North, south, east, west. The first two Intertwine Alliance County Summits -- a series of sub-regional gatherings replacing the one big spring summit this year -- are
on! Mark your calendars for the
East Multnomah County Summit on
Thursday, May 12, at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale
and the
Clackamas County Summit on
Monday, May 16, at the
Tumwater Ballroom in Oregon City. Please
RSVP for the East Multnomah County event by May 5, and for
Clackamas County by May 12. A June date for the Washington County Summit will be announced soon, and we're working on a concept for the Clark County event, too. Please keep an eye
here for all county summit info as it rolls in. Questions? Contact lauren@theintertwine.org.
Bend the ears of big funders. Calling all leaders of existing, prospective or vividly imagined
Intertwine Projects! The next quarterly meeting is coming up on
Thursday, April 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the David Evans & Associates building (home to The Intertwine Alliance). An assortment of important regional funders -- including the Gray Family Foundation, East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District and Metro -- will be there to share their goals and interests. Project leaders will have a chance to speak directly with the funders about the vision and needs of their collaborative efforts. Please
RSVP by this
Friday, April 8, so we can order food. Lunch and sparkling conversation will be served.
Questions? Contact david@theintertwine.org.
Speaking of Intertwine Projects. Three dynamo collaborations officially declared Intertwine Projects last month. All are established initiatives with deep roots in their communities and a long connection with The Intertwine Alliance. A big welcome to
Tree For All, the
Oregon Zoo Education Center (Intertwine Project page coming soon), and the
Urban Ecology and Conservation Symposium. Please also welcome the
Intertwine Alliance Conservation Working Group (project page up and running soon)
and its
quarterly Conservation Forums. Interested in declaring your own project?
Here's how.
New friends. Please give a warm howdy to Friends of the Tualatin Hills Nature Park and Westside Transportation Alliance, two new Alliance partners this month. The Friends group works to inspire a love of the Tualatin Hills Nature Park and participation in its care and protection. The Westside Transportation Alliance works directly with employers and employees to enhance economic opportunity, improve health, and foster a livable community via transportation options.
Corridors, of course! The Intertwine Alliance Conservation Working Group presents its second
Quarterly Conservation Forum, this one about "Corridors and Connectivity," on
Wednesday, April 27, from 1 to 3 p.m. at David Evans & Associates (home to The Intertwine Alliance). Please check out the
agenda, and
RSVP today. All are welcome. We hope to see you there!
Partners, mark your calendars. We're super excited to announce that The Intertwine Alliance
Annual Partner Meeting has been scheduled for
Wednesday, June 14, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the World Forestry Center. All Alliance partners are invited to send a representative to this fun event blending social, business, food and drink. Please stay tuned as we work out the details; invitations coming soon.
Signatures needed for Outdoor School. As many of you know,
Outdoor School For All is a statewide, grassroots initiative working to ensure that all Oregon kids get the experience of one full week at outdoor school. Because of budget cuts, only about half of Oregon kids currently attend outdoor school. Please take a moment to
sign this petition to put a measure on the ballot in November giving voters the chance to dedicate full, permanent funding for outdoor school, using lottery funds. The campaign also needs help gathering signatures from friends, family or in public places; you can get started by filling out this
form.
Put a bird on it -- the original. Hard to believe, folks, but this year marks the 30th anniversary of Great Blue Heron Week!
"Herons of the Intertwine," an Intertwine Project led by the Audubon Society of Portland and Urban Greenspaces Institute, is set for
June 1 to June 12 at locations throughout The Intertwine. Now's the time, friends and partners, to submit your field trips and events for inclusion in the official roster of events. Any activity focused on herons or other native species, or on the interconnected system of parks, trails and natural areas, is great fodder. Click
here for examples and instructions; please send your submissions by
Tuesday, May 10.
Trek through time. The City of Tualatin is celebrating the grand opening of a new segment of the
Tualatin River Greenway Trail this
Saturday, April 9, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony from 1 to 1:30 p.m. The new section includes “a walk through time" exploring the cataclysmic Ice Age Floods, extinction of Ice Age mammals, and emergence of Paleo-Indians and early settlers in the Tualatin and Willamette valleys.
Activities are scheduled throughout April, including a 5K, tree plantings, family scavenger hunt and interpretive walks.
Dramatic entrance. Impressive new organization
Vive NW, operating under the fiscal sponsorship of Urban Greenspaces Institute, has debuted a beautiful
website and is holding an organization launch event on Friday, April 22, at the David Evans & Associates Building (home to The Intertwine Alliance). Vive NW's mission is to connect Latino communities to the outdoors by providing powerful and enriching experiences in nature. Organizations and individuals aligned with this mission, please consider attending and/or sponsoring the launch event.
Set your table for the trails fair. Planning is underway for the
Sixth Annual Barbara Walker Regional Trails Fair, happening
Wednesday, June 22, from noon to 3 p.m. at Metro Regional Center. Partners are invited to host information tables; you can claim your spot
here. Tabling is free, and space is limited. Questions? Please contact trails@oregonmetro.gov.
Extra, extra. March was an exciting month in
Outside Voice, starting with Hike It Baby's Shanti Hodges' report on five
favorite Intertwine hikes with little ones. Bill Weiler of the Sandy River Basin Watershed Council wrote about the history of the
Sandy River Delta and the Eco-Blitz happening there April 23.
We capped off the month with a thought-provoking piece about
green burial and its impact on watershed health from Michael Ahr of West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District and life-cycle celebrant Holly Pruett. Email tara@theintertwine.org with your blog ideas, or sign up to receive
notifications by email.
Other headlines from around The Intertwine:
Chad Brown of Soul River Runs Wild was honored with the "Bending Toward Justice" award from Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley. Read more. (Please also note that Soul River needs help finding inner-city youth for fly-fishing excursions this summer. Please send your contacts or ideas to chad@soulriverrunsdeep.com.)
- Registration is underway for the "Next Generation: STEM, Standards and Sustainability" conference on April 23. Read more.
The Cathlapotle Plankhouse re-opens for its 2016 season with a celebration of local archeology. Read more.
- Apply by April 7 to present at the next Built Environment Emerging Professionals (BEEP) Pecha Kucha. Read more.
- Arbor Month brings a full slate of family activities to Hoyt Arboretum. Read more.
Funding Opportunities
Final reminder. Letters of interest for
Metro's Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant program are due
April 18. The program's final round of funding divvies $1.7 million into grants up to $500,ooo. Projects should involve land acquisition, urban transformation, restoration, or neighborhood livability. Full applications accepted upon invitation and due in August. Learn more
here.
Working watershed wonders. Clackamas County Water Environment Services is accepting proposals through
April 27 for watershed improvement grants up to $30,000 through its
RiverHealth Stewardship Program. Preferred proposals will improve watershed health; be visible to the general public; show a clear community benefit; and include rainwater infiltration, environmental restoration and/or pavement removal.
Mark your Calendar
Highlights of the month ahead. See the Intertwine event calendar for more.
Get earthy. Join the Clark Public Utilities StreamTeam on
Saturday, April 16, for its annual
Earth Day Fest at the Salmon Creek Greenway in Vancouver, WA. The celebration includes a tree planting, garlic-mustard pull, and EcoFair with free children's activities and live entertainment.
The big clean. SOLVE IT for Earth Day, SOLVE's largest volunteer event of the year, is coming up on
Saturday, April 23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Choose from 40 clean-up, ivy-pull and habitat restoration events in Portland and many more in neighboring cities like Beaverton, Hillsboro and Gresham. Register
here.
Green thumb. The Portland Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon celebrates
Native Plant Appreciation Week from
April 23 through May 1 with a full slate of workshops, guided hikes and garden tours. Please find dates, times and registration information
here.
Wack-a-weed. Worried about invasive plants and other weeds? The Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District offers free
Weed Watcher Trainings from 6 to 8 p.m. on
dates throughout April and May. The workshops will train you to identify the species of most concern and how to report them. Click
here for a list of dates and locations, and to RSVP.
