Happy Holidays from GreenWorks!

 

The GreenWorks crew enjoyed our annual holiday party at the Jade Lounge in Southeast Portland.

In the spirit of the holiday season, GreenWorkers collected over 275 pounds of food to donate to the Oregon Food Bank!

Wishing you all the best this holiday season. We look forward to seeing you in 2013!

College Nature Park Nearing Completion

The finishing touches are going on at the College Nature Park site at the corner of Troutdale Road and Stark Road in Troutdale, Oregon. Metro purchased the site from Mt. Hood Community College and the City of Troutdale is developing it for recreation as well as preserving it for open space. This project is the first phase in the Beaver Creek Trail system that will eventually link together Mount Hood Community College, Beaver Creek Canyon, local neighborhoods and the 40-mile regional trail. The multiuse, accessible trail loop features three wetland overlooks offering unique views into the Beaver Creek wetlands below. Street improvements along Troutdale Road provide parking, access and improved green street facilities. A rustic stone wall and a curving trail fit the sites rolling topography and make this brand new development feel like it has always been there. This is another great GreenWorks project example of balanced conservation and recreation.

Oregon Department of Justice Site Improvements

The Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) is the main legal branch of government for the State of Oregon. Its main offices are located in Salem, Oregon in a historic building built in 1929 adjacent to the state capitol building and the capitol mall grounds. GreenWorks provided new planting and irrigation design services to replace existing planting and irrigation of the DOJ building site perimeter. Much of the existing planting and irrigation piping was from the 1930’s and in need of an upgrade. Large overgrown rhododendrons were posing security concerns and the irrigation system had become a patchwork of repairs. The new planting design addresses security, provides a mixture of native and ornamental plant species, and upholds the standards of the capitol mall landscape. The new, efficient irrigation uses water saving rotor spray heads. Additional project site improvements include waterproofing the building foundation and a large electrical vault as well as resurfacing the facility parking area. These improvements follow on the heels of an extensive interior remodel completed in 2007. The client for this project is State of Oregon, Department of Administrative Services (DAS). Project design consultants include SERA (Architecture - project lead), KPFF (Civil Engineering), PAE Consulting (Electrical Engineering), Peter Meijer Architect (Historical Consultant) and Professional Roof Consultants (Waterproofing). The contractor for the project is Dalke Construction and the landscape contractor is DeSantis Landscapes.

Engelman Park: A Nature-Themed Neighborhood Park

With the high demand to incorporate nature into people’s lives in urban settings yet provide basic needs such as playgrounds and passive open space, there is a new type of park emerging: Nature-Based Neighborhood Park. Engelman Park in Wilsonville, Oregon has the elements of a traditional neighborhood park, but it feels quite different. Located in a high-density residential neighborhood, the nature-theme is a derivative of the large amount and size of the existing trees planted by the Engelman family in the 1960’s. Along with the preservation of the urban tree canopy, the design relies on vast native planting areas and an understory of forest duff, as well as nature-based playgrounds to give the sense and feel of a wild, natural environment amidst a developed neighborhood setting.

On opening day, children started their play experience at the nature-themed playground structures near the entrance of the park. After a few runs down the slide, they made their way along the crushed rock path that follows the dry-creek bed towards the play equipment in the back of the park that focus on balancing and climbing. Along the way, the kids discovered boulders and downed logs carefully placed throughout the park as landscape elements. As soon as one child strayed off the trail, others followed suit as if they never had the opportunity to see and touch a real rock or log. Next thing we knew, a two-year old was insisting the dry creek bed was their personal pathway. Why walk on plain-old concrete when you can walk on rocks?

Nature-Based Parks allow for self-discovery; children are free to roam the park and play in areas that are unlike any place they have seen or been to. Despite being quite simple looking, it was no small feat to create this feeling in a one acre park. It took thoughtful design moves to create the space, from the layout and scale of paths and gathering spaces, to planting design, to the placement of boulders and downed logs. The park was designed to represent a wilder, natural environment with an aesthetic that enables park users to feel as if they have left the City without going far from home.