Eagle Scout project benefits Tryon Creek State Natural Area

Construction preparations begin for Mitch Bernards' Eagle Scout project at Tryon Creek

Mitch Bernards has helped as an assistant counselor for the Friends of Tryon Creek day camps the last 3 summers.  He chose Tryon Creek State Park as the site for his Eagle Scout project: 16 steps on a slippery slope of the Lewis and Clark Trail, about 70 yards west of the paved pathway.  Here are notes from his father and a few photos from beginning to end. 

Building forms for the 16 steps...

The forms were made on a prior weekend with volunteers from Mitch’s Boy Scout troop. He finished installing the steps this weekend with troop volunteers and friends.

Step forms ready to go!

After measuring the site twice; with his grandfather and with his buddy Brian, Mitch built 12 full size steps. The 13^th was full width but the sides were shorter. Fourteen, 15 and 16 were narrower with the shorter sides.

Supply transportation begins...

Mitch looked pretty nervous and took time with the level and tape measure before scratching a pattern in the dirt and declaring where to dig.

Step construction progresses...



Carrying step forms to the park site...

Well – the 13^th step just happened to fit up to a root with its shorter sides. The measurement was for the rise. The step spacing adjusts as you go to match the grade and the run takes care of itself.

Carrying gravel to fill the step forms...

The next two needed to be trimmed to fit but he planned on that and we brought the tools. The insides of the steps were filled with gravel.

Eagle Scout project complete!

Mitch and his Construction Crew

 The park ranger, Dan Quigley was pretty complimentary. He asked who the project engineer was and Mitch proudly accepted the honors.

(Story submitted by Lanette Bernards)

A Walk Down Memory Lane at Tryon Creek

Steve Barton at Tryon Creek State Natural Area, November 2012

In 1966, when Steve Barton was in the 8^th grade, his family moved from Portland Heights to Lake Oswego’s SW Stampher Road, near the confluence of Tryon Creek and the Willamette River. Barton likens his experience growing up along Tryon Creek to that of young Huckleberry Finn: shortly after moving into the house on Stampher Road he became the proud owner of an old wooden rowboat and spent whole days exploring the creek while his parents were at work. A neighbor boy taught Barton how to tie flies and a budding fly fisherman was born. Fishing became a common theme of his expeditions as Barton caught salmon, steelhead, carp and suckers, and once nearly caught a huge sturgeon. He also came across Tryon Creek’s resident lamprey (one of which tried to wrap itself around his arm on their first encounter!).

Steve Barton loved spending time in the wild. Back in the ‘60’s there was no evidence that an urban population was just a few miles down the road from Tryon Creek: the forest was dense and the well maintained trails that wend through the park today were nowhere to be found.

Barton’s early kinship with nature inspired a lifelong ethic of stewardship in him. To this day he lives in a house whose backyard faces the forest, and owls and deer are common visitors. Barton has imparted that same stewardship ethic – a reverence for nature and desire to protect and preserve it – in his children, both grown.

The Friends thank Steve Barton for sharing his wonderful childhood story and the impression Tryon Creek and the forest made upon him.

Congratulations to Michael Barton, "Why I Love Tryon Creek State Natural Area" video contest winner

Michael Barton, with son Patrick, accepts award from Friends' Executive Director David Cohen

In August 2012 the Friends of Tryon Creek kicked off their first-ever video contest on the theme, “Why I Love Tryon Creek State Natural Area”. Entries were accepted through October 31^st and the Friends were struck by the fact that each entry, regardless of its content, captured the beauty, tranquility, inspiration and joy that one experiences in the forest at Tryon Creek.

Michael Barton, a regular park visitor who recently welcomed his new daughter into the world, won the contest, and on November 14^th he received congratulations from the Friends' Executive Director David Cohen. Cohen also presented Barton with a prize package valued at $370 featuring items from contest sponsors Columbia Sportswear, REI, Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, and Voodoo Doughnut, as well as a copy of “Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine”.  

The Friends appreciate the efforts of all who submitted entries and wish them luck next year.

                             "Let Me Show You", Michael Barton's winning video contest entry

As the trees give up their leaves, give youself the gift of a nature walk

Today has been the first chilly day we’ve had in the Portland area in quite some time. The air is brisk, the sky clear, and the leaves falling from Tryon Creek’s trees are every imaginable shade of yellow, orange, red, and brown. They litter the ground, swirl and twirl in the creek’s water as they make their slow journey to the Willamette River, and provide a mosaic underfoot that reminds one just how verdant, how living, the natural world is, even at the time of year when plants and animals prepare to sleep for the winter.

As leaves and other fall foliage biodegrade throughout the park, nutrients and habitat for insects, worms and other park critters is created. The forest is its own perfect recycling center and is both complex and simple in its form and function.

As the “season of giving” draws near, it is our sincere hope that everyone takes time from the rigors of modern life to take a walk in the nearest park or wild space. Witnessing the changing of the seasons before our very eyes; breathing in fresh, clean air; and experiencing the calming effect that one enjoys when communing with nature… these are timeless gifts that each one of us should give ourselves.