. It is an important component of the park so this morning I met with Terri Preeg Riggsby, Tryon Creek's resident watershed expert and member of the Tryon Creek Watershed Council (TCWC), to learn more.

Terri has been with TCWC for ten years and has gleaned a great deal of information about the region. She explained that a watershed is a geographical area that is bordered by high elevation from which water flows downhill to lower elevations. In the case of Tryon Creek's 4,200-acre watershed, water runs to area tributaries and then into the creek and eventually into the Willamette River.

Ideally, water flowing into area waterways would be filtered through the ground to underground streams. This would allow for cleaner, cooler water which is necessary for healthy ecosystems. The current reality is that much of the stormwater ends up running down our streets and into drains and the sewer system. It eventually ends up in the river along with all the unhealthy particles it picks up along the way. The result? Warmer, polluted water that contributes to turbidity and erosion.

The mission of the Tryon Creek Watershed Council is to preserve and protect area waterways, increase ground-access for water, and educate the community about the importance of the watershed and its contribution to clean water and the general health of the environment. I have a new respect and appreciation for the work of the TCWC and am pleased they are a partner to the Friends.

For more info on the Tryon Creek Watershed Council please visit http://tcwc.tryonfriends.org/index.html

Hooray for Outdoor Education!

Capitol Hill 2nd Graders learning about pond life

"Kids who play outside are simply more focused, healthier and happier." - Jason Mark, writer for The Earth Island Journal

I have been taking my two children to Tryon Creek since they were babies. I would strap them to my chest, a la Baby Bjorn-style, and traipse along the park's forested paths, breathing in the fresh clean air, admiring the lush green space around me and enjoying some relatively calm and centered moments amid the chaos of daily child rearing.

As my children grew, I took to planting them on Tryon Creek's trails on their own two feet, expecting their curiosity and energy levels to run wild. And, while they didn't seem to mind being in the natural world, they didn't display nearly the interest or appreciation I hoped they would.

Until now.

I have discovered the key: Hands-on experience with outdoor education. A few weeks ago I blogged about No Oregon Child Left Inside.  The purpose of this act is to provide opportunities for children to explore and learn about nature in order to encourage stewardship of the land by nurturing and inspiring an appreciation of the outdoors.

Last month I began taking my kiddies on guided hiking tours of Tryon Creek. The interest those hikes have generated is through the roof! Now my kids ask to visit the park on a near daily basis. They look for things they learned about on past hikes and ask questions about plants and creatures that are new to them (alas, I am no naturalist so I have to leave the answers until the next time we are with a park expert). They have chosen to write about their park visits at school unprompted. Now, that's something new! And, they always express concern when they see a sight along the trail that has been disturbed (joggers, you know not the damage you can do to a rough skinned newt.).

My children's cheeks are rosier then ever, their young legs are strong and sturdy, and they radiate enthusiasm and joy with each and every hike. A heartfelt thanks to outdoor educators!

(Click here to read Jason Mark's take on No Child Left Inside: http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/no_child_left_inside)

Holiday Forest Market

The Friends of Tryon Creek welcomed the public to the park's Nature Center for their annual holiday Forest Market on December 4th & 5th. At the event I admired the handiwork of local artisans and authors while my children made Christmas ornaments out of recycled items. The setting was very intimate so I was able to visit with many of the vendors and learn about their wares which featured everything from chocolate and candles to note cards, books and reclaimed-materials-turned-into-yard-sculptures.

Families enjoyed making decorations out of recycled items...

...while shoppers checked out (and sampled) yummy Oregon honey from The Bee Hive (I bought three jars!). 

Pamela Yocum's ceramic designs. These were absolutely stunning. (http://www.pamelayocum.com/Ceramics/Contact_Me.html)

Susan Burson's exquisite pine needle baskets (that's right! The woven portion of these gorgeous pieces are made by hand using pine needles).

No Oregon Child Left Inside

Second-graders from Capitol Hill School visiting the Audubon Society of Portland (2010)

Recently the Friends of Tryon Creek hosted an event featuring guest speaker Traci Price from the Freshwater Trust. Traci's Mission: To educate the public about new state legislation known as the No Oregon Child Left Inside (NOCLI) Act.

In July 2009 Governor Kulongoski signed the No Oregon Child Left Inside Act into law and noted that “…the ‘No Oregon Child Left Inside Act’ will provide our youth with classroom instruction about our vital natural resources and an opportunity to conduct field investigations in an outdoor learning setting. This experience is fundamental to our children and will help them develop a sense of stewardship towards Oregon’s environment and help them make informed decisions about our natural resources in the future.”

Governor Kulongoski's words added a new dimension to Oregon's longstanding commitment to environmental protection: The importance of providing educational opportunities for children in order to ensure their exposure to the outdoors and positively influence their knowledge and understanding of the natural world. Countless studies have demonstrated that children thrive when given such opportunities. It is heartening to learn that Oregon is championing environmental advocacy, this time in the arena of children's outdoor education.

The NOCLI Act is intended to work in conjunction with federal No Child Left Inside legislation (No Child Left Inside currently has 84 sponsors in the House of Representatives including Representative David Wu and Representative Earl Blumenauer).  The partnership of these acts seeks to ensure that funds will be available at the state level for outdoor education programs for children.

This is excellent news for the Friends of Tryon Creek. Our organization, in partnership with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, currently provides a multitude of classes, workshops and camps for the purpose of engaging children in the Great Outdoors. The No Oregon Child Left Inside Act recognizes the importance of such opportunities.

(Here is the link for more information on the No Oregon Child Left Inside Act: http://friendsoftryoncreek.blogspot.com/2010/11/no-oregon-child-left-inside.html)

Ethnobotany

This weekend my family and I enjoyed another one of Ranger Christal's guided hikes in Tryon Creek park. The day was chilly and drizzly but once the tour started we hardly noticed: Our focus was directed at all the interesting things living in the park.

The topic of the hike was "ethnobotany", a fancy word that basically means the study of the relationship between people and the plants they use.

The first plant we encountered was the thimbleberry. In addition to having delicious berries it also known as "Nature's Toilet Paper", the proverbial Charmin of the plant world, if you will. The leaves are soft and thick (double-ply, in TP-speak).

 The first tree we came across was this Hazelnut tree. Also known as the Western Filbert, this variety of tree is generally prolific with nuts. However, because shade abounds in Tryon Creek, this specimen produces only a few.

These are leaves from a salmonberry plant. There are actually three leaves per stem but if you bend the middle leaf back it looks like a butterfly. Salmonberries are edible and good for you but they tend to be on the tart side.

 This is Tryon Creek. It is fed by natural springs and tributaries as well as the run-off from the streets of southwest Portland. When I think of all the rain we get flowing to storm drains and then on to the creek, carrying oil and silt from city streets along with it, I really feel for the creatures in this ecosystem.

Take this critter, for example. He (or she) is a Rough Skinned Newt, a species of salamander that resides in the park. This poor critter was found seemingly crushed on the side of a trail. It looked like he wasn't going to make it and the kids in our hiking group were very concerned (although it did provide a good lesson in keeping one's eyes open when exploring the park). However, with Ranger Christal's attention and care, this newt survived and was freed near Tryon Creek later in the day.

I have seen this particular evergreen shrub in western Oregon all of my life and I never knew that it is the Oregon State Flower, the Oregon Grape. It produces yellow flowers in late spring and small purplish/black berries that are quite tart and contain large seeds.

(Please note: Specimen handling or collecting is prohibited at Tryon Creek without a permit.)

Stumptown U.S.A.

On Saturday my children and I set out to explore Tryon Creek State Natural Area.  We had the pleasure of getting a descriptive tour of the park with Ranger Christal who takes visitors on guided nature hikes. The theme of Saturday’s hike was “Stories About Stumps”, and true to the title, Ranger Christal walked us through Tryon Creek’s history with particular focus on the area’s trees.

We learned that the acreage around Tryon Creek was originally logged for its old growth Doug fir. The wood was used as charcoal to smelt pig iron for Oregon Iron Works. Cedar stumps are still visible today and have morphed into “nurse stumps”, miniature ecosystems that are created as the stump gradually breaks down and becomes a fertile host home to its own living community of plants, animals and insects.

I learned more interesting things about Tryon Creek’s trees, such as the fact that cedar is very long-lived due to a naturally occurring chemical that is fungi, insect and rot-resistant. This makes cedar ideal for building (now I know why cedar decks are so popular).  Douglas Fir, the Oregon State tree, is not nearly so fortunate. They rot quickly and stumps do not last long. All trees rot from the center of the tree (known as the heartwood) outward because the heartwood is dead once it is formed.

In response to a question, Ranger Christal told the group of us hikers that Tryon Creek has very little poison oak due to the lack of light (the trade off being plenty of shade in warm summer months).  Instead, she said, the plant most likely to cause a rash and irritation is the stinging nettle. It is common in the park, and although a run-in with stinging nettle isn’t pleasant, the rash is short-lived and can be treated naturally by rubbing the affected area with dock leaf, elderberry or the spores of ferns (all of which grow in the park).

We had occasion to discuss some non-plant species, too.  There was a gorgeous pileated woodpecker busily looking for insects in a tree near the path we were on.  We learned that steelhead and Coho salmon still inhabit Tryon Creek, although fishing is prohibited because their populations have declined.

As my children and I put on our hoods and rainboots in anticipation of the hike I was reminded to be grateful for this beautiful forest that has so many stories to tell. Our guided tour, sponsored by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and the Friends of Tryon Creek, was a wonderful way to spend a chilly Oregon morning.      

Dr. Seuss-style nurse stump

Shroom with a view

Pileated woodpecker

Pacific Northwest carpet