by Barbara Linssen
If you’ve used the shortcut behind the baseball field at Hayhurst School, gone out the fence and down a path, across a rickety bridge to the a dead end of SW 48th Street then you’ve been in the headwaters of Pendleton Creek.
Technically, it starts about 400 feet east on 48th Ave. where new homes surround a preserved wetland. Pendleton Creek makes its way west through our neighborhood and the Cedar Sinai Woods (west of SW Shattuck) eventually meeting up with Fanno Creek near the intersection of Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and SW Oleson. You can enjoy Pendleton Creek gurgling or gushing by after a rain along the lovely creekside foot path (labeled as Kanan street on some maps) that runs between SW 50th south of Cameron to SW 54th, where sadly the public pathway ends. The creek is dry much of the Summer but carries a lot of water in the rainy season.
Hayhurst Neighborhood Association, with support from Seth Healy from the Westside Watershed Resource Center and the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, has been working to improve the wetland and water quality at the headwaters of the creek. Two fourth grade classrooms at Hayhurst School (Ms. MacDonald and Ms. Vallance’s classes) provided enthusiastic help during the last school year.
We first met the classes in October to discuss native versus invasive plants, habitat, water quality and local wildlife. This spring, we got dirty pulling out invasive English Ivy. Concentrating on the slope leading up to the northeast corner of the school property students made pretty quick work of the ivy. Once that ground was clear we came back a few weeks later and planted appropriate native plants supplied by the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services. Oregon Grape, ferns, ocean spray, fringe cup flowers and more are now getting established. The students had such a great time that they want to continue taking care of the area.
This first summer will be the biggest challenge for these new plants. If they can avoid drought, being accidentally cut down or crushed by adventurers, they are very likely to survive once fall rains arrive. Volunteers from the neighborhood will continue to weed carefully around the plants. Eventually competing invasive plants will be crowded and shaded out by the natives
Some of your neighbors will be hauling water to the site this July and August to keep the young plants going. If you’d like to help please let us know by emailing hayhurstna@gmail.com. Even one hour of your time would be a big help, and students can earn community service credits.