Back in January, we showed you the cooler where half a million bare-root trees and shrubs were waiting to be planted across the region’s natural areas. 

We’re happy to report that more than 50,000 of them are now in the ground at River View Natural Area in southwest Portland! This natural area has seven streams that carry clean water to the Willamette River, but decades without vegetation management left the site over-run with invasive species (like English ivy).  This threatens the native tree canopy and leaves the steep hillsides vulnerable to erosion that can pollute the water.  

The native plants were locally sourced and largely planted by R. Franco Reforestation.  Volunteers with Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R) were also out in February to help with the planting. 

This builds on the last three years of work to fight back the invasive species.   Partnership between PP&R, Environmental Services’ Watershed Revegetation Program and community volunteers has helped reduce the invasive species by over 95% in some areas.  

Check out our post with before and after photos of the invasive plant control work in progress.

This season’s planting at River View included nine species of trees such as Douglas fir, Pacific dogwood and Western red cedar.  Twenty species of shrubs rounded out the effort, with species like salmonberry, snowberry, Indian plum and pacific ninebark now in the ground to help create a healthy ecosystem.  This will help protect water quality, prevent erosion and landslides, and restore a lush forest that soaks up the rain for generations to come. 

Thanks to all of our partners for digging in to help!