Metro Council recently approved a $98,500 grant through the Nature in Neighborhoods program for an exciting 3-year project to restore habitat in parts of southwest Portland that make up an area called the Westside Wildlife Corridor.

You may be familiar with the sight of invasive ivy tangling the forest along Terwilliger Parkway, the Marquam Nature Park and OHSU areas.  An impressive coalition of community groups and private partners called the West Willamette Restoration Partnership (WWRP) is working to tackle the issue. 

This area is an important corridor that connects wildlife habitat and clean water resources between Forest Park and Tryon Creek State Natural Area. 

The native trees and plants stabilize the steep hillsides, help clean and cool our air, protect streams that flow to the Willamette River, and of course are part of the character of Portland’s West Hills.

The Metro grant will support work on 85 acres to remove ivy and other invasive plants to protect the forest.  One site even includes 25 acres of oak habitat – a rare remaining grove of the native oak trees that used to dominate the Willamette Valley. (Check out this new video to learn more about Oregon white oaks). 

Some of the work in this area will be "air gapping" to kill invasive ivy, similar to past work in Forest Park by Environmental Services’ Revegetation Program.

Environmental Services is a member of the WWRP and a fiscal sponsor for the project.  Other WWRP partners participating in this project include Columbia Land Trust and the Backyard Habitat Certification Program, Friends of Marquam Nature Park, Friends of Terwilliger, OHSU, Portland Parks & Recreation, the SW Watershed Resource Center and the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District.  The African Youth and Community Organization and Homestead Neighborhood Association are also partners.  Some of these partners support complimentary restoration work on other private properties in the area, including more than 115 certified Backyard Habitats. 

Visit www.westwillamette.org and www.swni.org/watershed for more news about this project in the coming months and learn how you can get involved.