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Nadaka Nature Park & Garden Project, Improvements Coming in 2014

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By admin - Posted on March 1st, 2014
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Nadaka Nature Park & Garden Project, Improvements Coming in 2014. Info here!

2013 was a very productive year for the Friends of Nadaka team which includes the Audubon Society of Portland (Audubon) and Columbia Slough Watershed Council (CSWC).

By Lee Dayfield, Friends of Nadaka

Audubon released a Cooper’s Hawk and brought their educational birds to the Nadaka Community Festival. Over 300 people attended the Festival last August. This year’s Festival will be held September 27th. You can view the release of the Cooper’s Hawk on YouTube by searching for Nadaka Nature Park.

The Nadaka Nature Park & Garden Project was awarded an Oregon State Parks grant in the amount of $523,480. These funds will be used to cover the large capital improvements such as the restrooms and covered picnic shelter.

Joey Wojtas of Troop 606 chose Nadaka to do his Eagle Scout Service Project. His project included clearing an area on the meadow, planting natives, mulching and installing a new concrete bench (above picture). It also included removing a large area of ivy in the forest. A special thanks to Joey and Troop 606 for their work at Nadaka.

There were two cleanups with SOLVE® in 2013 as well as many others throughout the year. 473 individuals volunteered 1413 hours in 2013. This didn’t even include the thousands of hours the Nadaka team devoted to the project.

In addition to the above team of Friends of Nadaka, CSWC and Audubon, the following groups have been working on the Nadaka project: City of Gresham, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, MIG, Inc., Verde, Outgrowing Hunger, Human Solutions, Center for Family Success, Springwater Trail High School, Four Cities Peer Court, HB Lee Middle School, East Hill Church, Rosemary Anderson High School and Oregon Tradeswomen. The involvement of our community at Nadaka continues to grow.

2014 promises to be even more exciting. Construction should begin on the 2-acres near NE Glisan in June. Improvements along NE Pacific will happen late summer or fall which will include removing the fence and completing the street. Approximately 12 Douglas Firs with laminated root rot will be removed possibly in March. These trees will be used in the future nature based play area.

Upcoming Events:

  • March 22, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cleanup
  • April 12, 10 a.m., Walk & Talk with project partners
  • April 26, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., SOLVE® Cleanup
  • Sept, 27, Noon to 3 p.m., Nadaka Community Festival

For updates on Nadaka go to www.friendsofnadaka.org or check out the Friends of Nadaka on Facebook. Information also available on the WENA website www.wilkeseastna.org.

Funds for this project are still needed and you can make a tax-deductible contribution on the Friends of Nadaka website. The Columbia Slough Watershed Council, a 501(c)(3) organization, is the fiscal agent for this project. Checks can be mailed directly to the CSWC at 7040 NE 47th Ave., Portland, OR 97218. Just make a notation the gift is being made for “Nadaka”. No gift is too small and we need funds for printing, copies, buying tools for the community garden, office supplies, the design, fabrication and installation of interpretive signage, and the Community Festival in September, matching funds to support a community art project, etc.

The grant funds received thus far cannot be used for any of the above items. All grants are specific as to what the funds are to be used for.