Water. Save a Little. Help a Lot! Regional Water Providers Consortium offers free indoor water saving kits.

Many of us have ignored the sound of a trickling stream coming from our toilet, or maybe we’ve chosen to overlook those small, slow drips from a bathroom faucet or kitchen sink.

After all, how much water do they really waste?

According to the EPA, more than 1 trillion gallons of water leak every year in homes across the U.S. That’s enough water to sustain the population of Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami combined each year. It’s also estimated that leaks in almost 10 percent of American homes drip away nearly 90 gallons of water a day. In the greater Portland metro area, that can mean about $100 in water charges literally going down the drain each year.

Many of these leaks occur in old fixtures, such as leaky toilets, faucets and showerheads. Fix these drips and you'll be amazed at how much water and money you can save.

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"Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together we can make a difference!”   INSIDE THIS ISSUE New K-12 Rockwood Charter School Free! Earth Day Recycling, Apr 19 Fix-a-Leak Week, March 17-23 Albertina Kerr Construction Begins Nadaka Nature Park/Garden Project Neighborhood Clean-Up, Jun 28th

Download the full-color edition here. Now with clickable links!

Newsletters are a regular publication of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association. They are hand-delivered to over 1,500 residences and businesses in our area, timed to correspond with our regular meetings.

Looking for a past issue? Check out the newsletter archive.

Got a story to share?
Wilkes East residents are encouraged to submit articles for the newsletter. Articles should be limited to 300 words and may be subject to editing. Send articles by email to: info@wilkeseastna.org, or by postal mail to: PO Box 536 • Fairview, OR 97024.

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.

Sunrise Rockwood Charter School, Click to enlarge

Starting in April, demolition will begin to make way for construction of a new three-story, 53,000 square foot building for the Sunrise Rockwood Charter School at 19034 SE Stark Street in West Gresham.

The new 700 student K-12 school will have twenty-eight classrooms, a student commons, administrative offices, auditorium, food services, plus covered and open outdoor play areas.

Rockwood Community Development Corporation, the project's developer, says the Corbett Charter School Association has agreed on a lease to create the new school, which will border E. Burnside and S.E. Stark Street along the MAX Blue Line.

The success of the nationally acclaimed Corbett Charter School, which shares school buildings inside the Corbett School District, has created a waiting list of new students (mostly from east Multnomah county) wanting to enroll in the highly successful program. High demand and lack of space is one of the reasons for building the new school.

Construction on a new sub-acute care addition, and a new residential facility, are set to begin in March at Albertina Kerr Centers Gresham Campus, 722 NE 162nd Ave. Work on the project is expected to be completed in July.

The 6,000 square feet of new space, a new exercise area and parking lot improvements will allow the facility to serve approximately 25% more children and families.

Laminated Root Rot. Click to enlarge

Laminated Root Rot and Nadaka Nature Park Abel Gebrezgi and Jim Labbe Audubon Society of Portland

INTRODUCTION
Laminated root rot (LRR) is a fungal pathogen, Phellinus weirii, also known as yellowing ring rot. (LLR gets its name from the lamination of the decayed wood (see photo above). This fungus is widespread in Southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, northern California and western Montana.). It is one of the most damaging root diseases amongst conifers, especially firs and cedars, in the Pacific Northwest. Douglas fir, Mountain hemlock, Western hemlock, Grand fir, and Pacific silver fir are highly susceptible to infection by this pathogen. Pine species like Western white pine and Ponderosa pine and larch are more resistant to it while hardwoods are immune. The fungus was first discovered in 1914, on Western red cedar in Idaho. The first reported case in Douglas fir was in 1940, at Cowichan Lake, British Columbia.

BIOLOGY The mycelium of LRR doesn’t grow in the soil and the spores do not spread by wind like most fungal pathogens. Infection occurs when roots of healthy trees grow in contact with infected roots.

Click to enlarge

After initial contact with a living root, the mycelium grows on the bark, extending only a few inches into the surrounding soil. The mycelium penetrates the host through the injured bark and advances along newly infected roots. Symptoms include crown yellowing and thinning, distress of cones, red-brown staining of outer heartwood, and separation of annual rings. Less discernible is the root rot which eventually decays the roots, destabilizes the tree, and leads to death and toppling. In addition to the loss of mature trees within a stand, LRR creates potential hazards from tree fall especially in small urban parks. The number of cases of the LRR disease has increased substantially with the presence of fire suppression and resulting dominance of Douglas-fir and Grand fir.

The Wilkes East Neighborhood board has created a draft transportation policy for consideration by its members. The policy addresses our local transportation needs as well as regional needs that impact our neighborhood. Read more

Questions, comments or to get involved contact info@wilkeseastna.org.

"Name Your Price" Cat Adoption Special! The Multnomah County animal shelter has become overrun with cats and kittens so they’re asking the public to help out with foster care or adoptions.

The shelter has the capacity to hold 90 cats but they currently have 115. Shelter officials are pleading with the public to step up, bring a cat into your home.

The shelter also continues to offer its “Name Your Own Price” special discount for cat adoptions. Multnomah County Animal Services is located at 1700 W. Columbia River Highway (Get Map) in Troutdale.