GreenWorks Awarded USFWS Flexible Services Contract

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GreenWorks is excited about the new opportunities to be presented by our recent award of a USFWS Flexible Services contract. Since it’s origins in 1871, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s mission has been to “work with others, to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.” Similar to the USFWS, GreenWorks’ mission over the last 14 years has been to create healthy interactions between people and nature through conservation and restoration of sensitive ecosystems.

Under this new contract, GreenWorks hopes to provide services for a wide range of projects. From cultural resource inventories, to transportation plans, historic visitor centers, stormwater manuals, wetland restoration, bird blinds, and artistic fish cleaning platforms, GreenWorks will support the USFWS Service as it continues to plan and design for the “Big Six” priority public uses (hunting, fishing, wildlife photography, wildlife observation, environmental interpretation, and environmental education) on its 150 million acres of refuges.

To learn more about the USFWS Service visit: http://www.fws.gov/

Mt. Scott Creek METRO Grant Application

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GreenWorks recently helped the Clackamas County Water Environment Services prepare an application for METRO’s Nature in Neighborhoods Capital Grants Program. The requested funds would finance restoration of fish habitat and provide public education improvements along Mt. Scott Creek at North Clackamas Park in Milwaukie. The lower reach of Mt. Scott Creek is important habitat for several juvenile fish species and its location, within a park heavily used by local youth, makes it a great place for environmental education installations. Proposed improvements include: 48,000 square feet of restored and protected riparian forest habitat.

4 large woody debris installations for fish habitat, including approximately 40 logs total.

320 linear feet of streambank stabilization and restoration (within the total 550 lf section).

530 linear feet of decommissioned trail.

50 linear foot pedestrian bridge for ADA access over wetlands.

2 unique and sustainably designed creek overlooks with educational interpretive signs.

1 culvert removal and bank restoration at Camas Creek confluence for fish passage.

 

 

We are all keeping our fingers crossed that funding comes through for this exciting project!

 

 

 

 

Chambers Creek WWTP Site Perimeter Improvements Under Construction

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Construction has begun on the first phase of a 30-year, five-phase expansion of the Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), located in University Place, WA on a former quarry site on the Puget Sound. The WWTP expansion is necessary to protect the health of the Sound and surrounding environment by upgrading treatment facilities and providing additional capacity that will meet the needs associated with future economic growth in the region.

The first phase consists of 33 acres of site perimeter improvements, and includes a 200'-wide vegetated landscape buffer that extends around the majority of the plant perimeter. This buffer will provide a visual and physical screen to the plant as well as valuable habitat for a variety of native fawna. The north perimeter buffer will also accommodate approximately 6 acres of stormwater infiltration basins and swales that will treat all impervious surfaces throughout existing and future expansion areas of the WWTP.  Additionally, new pedestrian trails will be constructed along the east perimeter buffer to connect existing trail networks adjacent to the WWTP site.

The photo below is a panorama of the site grading for the north perimeter buffer, which includes the stormwater infiltration basins as well as a new reclaimed water basin.  This basin will hold post-process water that will be used to irrigate the entire Chambers Bay Properties, which also include public parks adjacent to the WWTP as well as the award-winning Chambers Bay Golf Course to the north.

Click the image to enlarge.

The Little Neighborhood that Could

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The Portland Development Commission (PDC) recently produced a documentary called The Little Neighborhood that Could - Kenton Streetscape Improvements. This short four minute video captures much of the change that the Kenton neighborhood has undergone over recent years and the new vitality it is experiencing now on the heels of a newly constructed streetscape in the heart of Kenton’s business district on North Denver Avenue. To learn more about this project and GreenWorks’ involvement with it, use the search term ‘Kenton’ to see past postings on our website. Also visit the PDC website at www.pdc.us/kenton for additional information. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsCMoOoEFp8&w=640&h=390]

 

Three New Playgrounds in Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District

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THE PROJECTS Kids in the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District will soon have three new playgrounds to enjoy. The parks district is replacing old and out of date equipment at Forest Hills Park, Raleigh Hills Park and John Marty Park. GreenWorks is helping THPRD develop playground designs and solicit feedback from the public. Along with the playground designs will be upgrades to ADA accessibility, the addition of site amenities including benches and picnic tables, planting for buffers and shading, fencing and seat walls.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

THPRD and GreenWorks held public meetings earlier this year to get feedback on the playground designs as well as receiving feedback on the internet. The neighbors are excited about the new equipment and were able to steer us in the right direction for the design of their new park. Below are some of the drawings developed by young neighbors of John Marty Park.

The playground should be ready to enjoy this summer!

Students Gain Invaluable Professional Insight

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GreenWorks hosted two energetic student groups last week, giving them a sneak peek into the profession. Claire Maulhardt, landscape designer, is involved with two students groups that encourage the relationship between students and the Landscape Architecture profession; ACE Mentoring program for high school students (Architecture, Construction Management and Engineering) and ASLA Oregon Student Liaison.

Claire’s enthusiasm for teaching leads to her involvement in the (ACE) Mentoring program designed for high school students interested in pursuing Architecture, Construction Management and Engineering. On January 25th, GreenWorks hosted one of the biweekly meetings exposing students to a range of projects in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design. The students learned about site analysis and site planning  related to drawings for a waterfront café they are designing over the next few months. Crowded around the site plan on the wall, students threw out suggestions for site placement of their café  and discussed the opportunities and constraints as they took turns drawing. At the end of the two-hour session, the students came to an agreement on their building location. To create the most ideal waterfront “atmosphere,” the student team placed their café cantilevered over the river. In the coming weeks, structural engineering mentors will walk them through the exciting challenges that this decision imposes on the process of design and construction.

 

Claire Maulhardt is also involved with ASLA Oregon as a Student Liaison on the Executive Committee. This role helps facilitates the relationship between the Student ASLA chapter and ASLA Oregon. On January 28th, GreenWorks hosted five college students from the University of Oregon as part of the Eighteenth Annual Shadow Mentor Day, an event organized by the University of Oregon’s Professional Outreach and Development Services (PODS), the Department of Landscape Architecture, Student ASLA and ASLA Oregon. The students spent the day with GreenWorks staffers learning about the day-to-day of being a landscape architect. GreenWorks staff and the students toured a few recent projects, one of which was 1st and Main, a new roof terrace garden closed to the general public. The students learned about the range of green roof types and had ample opportunity to ask LOTS of questions about Landscape Design.

 

 

Rufus Restoration Planting Completed

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Rufus is an island site located 25 miles east of The Dalles Oregon in the Columbia Gorge. This site is one of two mitigation sites at which habitat restoration is being done as part of the Wyeth Columbia River Treaty Fishing Access Site project that we are working on with Advanced American Construction, Inc., the general contractor for this project. This U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project will provide Native American tribes with fishing access to the Columbia River and is one of 31 total similar sites that will eventually fulfill treaty agreements that the U.S. government made with Native American tribes that preserve fishing access for these groups.  The restoration mitigation work is being done to compensate for disturbance to fish habitat as a result of the construction of a boat dock and break waters.

The Rufus site, approximately 10 acres in size, is a remnant of excavation work resulting from construction of the John Day Dam. Our early investigation of the site revealed that a willow like plant found extensively along the shoreline of the island is in fact an invasive species called False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa). This plant species as it turns out has become a heavily predominant shoreline plant in many areas of the Columbia Gorge.

Cedar Landscape, the landscape contractor for the project, planted approximately 1,500 Willow, Cottonwood and Dogwood live stake plantings over approximately 1.4 acres of shoreline in order to reestablish native habitat vegetation. Information learned from the success of this project will be instrumental for future habitat restoration endeavors. Other restoration work on the site included installation of large woody debris along the shoreline, the re-grading of shoreline slopes and the excavation of part of the island to a submerged condition. The goal of this work is to enhance shoreline for fish habitat.