UPDATE: November Nadaka Nature Park clean-up event draws large turnout

Volunteers register for the event Click to enlarge

Volunteers plant trees, shrubs. Fill 40-yard dumpster with invasives. Columbia Slough Watershed Council, Concordia University baseball pitch in.

Perfect morning for the event

What started out as a small Nadaka Nature Park clean-up for Saturday, Nov. 14 soon became a large-scale event with 92 volunteers in attendance. Workers performed tasks involving the planting of 14 native trees, 65 shrubs and 170 small plants and herbs, as well as the removal of invasive species including ivy and blackberry bushes. Members of the Columbia Slough Watershed Council volunteered at this event and played a significant role in getting the Concordia University baseball team members involved in preserving this important 12-acre natural forest park located at 176th and NE Pacific just north of Glisan. Students from H.B. Lee Middle School leadership program, Cub Scout Pack 740 and their families, and several residents of the Wilkes East neighborhood also worked hard to fill a 40-cubic yard dumpster with invasive species. Together the workers contributed 324 hours of volunteer service.

As part of a school community service project, Alex Simmons, an eighth grade Corbett Charter School student and neighbor, helped Wilkes East Neighborhood Association coordinate this clean-up event. She contacted local businesses and obtained enough donations to provide refreshments for the 92 volunteers. Alex recruited workers to assist her with the registration table to check in volunteers and organized the refreshments to help keep the hard workers going.

Get event photos!

UPDATE 12-10-09: View related story appearing in the Nov 25th Gresham Outlook newspaper here!.

About Nadaka Nature Park

Nadaka Nature Park is a lovely 10 acre natural area of second generation Douglas Fir forest with an under-story of native plants in the Wilkes East Neighborhood. Nadaka offers a quiet, woodsy escape with it's .46 mile walking trail loop and an open meadow on the south. The Wilkes East Neighborhood Association (WENA) is actively working to restore this natural area by removing invasive blackberry, ivy, and holly with volunteer work parties. Entrance to the park is near NE 175th & NE Pacific St. Get Map!

If you haven't seen the park lately, plan to visit and stroll around!

How you can help

Volunteer cleanups at Nadaka are regularly scheduled. Cleanup information is always posted on the fence at Nadaka. All you need to bring are your own work gloves, a water bottle, and a willingness to meet your neighbors and work in the park. Tools and refreshments are provided.

For more information or to volunteer with Friends of Nadaka contact Lee Dayfield phone 503-998-1044, or email leedayfield@wilkeseastna.org, or check the events calendar (top right) on the Wilkes East Neighborhood website.

Related Content

• Everything Nadaka: Recent events, grants, and a possible new expansion
• Volunteers remove invasives, install new signs at July 2009 Nadaka Nature Park cleanup event

Event Photos

Click to enlarge

Great turnout on a beautiful fall morning	Volunteers gather before the event	Concordia University Men's Baseball Team pitch-in
Participants get their planting instructions	Volunteers fan-out across Nadaka Nature Park	Adding new trees, shrubs and herbs to the park

Supporters

Nadaka Nature Park is supported in part through the generous efforts of these organizations:

Audubon Society of Portland	Conserving Land for People	East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District
Oregon Metro regional government	St Aidan's Episcopal Church