Located at SW Raleighwood Way and SW Scholls Ferry (within Raleighwood Park), Portland, OR
Raleighwood Marsh is a unique wetland site along Sylvan Creek in SW Portland. Though Raleighwood Park is owned and maintained by the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District, Clean Water Services has adopted the site to improve the water quality of the creek and to restore the marsh habitat. This 8-acre site was largely infested with invasive plants such as Reed canary grass, Himalayan blackberry, English holly, English ivy, Singleseed hawthorn, Japanese knotweed, purple loosestrife, garlic mustard, and yellow flag iris. With the use of manual, mechanical, and chemical invasive weed control methods, multiple invasive species were targeted – however, it was the successful control of reed canary grass that is most impressive. The reed canary grass was controlled by heavily planting native plants such as willow and spirea so that the reed canary grass eventually became shaded out – in less than two years!
Wildlife habitat has improved, with sightings of hawks and trout. Although volunteers have not been a part of the restoration efforts at Raleighwood Marsh, this site is a great example of a multi-agency effort to improve habitat and water quality. To find out more about this site, visit: www.cleanwaterservices.org/ PlansAndProjects/Projects/RaleighwoodMarsh.aspx .
