family friendly

Join Friends of Gateway Green for a family-friendly, fun, and festive Halloween-themed bike ride. Come dressed in your scariest, funniest, weirdest costume - even dress up your bike! We’ll haunt the streets of east Portland for an easy paced bike ride escorted by EPAP bike committee members. Bring your friends and family for an afternoon of Halloween fun on two wheels!

Directions: From downtown Portland - take I-84 east to exit 7 Halsey St., keep left on ramp, take slight right onto NE Halsey St., 1st right onto NE 102nd Ave., right onto NE Pacifc St. or I-205 south toward I-84/Portland/Salem, take Glisan St. exit 21A, left onto NE Glisan St., left onto NE 102nd Ave., left onto NE Pacifc ST.

The Friends of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge would like to invite you to these years BirdFest celebration. Birdfest is an annual celebration of birds, nature, and Native American culture. This free event offers your friends and family to explore a gem of a wildlife refuge, learn about Chinookan culture, and attend talks, presentations, interpretive hikes, a salmon bake, and more all just 20 minutes north of Portland off of I-5. You can check out the schedule of events here: http://ridgefieldfriends.org/birdfest/schedule-of-events/. We hope to see you out and about during this wonder-filled weekend!

This half-day forum on community-driven greenspace projects will be held at Ventura Elementary School.

What is it?

A half-day forum to share information and strategies on community driven neighborhood park, natural area, and other greenspace projects.

An opportunity to inspire and educate new community greenspace advocates.

Provide a forum to discuss strategies for effective and successful community organizing, outreach to diverse communities, fund raising, effective collaboration with local governments, the media, businesses, and non-profit organizations.

Who should attend? Individuals interested in learning how to develop and implement a neighborhood green space projects, including trails, community gardens, natural area acquisition and restoration, or other public greenspace efforts.

Details: Lunch & snacks provided Advanced registration requested (details pending) Event limited to 80 participants Childcare available Spanish language translation available

Who will be there? Project presenters: Friends of Gateway Green, Nadaka Nature Park and Garden Project, Let Us Build Thomas Cully Park, Green Lents, Depave, and the Portland Parks Foundation.

There will be lunchtime screening of a local greenspace advocacy film on the Kellogg-for-Coho Initiative produced by Gregory Baartz-Bowman and Mark Gamba.

Dust off those boots, grab a shovel, and get your hands dirty planting native trees, removing invasive species, and helping restore critical habitat for native plants and wildlife. Dig in with SOLVE every Saturday this fall at Team Up restoration sites across the Portland-metro area. Over time, this work will improve water quality, create wildlife habitat, and store carbon to slow climate change.

• Projects are Saturday mornings from 9 am - 12 pm or 1 pm, rain or shine. All tools, gloves and supplies will be provided.

• Visit our calendar of events for a tree planting near you!

• For more information or to register, visit: www.solv.org, email morgan@solv.org, or call 504-844-9571 ext. 332.

Spicy scents of autumn trees, giant golden leaves on maples and the silvery chatter of American dippers in the river. These are the smells, sights and sounds of Oxbow Regional Park in the autumn. Witness the return of wild salmon to one of the Pacific Northwest’s premier rivers – the glacier-fed Sandy – just 45 minutes from downtown Portland.

Naturalists are on hand at the river’s edge to help spot spawning salmon and interpret their behavior and life cycle. Special salmon-viewing glasses are available on loan. Salmon viewing proceeds rain or shine. The trail is unpaved and fairly level; wear good walking shoes. Inquire at the entry booth for starting location of the salmon viewing then follow the signs to the salmon! Suitable for all ages.  Free with a $5 parking fee per vehicle and registration is not required. Leave pets at home. For more information, call 503-797-1650 option 2.