New collaborative restoration project: The Rock Creek Partnership

By Kris Day

Friends of Trees has teamed up with SOLV and the Clackamas River Basin Council to offer free restoration services to private property owners along Rock Creek, tributary to the Clackamas River, in Happy Valley and Damascus, Oregon.

The three nonprofits are working together as The Rock Creek Partnership, a project funded by Water Environment Services, Service District #1 of Clackamas County. The primary goal of the project is to remove weeds and to plant native trees and shrubs to help improve and maintain water quality for the over 300,000 citizens whose drinking water source is the Clackamas River.

Additionally, the project will help prevent property loss by providing erosion control along the stream’s banks. It will also enrich wildlife habitat by providing native food and nesting resources for birds and other species, and will help clean and cool the creek to encourage the return of native fish. The project also serves as a mechanism for engaging community members in helping care for one of our most valuable and shared natural resources, clean water.

The partnership will be hosting numerous volunteer planting events this fall and winter and would love to have your help! The events will be listed on the Friends of Trees events calendar as well as on The Rock Creek Partnership’s web site.

If you have property along Rock Creek or want to learn more, sign up at http://rockcreekpartnership.org.

–Day is both NT Contractor Specialist and GSI Outreach Specialist for Friends of Trees.