 The Cedar Mill Wetland
By Marshall Johnson, Land StewardThe Wetlands Conservancy
On Saturday, June 25th, Rock Creek Watershed Partners and The Wetland
Conservancy will sponsor a restoration party at the Cedar Mill Wetland.
Community residents are encouraged to join the effort to eliminate
invasive plants and put in some new native species. To volunteer,
contact Amanda Wilson, (503) 614-7630 or wilson_amanda_e@yahoo.com
The Cedar Mill Wetland is a sixteen-acre property located right
in the middle of Cedar Mill, just southeast of the Teufel property
spanning both sides of Barnes Road. Owned by The Wetland Conservancy,
The Wetland has diverse topography and vegetation types. It includes
year-round ponds, forested upland, scrub-shrub areas, and wet meadow
communities. A wide variety of wildlife uses the wetland habitat,
such as beaver and deer and many species of birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
 Cedar Mill is a restored wetland that was excavated and planted with
native vegetation approximately ten years ago. If you were around
then, you would have wondered at all those white sticks poking up
through the water. Invisible now, they were the beginnings of the
restoration project. Historically, this property was a wetland, with
(Beaverton’s) Johnson Creek meandering
through it. During the past century, the property was converted to
horse pasture, with Johnson Creek channelized along the south side of the
property. As part of mitigation projects by multiple organizations, the property
was later converted back into a wetland. The Wetlands Conservancy acquired
the property several years ago and currently holds it for conservation purposes.
On the east side of Barnes Road, the wetland is made up of a series
of interconnected ponds with Johnson Creek flowing along the south
side. Originally, a weir was constructed to divert a portion of Johnson
Creek’s flow though
the wetland. Beaver have since constructed a large dam upstream of
the weir, which serves a similar function. After flowing through the linked
ponds, the diverted waters reconnect to Johnson Creek just before the culvert
beneath Barnes Road. Johnson Creek continues through the culvert and enters
the western portion of the wetland. On the west side of Barnes Road, Johnson
Creek flows along the south of the property until it enters a culvert to
pass beneath I-26.
Because TWC is a small not-for-profit land conservation agency, we
rely on volunteer community groups to help with preservation and
restoration of Cedar Mill Wetland. Controlling the spread of non-native
invasive weeds is part of the overall site management and restoration
program. The focus is to reduce the presence of invasive weeds,
while enhancing native plant communities in order to help preserve water
quality, wildlife habitat, biodiversity and aesthetics.
The mission of The Wetlands Conservancy (TWC) is to preserve,
protect and restore the physical and ecological values of wetlands,
other aquatic systems and related uplands through education, research,
acquisition and promotion of private and public stewardship. For
more information about TWC, please visit our website at www.wetlandsconservancy.org/.
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