River Island

Mike Faha recently toured our project at River Island. Situated along the Clackamas River near Barton County Park, River Island is 240 acres of natural area that provides habitat for native species including endangered salmon and steelhead, native turtles and migratory birds. The main portion of the site in the middle of the river was a gravel mining operation until the 1996 flood, which greatly altered the natural area's landscape by breaching man-made levees and shortened the main channel of the Clackamas River. GreenWorks and Inter-Fluve have been working with Metro to help create a vision and concepts for restoring natural channel processes and supporting multiple values including fish and wildlife habitat, riparian and upland forests, water quality and recreation. GreenWorks assisted with public outreach and prepared presentation materials to easily convey complex engineering concepts into understandable, photo realistic graphics that help the public and stakeholders understand the opportunities and what the site could look like once it is restored. Conceptual design alternatives were created for restoration of riparian-forested wetlands at the gravel mine site as well as design and restoration of Goose Creek, reconnecting it to the Clackamas River mainstem for cool water rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids. Inter-Fluve developed a site conservation plan and permit-level designs. This project is one of the biggest restoration projects in the Pacific Northwest.

GreenWorks would like to acknowledge Metro Project Manager Brian Vaughn as well as project lead Inter-Fluve, and members of their team: Emily Alcott, Lon Mikkelsen, Mike McAllister, Mike Brunfelt, Caitlin Alcott, Matt Cox, Colin MacLaren, Rich Phaneuf, and Mackenzie Baxter.

GreenWorks Receives Green Award

GreenWorks received a Green Award from the West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District (WMSWCD) on October 29, 2016 for the Meadowscaping Handbook. GreenWorks was one of three groups recognized at the Conservation Districts Annual Meeting. The Conservation District was very pleased with the design and layout of the publication especially the illustrative plant list and 3-D planting templates. Upon receiving the award, Mary Logalbo said “Greenworks went above and beyond their original commitment to complete the project.” GreenWorks was honored to collaborate with WMSWCD on The Meadowscaping Handbook. The Conservation District’s knowledge and ecological awareness was a pleasure to work with and aligns with our mission, “Integrating people and nature through creative and sustainable design.” A copy of the handbook can be downloaded from WMSWCD’s website.

GreenWorks Honors Vets on Veteran’s Day

GreenWorks would like to acknowledge and thank all of our nation’s veterans. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

GreenWorks Play Date

The GreenWorks team took a little timeoff lunch last week to visit the Playscapes exhibit at PNCA. Thank you to Stephanie of Design Museum Portland for giving us a private tour of the exhibition, which runs through December 17^th. Two GreenWorks projects are included in the exhibit: Westmoreland Nature-Based Play Area and Khunamokwst Park. Our team got to try out Playworld’s new saucer, which is on display, and had fun playing on PlayForm 7 outside of PNCE in the North Park Blocks. This Sunday, PNCA will host a kids workshop at 1pm (511 NW Broadway). Learn more at www.designmuseumportland.org

GreenWorks Celebrates Halloween!

GreenWorks principal, Mike Faha, hosted a Halloween party at his home for the office and their families. Enjoying the perfect autumn afternoon and each other’s company, we all had a blast carving pumpkins, snacking on hors d’oeuvres, and playing ping pong. From a unicorn to a scary jack-o-lantern, everyone harnessed their imagination and transformed their pumpkins into works of art. We hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday tonight with clear skies and lots of candy!