Seeds are like a promise, yet to be kept. They encompass hope, toughness, fragility, survival, and new beginnings. They are like a gift, wrapped in the most homely of gift-wraps, but with the best possible payoff when opened – a continuation of new life in our ecosystem. The Friends of Baltimore Woods (FOBW) group is in the midst of a new restoration project, which includes the growing of native wildflower and grass species from seed to increase botanical diversity in our meadow. We hope our project results in a natural area which more closely resembles the incredible biodiversity of Willamette Valley oak meadowscapes, now largely lost to human development. When we were…

  The Friends of Baltimore Woods are thrilled to co-sponsor the showing of the “Once a Braided River” documentary at St Johns Cinema this month. It will play one night only on Tuesday September 12, at 7pm. A panel discussion follows the 53 minute film. For thousands of years the North reach of the Willamette River was a braided waterway of shallow channels and islands, rich in biodiversity and a home to many indigenous communities. Today, after years of human engineering of this natural riparian habitat, the area is designated an Industrial Sanctuary, and a Superfund Site. Along a six mile stretch of Portland Harbor, hundreds of aging tanks store…

Has the record breaking summer heat made you concerned about climate change? Do you wish you could do something? For one day only, on Saturday September 16, if you mention the Friends of Baltimore Woods at check-out, the folks at Sauvie Island Natives Nursery will generously donate 25% of your plant purchase to our native habitat preservation mission. Native plants are naturally drought tolerant and provide habitat and food sources to insects, bugs and bees, which in turn feed native birds and other wildlife. Your investment will have a double benefit. You’ll add plants to your garden that are adapted to thrive in this climate and you’ll support the continuing…

Once again, the Sparrowhawk & Friends of Baltimore Woods Native Plant Sale helped to distribute thousands of new plants into Portland gardens this April.  Thank you to all the volunteers, the FOBW board and owners of Sparrowhawk Native Plants who helped to make this spring plant sale another glowing, or should we say, growing success! This year 8,550 native plants were purchased to be planted in Portland landscapes, including the St Johns neighborhood.  Approximately, 534 people placed plant orders and FOBW earned $4,000 from this event. This is our only annual fundraiser, and helps with our mission of preserving a North Portland nature corridor scheduled to be aligned with the…

Did you know you could adopt a local bioswale and take care of it as a steward? Bioswales are areas along city streets and sidewalks containing rain gardens intended to collect stormwater. They use soil and plants to capture and filter rainwater to reduce the load on the city’s stormwater system. They also help prevent pollution from washing into our rivers. The streets that have bioswales on them are called “Green Streets.” The City of Portland Environmental Services builds and maintains Green Streets all around Portland. Many of the bioswales are available for adoption! The primary stewardship tasks involve trash collection, weeding and clearing of debris from water inlets. Watering…

After an unusually cold and wet May, the Portland area experienced a sudden and rather drastic change to hot and dry conditions. While the sudden heat gave us humans “weather whiplash”, wildflowers in the meadow proceeded to burst into bloom. Friends of Baltimore Woods has been gratified that so many of the native plants, which were planted several seasons ago, are beginning to spread and propagate themselves, with the result that some areas of the meadow were putting on quite a floral display this May! Care has been taken to cultivate many varieties of flowering native plants which bloom throughout the entire growing season, providing a steady supply of food…

Who can say what Betsy Valle was thinking that day when walking her little four-legged pal, Coco, along a section of grim alley recently inhabited by mangled vehicles and abandoned dreams that the intersection of N. Decatur alley at N. St. Louis had become? Nonethless, it’s not a rare sight to see pedestrians and bicyclists passing by on this segment of the future North Portland Greenway Trail. To see beyond the nexus of desperation and litter that have dominated the site a person needs rose tinted glasses. Or, maybe, simply the naturally sunny nature and can-do spirit that is Betsy’s. Walking north on Decatur adjacent to Baltimore Woods corridor, there’s…

The dormant winter months are a great time to take an inventory of your garden plants and plan for the upcoming growing season. Every spring, Friends of Baltimore Woods holds a native plant sale in partnership with Sparrowhawk Native Plants. This year our FoBW/Sparrowhawk Native Plant Sale is the weekend of April 28 and 29. It is the only fundraiser for our non-profit and the revenue goes to sponsoring our free public winter talks; donations to our community partners; and buying tools, seeds, native plants and supplies for our native habitat restoration work in north Portland’s 30 acres of Baltimore Woods. The pandemic has left some perks in its wake,…

Winter Talk: How to Choose the Best Plants for Pollinators The Friends of Baltimore Woods will host our annual Winter Talk on Saturday, February 11th, from 1pm – 2pm at the St Johns Community Center at 8427 N. Central St. An additional 30 min Q&A period will follow the talk. Look for our event signs on the day of the talk! Our guest speaker is Matthew Shepherd of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Protection. Mr. Shepherd is the Director of Outreach & Education for Xerces, and a passionate advocate for educating the public about invertebrates (animals without internal skeletons, such as insects) as well as restoring & enhancing the natural…

Oregon Butterfly Is Endangered Species Act Success : The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that the Fender’s blue butterfly will be downlisted from endangered to threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. This action is based on the recovery of butterfly populations in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. “The Endangered Species Act has ensured the full recovery of more than 50 species, and the Fender’s blue is now well on its way,” said Quinn Read, Oregon policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This little butterfly was nearly lost to Oregon, but now we can celebrate its recovery along with the 50th anniversary of the landmark law that saved…