The non-native plant Italian arum (Arum italicum), is kind of like an unwelcome night-owl roommate who raids the fridge while everyone sleeps and co-opts shared spaces with their stuff. Literal turf wars can erupt! The pernicious invader has taken root in several locations within the Baltimore Woods corridor while the Friends and partners seek ways to remove it. The plant’s tendency to produce numerous tiny tubers makes that a challenge. Italian arum is a nonnative perennial that was originally introduced as an ornamental plant. It has now naturalized in the Portland area. Due to it establishing in riparian areas and other habitats, its toxicity, and being very difficult to control…

A Poem by Sebastian Valle Mellman I soar up into the sky. I look down without a sound And I see the world below me. And down far below me is a lake And in that lake I see a bird A bird of prey. I let out the cry of a hawk. As I approach I see a bird That has gone astray from The flock, I extend my talons And get the bird by surprise I swiftly fly back up and secure My grip on the bird I go back to my nest and As I get there I hear the shrill Cries of my babies. Tomorrow I…

Among the most consistently seen wildlife in Baltimore Woods are birds of prey. The Sharp Shinned hawk is one species you might not be as familiar with. It is a small hawk that prefers woodlands, thickets and edge habitats although it has adapted to urban areas where prey is plentiful. This quintessential woodland predator is a “perch and scan” hunter according to wildlife biologists. They sit quietly on a tree branch and swoop in when a meal comes within striking distance. Its prey are mostly birds of about sparrow size up to robin size, sometimes up to the size of quail. It also eats small numbers of rodents, bats, squirrels,…

Incredibly, spring is here, so its a great time to activate your gardening dreams. Fortunately, Friends of Baltimore Woods has a “Brigadoon-like” annual native plant sale in St. Johns in partnership with the pop-up, Sparrowhawk Native Plant Nursery. Online pre-ordering has ended, but If you missed the deadline, or if you simply want more plants, the flash sale is a fun way to score some lovely odds and ends for your habitat garden. Sparrowhawk sells off a small amount of overstock at liquidated prices at the end of the pop up sale. The flash sale will start at 3:30pm on Saturday, April 2 at the pick up site, the corner…

The Baltimore Woods has a new local ally tucked into Green Anchors, the eco-industrial park just north of Cathedral Park. What appears from the street to be a tumble of tiny houses, cranes, steel containers and quonsets, holds a hidden gem of riverfront gardens, buzzing beehives and a small nursery run by local nonprofit, Rewild Portland. Rewild Portland headquartered at Green Anchors in fall 2020, buying a 30 x 95 ft high tunnel greenhouse built on site in 2018 by landscape designer and artist Scott Sutton to grow plants for restoration of the former brownfield site on which Green Anchors sits. Rewild Portland’s mission is to build community resilience through…

On Thursday, Dec. 9, SOLVE and FoBW partnered to host a private team-building work party in the meadow for employees of New Relic, a Portland-based software company. In spite of cold, damp weather, the mostly home-based employees applied themselves enthusiastically to one or more of several different activities and had fun working in community. In fact, recently hired employees had their first opportunity to meet their coworkers due to the current requirement to work from home. The volunteers removed all the remaining prickly lettuce in the upper meadow in record time, while another group cut blackberry vines off native shrubs in the upper woodland. A third group planted 35 meadow…

On December 6, several Friends volunteers welcomed 30 Park Rangers to their new headquarters in St. Johns with three pies from Paiku. Their offices are now at the old City Hall building at 7214 N. Philadelphia Avenue. We are happy to have the rangers so near the Baltimore Woods corridor. Stefanie Brown made a beautiful custom box to deliver the pies, plus forks, plates and napkins And Lisa Manning brought a colorful card she personally designed. They were awesome, Stefanie and Lisa! A few FoBW brochures completed the package. After the delivery one ranger even walked down the hill to thank Betsy and Jim personally for the gift. The rangers…

A few weeks ago, late in the day, I was finishing up a “weeding therapy” session along our Baltimore Path on the hill, when I heard a low, guttural call from the trees. Looking up, I saw the shadowy silhouette of an owl in profile, dark grey, and occupying a limb midway up a maple tree crowded amongst the others at the edge of the woods. In 30 years living across the street I’d never seen nor heard an owl, so it was a thrilling experience. Although bats commonly swoop in and out of the Decatur/Baltimore canopy on summer evenings, Cooper’s and Red Tail Hawks appear, only to be swarmed…

FoBW member Betsy Valle initiated outreach to the Portland Audubon Green Leaders, a youth program that includes minority teens. The teens and the group’s leader, Zahir Ringgold Cordes, were invited to join the Friends for the first time this summer for a weekly Golden Hour work party where volunteers removed prickly lettuce from the upper meadow. It was fun getting to know the teens as the two groups worked side by side hacking the tall weeds and carrying them to waiting tarps to be removed. Zahir along with FoBW volunteers subsequently organized a Green Leaders’ Nature Treasure Hunt and planting event on November 1, that included the teens’ family members.…

Butterflies are symbols of freedom, beauty and transformations! How appropriate then that a Lorquin’s admiral butterfly was observed in the Baltimore Woods habitat this summer, and area that has experienced significant habitat healthy restoration and metamorphosis in the past 15 years. As butterfly species world wide are experiencing unquestionable habitat loss and quite possible, a slow descent towards extinction, the sighting of this beautiful creature in the Baltimore Woods in indeed cause for celebration. Limentis lorquini, is the Latin genus and species name for the Lorquin’s admiral butterfly. They typically have black wings with white median bands, and orange wingtips. The wing undersides are reddish-brown with white markings. The Lorquin’s…