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Calling photographers of all skill levels! Friends of Gateway Green will be kicking off the 2012 “GREEN-IT” events series February 18, 2012 9am-12pm, with the “CLICK-IT” event (a photographic site survey).
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Join Friends of Gateway Green on March 24, 2012 from 9am-12pm in the “PULL-IT” event! English Ivy among other invasive species, continues to spread throughout the Gateway Green site, threatening native fauna and flora. Help us build on success of last year’s event by further reducing the amount of non-native, invasive species at Gateway Green.
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Celebrate Earth Day by participating in Friends of Gateway Green “REMOVE-IT” event! Join fellow environmental stewards on April 21, 2012 from 9am-1pm in protecting and preserving native habitat through trash and debris removal.
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Additional events will be announced soon!
Additional Event Information: Laura Goodrich, at 503.501.7197 or lauralgoodrich [at] gmail [dot] com or Cary Watters, at 503.358.8325 or cary [dot] watters [at] pdx [dot] edu
No Ivy Day 2011
Saturday, October 22 from 9 am -12 pm
Location:
North of NE 99th & NE Pacific (Gateway Transit Center)
To get to the site, walk or bike north from the Gateway Transit Center (NE 99th & Pacific) on the I-205 Multi-Use Path toward Rocky Butte. The site is to the right (east) of the path, in the wooded area.
Help remove invasive plant species on the Gateway Green site. We'll focus on cutting the ivy that's growing up the trees and around the base of trees. Light refreshments, gloves and tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your own. Don't forget your grubby clothes and a water bottle!
Pre-registration is encouraged, so we can supply enough tools and snacks! Register by clicking on RSVP at the No Ivy League website.
The No Ivy League provides lots of great information about the perils of English Ivy in the Pacific Northwest.
This No Ivy Day work party is made possible through a partnership between Friends of Gateway Green, ODOT and the No Ivy League, and through a grant from the City of Portland's Community Watershed Stewardship Program.
Additional Notes:
Per ODOT rules, volunteers must be 16 or older.
Site Coordinator
Cary Watters
cary [dot] watters [at] pdx [dot] edu
503.358.8325
Calling photographers of all skill levels! Friends of Gateway Green has been awarded a Community Watershed Stewardship Grant from the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services to carry out the Gateway “GREEN-IT” events series, beginning with “Click It”, a photographic site survey.
Saturday, July 30, 2011 - 9:00 am to Noon
Explore the site with a camera in hand, taking photos of the existing landscape, people using it, plants growing there, wildlife and/or traces of wildlife use, or whatever catches your fancy! We will also take some panoramic shots from landmarks such as significant trees. Some GPS devices will be available, which would allow us to recreate the scene at a later date.
The Gateway GREEN-IT events series strives to engage community members in enhancing the ecological and watershed health of existing and potential natural resources at the Gateway Green site, an undeveloped swath of land owned by ODOT at the confluence of I-205 and I-84. This event will help to collect data on Gateway Green’s existing natural resources to inform planning for future improvements.
Convene at south end of the Gateway Green site (walk north on the I205 multi-use trail from the Gateway MAX Station toward Rocky Butte).For more information about Gateway Green, please visit www.gatewaygreenpdx.org.For more information about this event, please contact FoGG Intern, Cary Watters, at 503.358.8325 or cary [dot] watters [at] pdx [dot] edu
The map displaying the results of ODOT's survey of the Gateway Green site is complete. ODOT staff brought a hard copy to today's meeting of the Gateway Green Implementation Team. An electronic copy will be available soon.
This map will serve as the baseline GIS map for the project. Additional information will be added to the map as it becomes available.
This second meeting of the Implementation Team also included updates from the Fundraising Committee, the Governance Committee, and Friends of Gateway Green. Several "next step" were suggested and discussed.
Among other things, we learned that it will take about $25,000 to develop a fundraising strategy for the project. Know anybody willing and able to donate $25,000, or even $5,000, to kick-start this critical next step?
Finally, we viewed a video of the opening of the Valmont Bike Park, earlier this month, in Boulder, Colorado. Gateway Green will include many of the activities featured in this video -- and more.
The ODOT survey crew will complete their field work at the Gateway Green by Friday, May 6, 2011. The on-site data they've been collecting will be used to create a digital base map for the project.
Among other things, the map will display the topography at the site, the location of the Union Pacific ROW, all utilities and easements on the site, the boundary of the environmental conservation zone overlay, the location of existing fencing. It will also show exactly which parts of the site must remain as ODOT ROW and which parts we can developed into active and/or passive recreation.
In a press release dated March 31, 2011, Governor Kitzhaber confirmed his support of the Oregon Solutions program -- and specifically of the Gateway Green project, and several other projects.
This will enable us to sign an agreement with Oregon Solutions staff to continue providing facilitation and staff support as the project moves forward. We expect to sign such a contract early next week.
For the second year in a row, the Gateway Green site was one of many that participated in the SOLV IT Earth Day Clean-up on April 16, 2011.
The ten volunteers who participated, filled 18 trash bags. They also hauled 7 tires, 2 barrels, 1 surf board and 2 sleeping bags out of the wooded area.
In addition to picking up trash, the volunteers "liberated" numerous trees from the grip of English Ivy, clipping the ivy vines near the base of the trees. Some of the vines were two to four inches in diameter!
The event was co-sponsored by Northwest Trail Alliance and Friends of Gateway Green. Many thanks to Jordan Norris for his work obtaining the required permit from ODOT and coordinating with SOLV. Thanks, too, to David Anderson for taking photos to document the event.
Friends of Gateway Green (FoGG) finally has its own address -- a box at the post office located in the Gateway Regional Center:
Friends of Gateway Green
PO Box 16692
Portland, OR 97292
[Note corrected zip code!]
Friends of Gateway Green (FoGG) was notified this week, by the IRS, that it is exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, as a public charity.
This means FoGG is now eligible to apply for a number of grant programs offered through foundations and government programs, and that contributions made to FoGG tax deductible.
Exciting news from Portland Parks and Recreation's Facebook page on 9/23/10:
"Parks Commissioner Nick Fish announced today that the City of Portland will take a leadership role in the future Gateway Green in East Portland. With the City's commitment to provide ongoing operations and maintenance funding, Portland Parks & Recreation would maintain the 35-acre recreation area, which could be built as soon as 2013."
[A good summary of the announcement can be found on BikePortland.org.]
There are still several more hoops to jump through before the project can be constructed, but this is a very significant step.
However, as we learned at the Gateway Green Leadership Team meeting on Friday, the City's commitment is contingent on several other stakeholders stepping up to the plate to make significant commitments too -- all of which are to be incorporated into a Declaration of Cooperation, marking the completion of the Oregon Solutions process.
When the Declaration of Cooperation is ready for signature (in about two months), a public event will be scheduled.