wheelchair accessible

Fourth Annual Garden Home Sustainability Fair

Free and open to the public - family friendly. Peruse booths on various sustainable topics and businesses from natural gardening to recycling to resource conservation to green living to saving money in your home.

This year the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation Dept. is a partner and will be participating!

Previous participants include: Master Recyclers, One Stop Sustainability Shop, Portland Purple Water, Tualatin Valley Water District, Regional Green Building Hotline, New Seasons Market, Happy Baby Organic Baby Food, and Green Depot. 

For more info or to get a booth contact Heather at 503-245-9932 or heatherw@wccls.org.

Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine Mike Houck, Executive Director, Urban Greenspaces Institute and Co-Founder, The Intertwine Alliance

For the past four decades, Mike Houck has been the leading voice in our community for the integration of nature in the city. He has served for more than thirty years as Urban Naturalist for the Audubon Society of Portland, and in 1999 he founded the Urban Greenspaces Institute. The Institute’s motto, “in livable cities is preservation of the wild,” speaks to his philosophy that only by creating livable cities will the rural landscape be protected and restored. And, to be livable, a city must provide urban residents with access to nature where they live, work, and go to school. He will discuss the importance of access to nature to our physical and mental health as well as the intrinsic values of nature in the city.

Mike is also co-founder of The Intertwine Alliance, an alliance of nonprofits, agencies and businesses working to create a world class system of parks, trails, and natural areas in the Portland-Vancouver region. His presentation will describe the evolution of The Intertwine and The Intertwine Alliance and efforts to protect biodiversity and watershed health inside and outside the region’s urban growth boundaries and across the urban and rural landscapes. Houck is co-editor of Wild in the City, a Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas (2000) and the new Wild in the City, Exploring the Intertwine released by OSU Press in the fall of 2011. His credits also include Wild on the Willamette—Exploring the Lower Willamette River (2003). He has been recognized for his contributions to urban green spaces locally, nationally, and internationally. A book signing will follow the lecture.

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge's annual celebration BirdFest is the weekend of October 13 &14. Every year it concludes with a traditional Chinookan-style salmon bake, complete with free tastings. You can also sample some delicious seafood soup, learn about Chinook culture in the Cathlapotle Plankhouse, attend talks, presentations, and there are activities for the kiddos too. Samples will be given out beginning at 2:30, and will be on a first come, first serve basis. Check out the schedule of events here: http://ridgefieldfriends.org/birdfest/schedule-of-events/. Hope to see you on this wonder filled weekend!

We would love to invite you to this Saturday's Rewild Skill-Share, our afternoon rewilding social networking picnic.  Make new friends and hang out with old while sharing skills, ideas and strategies for creating new cultures based on humanities prehistoric past. We welcome all levels of experience.This month's theme is: Fire by Friction! We haven't had a fire-focused rewild skill-share in a while. We'll be playing with bow-drills, hand drills, maybe a fire plow and if anyone sh...

ows up with a bamboo fire saw, you'll get a dozen high-fives!Materials to bring:• Carving Knife• Nylon Cord• Natural Cord• Cedar, Cottonwood or other soft heart wood• Any other wood cutting and carving tools• Jute or other tinder materialOther stuff to bring is your family & friends, water, healthy paleo snacks to share, a carving knife, a blanket or chair to sit on, materials for your project, a musical instrument to play and a $5-10 suggested donation to support our efforts. Remember: “dress to impress”. This is a social event after all!See you there! http://www.rewildportland.com/educational-programs/rewildcamp/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/rewildportland   

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22

Oxbow Regional Park is rich in tracks at this time of year, when mink, beaver, otter and black bear often leave clear footprints in the sand. Learn to read the ground like a book. Metro naturalist and tracker Dan Daly introduces you to basic track identification and interpretation, and the stealth skills needed to watch wildlife up close. Suitable for adults and children 10 and older. Bring water and a snack and meet at the floodplain parking area. Leave pets at home. Registration and payment of $11 per adult or family required in advance. There is a $5 parking fee per vehicle payable at the park. You can now register and pay online for Metro activities. Go to Metro’s online calendar (www.oregonmetro.gov/calendar), find your event by searching or browsing, and follow the instructions. For questions or to register by phone, call 503-797-1650 option 2.