DEQ awards Multnomah County Drainage District $129,783 in Columbia Slough habitat improvement funds
Wildlife will benefit from habitat improvements
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has awarded the Multnomah County Drainage District $129,783 for habitat improvements in the Columbia Slough Watershed in Northeast Portland as part of the Columbia Slough Natural Resource Fund. The award will help fund a number of habitat restoration projects planned within the Columbia Slough.
Multnomah County Drainage District, along with its partners, will perform comprehensive restoration at the Columbia Children’s Arboretum and Blue Heron Wetlands located near NE 13th Avenue in the East Columbia neighborhood. The project includes 12.6 acres of habitat in the Columbia Children’s Arboretum as well as 10.7 acres surrounding the four wetland ponds that comprise the Blue Heron Wetlands.
At the Columbia Children’s Arboretum, DEQ funds will be used to reduce invasive plants and re-establish healthy native vegetation to enhance wildlife migration and the riparian canopy, where many trees are at the end of their lifespans. The work is also expected to reduce erosion, improve water quality, and improve native turtle habitat.
“I am thrilled that DEQ has provided funding to MCDD for restoration efforts in our Columbia Children’s Arboretum,” said Gyrid Hyde-Towle, founding member of the Friends of the Arboretum. “We have worked with many groups and volunteers to provide stewardship for our “gem” of a park and this funding will provide us the ability to work with Portland Parks to continue our work of removing invasives and restoring habitat.”
At Blue Heron Wetlands, efforts have been made since 2010 to eradicate an aquatic invasive weed, Ludwigia peploides (Floating Primrose), which is the first known infestation in Oregon. Ludwigia peploides reduces open water habitat for waterfowl, minimizes native vegetation for wildlife, and limits the capacity of the wetlands to mitigate flooding. DEQ funds will address the remaining Ludwigia peploides at the site, following a prescribed treatment plan developed by a graduate student at Portland State University. Native trees and shrubs will be planted within and adjacent to the wetlands, along with native grass, sedge, and rush species.
MCDD will coordinate with the City of Portland Parks and Recreation, Portland Bureau of Environmental Services, Friends of the Columbia Children’s Arboretum, Friends of Blue Heron Wetlands, and volunteers to complete the work. Previously, small grants funded invasive plant removal in limited areas of the two open spaces; the DEQ funds will support restoration of the entirety of the of natural spaces and five years of maintenance to increase plant survival.
DEQ developed a settlement approach as an alternative to conducting sediment cleanup for qualifying parties. Under this approach, DEQ provides parties a release from liability for historical contribution to contamination in the slough if they pay into a fund that DEQ is using to conduct the necessary investigation and cleanup work.
These parties also have the option of paying an additional amount into a separate fund that is used for habitat enhancement projects such as this. Parties contributing to this “natural resource” fund receive a release from liability for state natural resource damages associated with historical releases to the slough. DEQ requires parties entering into these agreements to have controls in place at their sites to prevent further sediment contamination in the Columbia Slough.
Find more information about the Columbia Slough Natural Resource Fund at http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/cu/nwr/ColumbiaSlough/docs/FSColumbiaSloughNatRecFund.pdf
Contacts
Sarah Miller, Cleanup Program, Portland, 503-229-5040, miller.sarah@deq.state.or.us
Matthew Van Sickle, Public Affairs, Portland, 503-229-6044, vansickle.matthew@deq.state.or.us
