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Adopt a Park!!

Do you live near a park with a natural area, or have a favorite park where you love to spend time? Would you like to be a good neighbor and take action to make your park better? THPRD has a program for you!

Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District manages more than 90 park sites with recreational amenities, 60 miles of hard- and soft-paved trails, and more than 1,400 acres of natural area. Their maintenance and natural areas staff does a great job of keeping these properties safe and in good shape, but they can’t pull every weed, or find all the trash that gets dumped.

Pulling long vines of ivy out of natural areas can become a fun, competitive sport for some kids!

That’s where the Adopt-a-Park volunteer program comes in. Melissa Marcum, Natural Resources Volunteer Coordinator, enjoys working with individuals and groups who want to make a difference.

“Training consists of an informal meeting at the park, usually with the park site manager, myself and the volunteer(s). We go over what optional activities volunteers can perform at the site, natural area features of interest, and then we identify what the adopters will be doing, how often they plan to volunteer at the park, safety issues, and anything else that comes up.” The district can supply work gloves, tools, and plants, if necessary. She continues, “Some of our adopters have even borrowed chest waders, so they can pull trash out of local streams and ponds. As long as the resources are available, we can loan them out to volunteers.”

“The program is designed to be open-ended, to meet the needs of the majority of patrons looking to volunteer in their neighborhood park,” Marcum says. “We can work with both casual and more involved volunteers.” Someone strolling through the park occasionally with gloves and clippers to handle invasive blackberry as it appears, or to pull some ivy before it threatens trees, can accomplish a lot!

The program also works with a variety of groups. They are currently working with New Seasons Market at Barrows Park, in the Progress Ridge area. They have been involved in the adoption program for the last few years, recruiting volunteers from their staff and store patrons to participate. Past projects have focused on stream cleanup and restoration of natural areas along a tributary of Fanno Creek.

Teens found an amazing assortment of junk hidden in their nearby natural area!

Marcum says, “We are also working with a local family who have adopted Summercrest Park. They have focused on trash removal from the stretch of South Johnson Creek located in the park and will soon focus on ivy removal in the forested portions located in the eastern half of the park.”

At Pheasant Park, a Boy Scout troop has adopted a portion of the riparian corridor of Beaverton Creek. These scouts have been involved at the site for the past few years, removing invasive plants and replanting with native trees and shrubs. Another neighbor has adopted another portion of the stream corridor at this site. He has been working there for a number of years, restoring the natural areas behind his house, by removing invasive vegetation and replanting with natives.

“We have a number of other sites where groups and individuals have adopted parks or portions of parks. The activities vary from litter pickup to natural area restoration, and even monitoring wildlife activity at sites,” Marcum says.

More information about the program, and a link to submit a volunteer application, is available on the district website at thprd.org/activities/nature/volunteer/adopt-a-park.

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