News
Fall 2011
Friends of Marquam Nature Park Hike with Laura O. Foster!
On October 1, 2011, FMNP hosted a unique hike with Portland walking expert Laura O. Foster. This event served as a fundraiser for the nonprofit's efforts to protect and restore the natural area of Marquam Nature Park. Laura O. Foster is the celebrated author of Portland Hill Walks and Stairway Walks of Portland and leads guided tours of iconic Portland neighborhoods and places of interest in the Metro area throughout the year.
Twenty-four walkers, friends, and neighbors of the Nature Park convened at the Marquam Shelter early Saturday morning, dressed in rain gear and hiking boots, ready for an informative and vigorous walk through the woods.
Foster's walk in the Marquam Nature Park covered early Portland history and anecdotes regarding early homesteading and city planning in the area. The route spanned the Shelter Trail/Nature Loop to the Marquam Trail, across the South end of the OHSU neighborhood, back onto the trail at 12th and Gaines, down to the Terwilliger Trail and through the surrounding neighborhood, up an impressive set of stairs to the Veterans Administration campus, and then back down to the Marquam Shelter via the Connor Trail.
It is undeniable that this fundraiser walk was a smashing success! Participants came away with increased knowledge of a historically rich area, not to mention the benefit of a diverse hiking terrain -- from natural habitat in the deep woods to a historically-rich neighborhood which took us back in time, to a bustling hospital environment. FMNP cannot thank Laura Foster enough for her time, expertise, and knowledge in leading this hike. It was a great honor to partner with her and to spend more knowledge to Portlanders about the great legacy surrounding MNP and the reinforce joy that its presence continues to bring visitors today. It is because of this event that FMNP is able to operate well into the future!
See below for a commentary of the walk and learn more about the intriguing history of the Marquam Gulch area in Portland:
Throughout the walk's three hours, Foster shared with the participants many interesting historical anecdotes about the Marquam Gulch area. Phillip Marquam, namesake of the Park, trail, and street near OHSU, was one of Multnomah County's greatest landowners. He traveled to the West Coast in the 19th century in search of gold and eventually settled in Portland. After a successful career as a lawyer, judge, and real estate developer, Marquam sold his homestead, called Marquam Heights, to Joseph Healy in the depression of the 1890s. The area is now called the Healy Heights neighborhood, but Marquam's legacy still remains in the settlement of the "Homestead" neighborhood of Portland, including Marquam's wagon road that is now called Sam Jackson Parkway.
Laura also showed the group the historical richness of 12th Avenue, which travels through the neighborhood South of OHSU, leading from where the Marquam Trail comes out onto Marquam Hill Road all the way to where the park begins again at the 12th and Gaines entrance. Some of the homes that line this street were built in the 1890s, among the first to dot the West Hills. Among others that were built in the 1940s, these homes are true historical artifacts in our city!
After hiking on the Marquam Trail again South of OHSU and admiring the progress of English Ivy removal and restoration that has been done in this area, the group emerged onto the Terwilliger Trail bordering Terwilliger Boulevard. It was here that Laura explained the Portland connection with the Olmstead Brothers (John and Frederick Law), the famous park enthusiast duo who designed the likes of Central Park in New York City, Volunteer Park in Seattle, and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. In 1903, they suggested to Portland planners that a system of parks should be created across the city and that a Parkway system be implemented for scenic driving only. The Olmsteads believed that boulevards and parkways "were important additions to cities and added a feeling of civility to movement in an urban area" (thank you, Laura!) Terwilliger Boulevard was the only one of these parkways to be completed, but does remain, because of its windy, wooded roads, a secondary route, deferring to Macadam as the commercial route. Thanks to the Olmstead Brothers, Portland is one of the leaders in the country for integrating parks and natural areas into neighborhoods, Marquam Nature Park being a prime example.
Finally, the group ascended an impressive stairway (145 steps!) to the Veterans Administration Medical Center, walking across the longest enclosed pedestrian skybridge in North America (.12 miles, 660 feet long!) to the main OHSU campus. From the skybridge, we could see Doernbecher Hospital, the Marquam Bridge, the Ross Island Bridge, the Aerial Tram, and the construction site for the new pedestrian/bike/MAX-only bridge. On the main OHSU campus, the group learned about the campus's oldest building, MacKenzie Hall, and its roots as a Union Pacific Railroad Building.
Descending again into Marquam Park, the group reached the shelter by way of the Connor Trail, one of the park's newest trails, which was named after Dr. William Connor. Dr. Connor was a well-loved and respected professor at OHSU who passed away in 2009 from cancer. Bill was -and his wife, Sonja, continues to be - a big proponent of healthy lifelong habits. They have both been frequent walkers in Marquam Nature Park, exercising throughout their lives.
Summer 2011
TRAIL CLOSURE: A portion of the Marquam Trail and the 40 Mile Loop that passes through George Himes Park has been closed during the construction of the I-5 Iowa St Viaduct. Please note the DETOURS shown in the map below:
Community Watershed Stewardship Program Grant
This has been a busy year so far for FMNP. After receiving a Community Watershed Stewardship Program Grant for 2010-2011 from the Bureau of Environmental Services, we used this gift to restore the area around and behind the Marquam Shelter.
During the course of this project, we removed invasive weeds from a .4 acre target area, planted native species and connected to many community groups through volunteer work parties and educational hikes. Throughout the past year, we have hosted 10 work parties of 84 total volunteers, spending over 317 hours to remove 19,000 square feet of invasive blackberry, ivy, laurel, herb Robert, and holly. We replaced these invasives with 425 native plants including red elderberry, snowberry, red alder, tall Oregon grape and others.
Many thanks to Americorps EnviroCorps team, Multnomah County Alternative Community Service Crews, and Trailmix (women's hiking group) for their manual labor as well as OHSU, PSU, Hands on Greater Portland, West Willamette Restoration Partnership, SW Neighborhoods Inc., Southwest Watershed Resource Center and Homestead Neighborhood Association for their partnerships in educational hikes and community outreach. We are especially grateful for the continued partnership with Portland Parks & Recreation. The staff of City Nature West has provided foundational expertise, guidance, and on-the-ground support with this project and many others. They will assist us in planting more than 200 additional plants near the shelter this fall to keep the invasive plants from returning. After all, removing invasive species and planting natives contributes to greater wildlife diversity and soil stability in our park!
Trails Expansion
As restoration continues throughout the park every month, we are proud to announce that new trails will be added to Marquam Nature Park's southern edges next year. This 93-acre section of the park, bordered by Fairmount Blvd., Marquam Hill Rd., the Homestead Neighborhood and Terwilliger Blvd. is a combination of 45 acres that were purchased from developers by the City in 2004 and 45 acres OHSU has given as an easement to the park.
In 2007, Portland Parks & Recreation held a community meeting to determine which areas in the surrounding neighborhood would best benefit from trail access. Four years later, Portland Parks is in the design phase after asking the community to weigh in on their highest priority trails, as PP&R is working under a tight budget and won't be able to complete the entire trail system right away. After receiving environmental and site permits by early 2012, PP&R hopes to complete construction next summer (2012). Stay tuned here or continue to visit the Portland Parks website to track this project's progress and scope of work. This expansion of the trails system within Marquam Nature Park is a testament to our city's dedication to continually find and fund ways for Portlanders to explore and connect with our natural environment.
Trail Maintenance
Also on the trail front, work parties were held recently to repair the erosion on switchbacks within the park. Volunteers built split rail fences to prevent people and dogs from cutting through switchbacks. This practice is very damaging to the vegetation and causes serious erosion on our already unstable slopes. We ask that visitors to the park respect the trails and the volunteers who have built and maintained them by not cutting through switchbacks. Trails are built with appropriate slope and grade to cause as little erosion and damage to the slope and vegetation as possible.
In July, a Portland Parks work crew re-graded and repaired the trail/road that ascends to the south of the shelter. This has been a muddy and rocky road that became difficult to traverse in the rainy season. Thank you to PP&R staff for doing the repair and for making the trail a pleasure to walk on again. Please remember that biking is NOT PERMITTED on this trail, nor any other in the park.
In May 2009, the City of Portland, Bureau of Parks & Recreation launched a new website: http://www.parkscanpdx.org/, that allows community members to report park concerns or compliments directly to PP&R. If you see trees down across the trail, broken stairs or bridges, or vandalism in the park, (or just have something nice to say!) please contact PP&R directly using this resource. See the article about the launch of the new program here.