Our volunteers make us who we are—and we love to celebrate you!
On November 2 we held a volunteer appreciation harvest party, complete with potluck, raffle, very special awards, and music by the Lambert Street String Band. Thank you all for coming to join our cozy evening.
You are a part of the movement to improve water quality and restore the creek as a community and we just think that is just the most special thing in the world!
We’re so lucky at the council that we get to touch and be a part of our living breathing world, to learn about and make a tangible difference to improve the health of the watershed every time we are together.
It’s been a transformative year for the Council with the big move from Milwaukie to Woodstock, and two new staff members (Adrienne Moat, Community Outreach Coordinator, and Jack Halsey, Outreach and Riparian AmeriCorps specialist) joining the team.
A quick recap of our volunteer power this year:
41 events (including 2 that included simultaneous restoration on 10 or more sites)
1,500 volunteer sign ups
6,300+ hours
4 more planting events left in 2018!
Programs volunteers supported:
Restoration Events (Including Watershed Wide and Johnson Creek Clean-Up!)
Creek Crew (30 trained and rocked the beanie to lead volunteer events)
Parks Naturalists (40 trained to help monitor park use by human and animal visitors)
Community Science (142 participants surveying for salmon, beaver, dragonfly, and lamprey)
Internships (42 interns helped us achieve our mission assisting in communication, outreach, data management, donation acquisition, videography, restoration activities, community science data, coordinating bilingual events)
Board Service (15 serve to provide valuable leadership and oversight)
Inter Jurisdictional Committee (provide valuable scientific information on local watershed topics)
And none of these projects would be possible without our amazing partners Portland Parks and Recreation, Friends of Tideman Johnson, Friends of Errol Heights, Crystal Springs Partnership, City of Gresham, Friends of Trees, North Clackamas Urban Watersheds Council, Wisdom Of The Elders, Rose CDC, Overland Park Coalition, Blueprint Foundation, SOLVE, and so many more.
Thanks to our food donors for the night–
New Seasons Market Woodstock, Arbor Lodge, and Slabtown.
And last but not least, thank you to our generous volunteer program funders–
Mintkeski Family fund of the Oregon Community Foundation
Clackamas Water Environment Services
East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
Portland General Electric
Bureau of Environmental Services
Our volunteers are also very creative and love to write–here are a few volunteer haikus written during the evening:
Getting up early
Running to an unknown park
Free doughnuts? Yay!
-By Miles Takiguchi
Creeping vines cut short
Hands around a coffee cup
Mornings by the creek
-By Emily Waters
Nature is perfect
A gust of wind blows me down
Nature is perfect
-By youngster volunteer Annika