Registration is Open for Spring 2026 Stormwater Stars Workshops

Stormwater Stars is a landscape improvement and education program that supports managing rainwater where we live, work, and play.

By partnering with local residents, small businesses, and community organizations, West Multnomah SWCD’s Stormwater Stars supports the creation of landscapes that slow, soak, and filter stormwater. These improvements also promote healthier soils, enhance the look and feel of neighborhoods, and reduce pollution in our rivers and streams.

At our hands-on, family-friendly workshops, we share practical, sustainable landscaping practices that support healthy watershedswatershed an area of land that channels rainfall, snowmelt, and runoff into a common body of water, such as a nearby lake or river. Multiple streams can be part of the same watershed area, such as the Tryon Creek Watershed which is fed by Oak Creek, Park Creek, Falling Creek, and others.. Together, we’ll improve the workshop site while learning from one another.

Workshop Schedule

Sunday, March 8, 10 AM – 12 PM Multnomah Neighborhood
Brambles to Blooms is a section of landscaping within the right-of-way that the neighbors have adopted through the City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) Adopt-a-Landscape program. This workshop site is located between a walking path and a gravel road at the bottom of a hill where there is significant ponding. Ahead of the workshop, the neighbors have been working diligently to remove Himalayan blackberry and English ivy. During the workshop, we will be planting native plants to help increase rainwater infiltrationInfiltration Water absorbs into the ground instead of running over the surface in the area.

Sunday, March 29, 1 PM – 3 PM Multnomah Neighborhood
Join us in planting native plants in a shady yard where the lawn has been removed using sheet mulching. We will discuss the benefits of lawn replacement as well as different techniques for removing lawns.

Saturday, April 11, 10 AM – 12 PM Homestead Neighborhood
For this workshop, we will be amending soil and planting native plants within the condominium complex courtyard and in a parking strip to help increase rainwater infiltration in the area. During the workshop we will also discuss how we can reduce the heat island effectHeat island effect Urban areas with fewer trees and more pavement that experience higher temperatures than rural or suburban areas, which typically have more trees and green space and less paved surfaces that hold heat. with native plants.

Pre-registration is required, and all attendees will receive a free native plant. For more information about the program, visit our Stormwater Stars page.

Have questions? Email rachel@wmswcd.org.

Do you own or manage a landscape that could use help from this program? Apply to be a workshop site host!