habitat restoration

Register Now for Rural Living Field Day!

The 2012 Rural Living Field Day is set for Saturday, October 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Echo Glen Farms, 15150 NW Echo Glen Lane in North Plains.  To register, landowners are asked to fill out the form for the event on the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District website.  Just click “Events” at www.wmswcd.org.

Rural Living Field Day is a fun event for rural landowners and this year the event is a partnership of West Multnomah, Tualatin and Columbia Soil and Water Conservation Districts.  The event features speakers addressing a wide variety of topics and covering issues that face rural homeowners, farmers, and land managers every day.  Topics include wildlife and pollinator habitat, invasive weeds, small scale agriculture, woodland management, livestock and pasture management and more.  Experts will conduct hands-on demonstrations and be available to answer questions about specific landowner concerns.

Morning beverages and snacks will be served as well as a fully catered lunch!  The cost is only $10 per person or $15 for families.   

Rural Living Field Day is also a great time for landowners to meet each other and share concerns and ideas about their properties and operations.  Landowners have also found valuable professional and personal contacts at past events.

Protect native plants in Lake Oswego! SOLVE and its partners are working to enhance sites throughout the Portland-metro area. Volunteers will be assisting with site maintenance by removing invasive plants, and mulching and watering native plants. Over time, this work will improve water quality, create wildlife habitat, and store carbon to slow climate change. SOLVE will provide all tools and gloves for this project.

• When: Saturday, 08/04/2012 from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM
• Where: Carter Creek - 5800 Meadows Road, Lake Oswego, OR
• Click here for more information and to register
• For questions contact: morgan@solv.org or 503-844-9571 ext. 332

SOLVE’s mission is to bring Oregonians together to improve the environment and build a legacy of stewardship.

August 18 th  Workday at Whipple Creek Regional Park in Ridgefield Wa 

meet at 9 am at the north entrance to the park this is the horse parking area 

Directions from I-5 are 179 th street exit head west to NW 21st Ave turn left and go to the end of the road 

Our goal for this work day will be to restore a section of the yellow trail North Ridge way heading west down to the water

trough we will be doing water bar construction and moving gravel plus replanting the eroded sections of trail bring gloves boots and shovels this will be a very rewarding day the park is very beautiful come out and enjoy it with us thanks Anita Will 360 687 4760 whipplecreekproject@gmail.com

Are your chance to learn by doing a variety of projects in a sustainably managed woodland - it's sort of like a "dude ranch" in the forest.

Volunteers help with tree planting and pruning; reducing fire hazards and controlling invasive weeds; repairing trails and maintaining facilities - projects vary with the seasons. Volunteer opportunities are open to all adults (individuals and organized groups) and adult-supervised youth.

Forests Forever, Inc. encourages civic clubs, church groups, professional organizations and businesses, youth groups, families and individuals to volunteer at Hopkins Demonstration Forest. Community Forestry Days are planned for the 2nd Saturday of each month - please RSVP by the Thursday prior to each Community Forestry Day, whether you plan to join us for all or part of the day.

The schedule for Community Forestry Days usually follows this pattern:

8:30 am: Team leaders assemble, volunteers arrive

9:00 am: Volunteer projects begin Noon: Lunch & topical presentation

1:00 pm: Volunteers return to projects

2:00 pm: Tour, 90-minutes

4:30 pm: Thank you. Have a safe drive home.

Integrated Design: Lower Columbia River Ecosystems (Giving Voice to the Land) Continuing Education Course

The natural and cultural resources of the lower Columbia River have progressively undergone change as a direct result of human occupation and especially so since EuroAmerican arrival. Densely populated for thousands of years by ecologically sophisticated and adaptive indigenous cultures, Ridgefield became a EuroAmerican agricultural system in the 1840’s and later, a wildlife refuge in 1965. Currently, resource managers at federal, state and local levels are challenged with designing and implementing management plans and interpretive strategies to maintain and restore desired natural resources. In addition managers must deal with ongoing changes such as the introduction or expansion of invasive species (e.g. nutria), the effects of the Bonneville Dam (completed in 1937 the dam has dramatically changed the flooding regimes of Ridgefield), and future climate change scenarios.

Using the wetlands, prairies, savannas and forests of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge as representative of the greater Lower Columbia, this intensive will explore alternative management regimes and their implications for future natural / cultural resource scenarios within the context of continuous, accelerating ecological change.

PNCA Instructors:

Peter Schoonmaker, Ph.D., Chair MFA Collaborative Design, PNCA

Tracey Cockrell, MFA, Chair, Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies, PNCA

Donald Harker, M.S., Systems Thinking and Natural Resource Management, PNCA

Guest Scholars:

Nancy Turner, Ph.D., Hakai Professor of Ethnoecology, University of Victoria

Judy Bluehorse Skelton, Ethnobiologist, Nez Perce Tribe

Virginia Butler, Ph.D., Salmon Archeologist, Portland State University

Kenneth Ames, Ph.D., Archeologist, Portland State University, Emeritus

Kimberlee Chambers, Ph.D., Ethnoecologist, Assistant professor, PNCA

Lauri Twitchell, MFA, Master Landscape Architecture, Printmaker, painter, visiting artist, PNCA

Peter Suchecki, MFA, Printmaking, videographer, animator, visiting artist, PNCA