They Planted Paradise and Dug Up A Parking Lot

Please tell Joni Mitchell she can change the lyrics in her song “Big Yellow Taxi,” from “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot!,” to “they planted paradise, dug up a parking lot!”

It was a stunningly beautiful spring day, warm with clouds and blue skies. Osprey were sighted above us carrying long twigs for nest building, and the tall budding cottonwoods filled the air with their signature sweet honey scents! Volunteers were distanced apart, so it was safe to work without masks in some places and the fresh air was a treat. With so many eager Saturday morning helpers, all the planting was completed before noon.

The transformation of this parking lot actually began 9 years ago, on July 28, 2012 when 150 enthusiastic volunteers descended on the asphalt to dig it up and remove it! The plan was to create a Oregon White Oak and native wildflower meadow! The event included food and music and was sponsored by Portland Parks and Recreation, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services, DEPAVE and the Friends of Baltimore Woods!

What a joy this meadow could provide if on some future spring morning, children with their families, or classmates and teacher, could enjoy colorful butterflies and hummingbirds foraging among the showy milkweed and meadow wildflowers!

This is in part, the habitat-healing hope of a collection of St John’s neighbors who in 2006 began meeting and discussing the need to protect the few local native woodlands and grasslands still standing in the St. John’s area. Initially the vision of Jim Barnas, a group of neighbors joined him in concern that urban children would not have local wild areas to explore and experience unless these places were protected and preserved. From their regular meetings and discussions around Jim’s kitchen table, the non-profit group Friends of Baltimore Woods was formed to help that vision become a reality.

Fifteen years later, the Friends of Baltimore Woods have sponsored dozens of work parties for weed removal and native plantings, they held used book sales and native plant sales to raise money to fund promotion of their mission. With the help of grant money from the City of Portland and Metro, land parcels have been bought for wild habitat preservation and restoration. Hundreds of work hours have included the help of boy scouts, high school students, SOLVE volunteers, retired citizens and young people. Ultimately, the Willamette Greenway bike and hike trail system (npGreenway) from downtown Portland to Kelly Point Park, will include the oak and savannah woodland corridor properties of Friends of Baltimore Woods. The trail will bisect the reclaimed parking lot. The City of Portland’s Environmental Services and Parks has partnered with FoBW to help with property purchase and preservation, for the total accumulation of about 20 acres.

Besides people, certain native animals such as the white breasted nuthatch, Western grey squirrels, and acorn woodpeckers are especially dependent on and adapted to this oak habitat.

The properties also offer historical significance. Indigenous Willamette tribes used this area for seasonal hunting lodges, encampments and trading for centuries. Members of the Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery camped near this area in 1806. James John, the founder of St Johns, was an original homesteader on what is now Friends of Baltimore Woods property.

Over the summer, anyone interested in weekly 7-8pm Thursday evening Golden Hour volunteer work parties, can check the Friends of Baltimore Woods web page for more details.  All you bring is your work gloves, a smile and willingness to do some healthy physical work outside!  It’s a win-win for you and the community!  If Joni only knew what was happening in the St. John’s neighborhood of Portland, Oregon!