Posts by WMSWCD Admin
Monitoring Understory Seeding Project Plots
By Hannah Spencer, West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Field Conservationist Intern One of the first projects I worked on as a new intern with West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District (WMSWCD) was the Understory Seeding Project headed by staff conservationists Laura Taylor and Michael Ahr, and I was absolutely ecstatic at the…
Read MoreYou can create reptile habitat in your small forest
Photo by Pat Welle, Western painted turtle Article by Michael Ahr, Forest Conservationist, West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District Woodland owners are increasingly being encouraged to build brush piles for wildlife. At West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, we often discuss their importance for an array of wildlife. Mammals can live in the…
Read MoreSturgeon Lake Restoration Project update, June 2020
By Scott Gall, Rural Conservationist It has been over a year since the completion of construction on the Sturgeon Lake Restoration Project. After a decade of partnership building, planning, fundraising, and engineering, and just over four months of construction over the summer and fall of 2018, led by Columbia River Estuary Study Task Force (CREST),…
Read MoreUpdate on restoration of Lower McCarthy Creek wetland and oak habitat
By Kammy Kern-Korot, Senior Conservationist McCarthy Creek flows from NW Skyline Boulevard to Multnomah Channel across from Sauvie Island. This creek is unique to the area in that it is considered essential salmonid habitat, especially for coho and Chinook salmon. At the bottom of the watershedwatershed an area of land that channels rainfall, snowmelt, and…
Read MoreMy First Garlic Mustard Season (during quarantine)
By Cole Carr, GIS & Field Conservation Intern A global pandemic hits, putting the world in quarantine. The streets of Portland are at a standstill, minus the occasional bicyclist. What does that mean for a soon-to-be college graduate? Three months of doom, doing homework, staring longingly out the window? There’s no time for that, not…
Read MoreSpring forest maintenance in the Tualatin Mountains
(Photo: Ivy vines cut from a tree.) Spring inevitably brings on the urge to get outside and work the land. Our forest and habitat restoration work often encompasses invasive species control, planting of native trees and shrubs, and control of any competing vegetation that might threaten our desired plants. This spring, we encourage you to…
Read MoreFormer holly orchard will nourish a new forest
Guest post by Laura O. Foster In a blue-sky week in early November, a Rayco track mulcher began chewing up mature holly trees in a 13-acre orchard on McNamee Road. With the last commercial harvest from the orchard almost 10 years prior, the property owner, Dr. Ivan Law, had decided to repurpose his land. “I…
Read MoreUnderstory Seeding Project Update
Two of our conservation staff – Michael Ahr, Forest Conservationist, and Laura Taylor, Conservationist and Education Coordinator – are in the second year of a forest understoryUnderstory The area under and around trees seeding pilot project that kicked off in September of 2017. We are working on trial sites with eight landowners in the Tualatin…
Read MoreSturgeon Lake Restoration Project Dedication
In June, alongside many partners in the Sturgeon Lake Restoration Project, we celebrated the completion of the decades-long project to reconnect Sturgeon Lake to the Columbia River. West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District and partners restored a stream system that allows natural flow from the Columbia River through Dairy Creek channel into the lake…
Read MoreAre you ready for fire season?
Hot and dry summer weather will be here before we know it, so here are a few tips for keeping your property free from fire hazards. Practicing good vegetation management near the home is an important first step, taking care of trees and shrubs, and keeping the lawn mowed. Prune back any branches that hang over…
Read MoreGot turtles?
If you have turtles in your pond, wetland or other slow-moving water on your property, lucky you! Both species of Oregon’s native turtles are uncommon, and it’s hard for them to find suitable habitat. You’ll want to make sure the conditions you provide for them stay suitable or even improve. The Oregon Native Turtle Working…
Read MoreYou can help eradicate Garlic mustard
Spring is just around the corner, and that means it’s time to start thinking about the weeds that might be popping up in your yard this year. While some kinds of weeds might be an unsightly nuisance, there are others that need special and urgent attention as they pose a huge risk to ecosystem health.…
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