STREAM~N Team Starts Strong in 2026!

We’ve been having a lot of fun AND impact in Clackamas County, Portland, and beyond. 

On Apr. 25 we got back to our roots caring for the Environmental Learning Center (ELC) at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City. We worked with inspiring volunteers from SOLVE to remove ivy and other ecologically disruptive plants that were threatening the forest trees. Afterwards, the Team enjoyed lunch together and practiced interviewing each other, including sharing hopes and dreams for the future. We discussed some possible careers the students were thinking about and strategies to help attain their goals.

Dondre, Eliseo, Derek and team made great progress clearing ivy around the trees at the ELC.

Biodiversity warriors unite! Natalia, Sorelle and team were relentless battling back the pesky plants.

On Apr. 11 we were part of a Woodmansee Park Native Plants & Foods event in Salem, OR. We teamed up with the Native and Indigenous Student Union (NISU) at Willamette University, Castaway WU, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the City of Salem, Salem Environmental Education, and the Oregon Garden to plant natives along the creek, learn about the cultural significance of native plants, and enjoy a delicious “Three Sisters Stew with Buffalo” lovingly prepared by NISU. 

Sharean teams up with Alex from Willamette University / Castaway WU to plant natives along the creek. The plants will provide shade, reduce runoff, and provide other benefits to improve water quality and wildlife habitat.

Learning about and enjoying Three Sisters Stew with Bison together. Thank you amazing students from Willamette University’s NICU, including May (speaking at top), and Castaway WU! It was SO delicious and inspirational. Eyan Hackney from Willamette / Castaway WU (shown in upper left) and Brandy Slawik from Salem Environmental Education (shown in upper right) did an amazing job of coordinating with the partners to help make it happen. 

Jeremy from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde’s native plant nursery discusses native camas with a group from STREAM~N Team and Willamette Univ.

Sangat and team plant native red osier dogwood along the creek in Salem.

On Sat., Apr. 4, team members chose from two fun service-learning options: 

• • A beehive maintenance workshop with BeeLieve Foundation at a farm in West Linn, or
  • A Stewardship Saturday work party at the Environmental Learning Center (ELC) in Oregon City with ivy pulling and more.

Part of the Team poses with other members of the BeeLieve Foundation work party. BeeLieve works with veterans and serves the needs of families in our community with children who have complex medical and developmental needs. They also help bees and produce a lot of delicious honey to fund their mission!   

Sorelle, Angel, Efeydi and Team clean beehive boxes and frames to prepare them for the season. Many of them were donated by producers that lost their hives, so we set aside ones with signs of destructive wax moths to burn as a precaution. We learned that 70% of Northwest hives have been lost in recent years due to a variety of challenges–a powerful call to action!

STREAM~N Team Spring Break!

For our STREAM~N Spring Break, we helped remove ecologically disruptive plants and downed wood at a variety of beautiful restoration sites. These have included Leach Botanical Garden and their Back 5 Community Enhancement Project, Wilkes Creek Headwaters, Mt. Tabor Park, and the new Canyon’s Edge STREAM~N Center site. The youth also had the opportunity to plan and conduct their own service projects in their neighborhoods, such as trash pickups and helping elder neighbors.  

Feeling great after an impactful day at Wilkes Creek Headwaters with inspiring folks from our partners including Better Chances.

We’ve got this! Muscling out invasive blackberry and ivy.

Digging out Himalayan blackberry plants to protect natives at Wilkes Creek Headwaters in NE Portland.

Cutting up downed wood to haul away at Leach

Tygr and Rahim smile through a wet day of service-learning work in Leach’s Back 5.

Feeling good after an impactful day of trail work and removing downed wood at Leach Botanical Garden.

A group of us had to snap a quick selfie at the top of Mt. Tabor!

Wrapping up a great day of service on Mt Tabor at their Visitor Center.

Young biodiversity warriors have also been hard at work improving the ecological health and resilience of the Canyon’s Edge STREAM~N Center site in Oregon City. Projects have included removing ecologically disruptive plants, especially Himalayan blackberry and English ivy, planting natives, creating beautiful wood “plant name tags,” and protecting the young natives from herbivores. We also adding mulch to hold in moisture, control erosion, and add more nutrients/carbon to the soil.

Tygr and Team help out a young ninebark live stake plant and other natives at the new Canyon’s Edge site in Oregon City on March 22, 2026.

Rasheed and Yusheng add bamboo stakes to wrap chicken wire around. They will protect this young salmonberry plant from deer, mountain beaver, and other herbivores at Canyon’s Edge.

The STREAM~N Team feeling pumped up after a successful work party to start our STREAM~N Spring Break, 2026! Thanks to everyone who joined, including (from from left): Efeydi, Derek, Farrin, Taleitha, Sorrell, Numa, Tygr, Jordan, Rasheed, Sangat, Merritt, Rahim, Washo, Krista, Kite, Yuseng and Angel. An extra special thanks to our new partners from Better Chances, led by their wonderful Executive Director, Talietha Mathis (center).

Our wonderful partner Washo Shadowhawk from the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program tells us more about the baby garter snake he found at Canyon’s Edge. For instance, they are are born live–NOT from eggs–like most reptiles!

Both veteran and new STREAM~N Team members tour the Canyon’s Edge site with our partner Dr Heidi Blackwell, Director of the Environmental Learning Center at Clackamas Community College.

Impactful Stewardship Saturdays 

We had our first gathering of the year on January 10, 2026 at our home base, the Environmental Learning Center (ELC) at Clackamas Community College for Stewardship Saturday. Our service-learning work party helped rejuvenate the ELC’s Community Garden, including clearing paths, adding lots of mulch, and measuring new rented plots. Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch together, go to know each other better, and discussed ideas for STREAM~N Team and career pathway explorations in the coming year.

Part of the January 2026 ELC Community Garden work party group squeezes in along one of the paths we restored.

Engineer and educator Craig Connors explains the amazing technology behind the SawStop table saw. Developed by nearby scientist/woodworker Dr. Steve Gass, its sensors make the saw stop instantly if it contacts skin. It has been a revolutionary safety breakthrough, and has helped the Tualatin-based company become the #1 maker of cabinet saws in North America.

Jemma shares beautiful “Plant Name Tags” she made from wood using a laser engraver, computer software, table saw, power sander, and other tools. She created them for the new Canyon’s Edge STREAM~N Center in Oregon City, where they will help other students learn about native plants and their many benefits.

Sophie and one of our fantastic STREAM~N Team volunteers with the sign she made for “Nurse,” a young serviceberry shrub at the Canyon’s Edge STREAM~N Center in development. Sophie and Quinn named the plant in honor of nurses, who generously serve people, just like serviceberries take care of people and wildlife in myriad ways. You can learn more about these bountiful, beneficial plants in botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s powerful essay The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance, available free online via Emergence magazine. It is also published as a beautifully-illustrated book that helped inspire the creation of the STREAM~N Center after we received it as a gift. Just let us know if you’d like to borrow our copy. 🙂 

On Jan. 24 we had a super-interesting tour of the North Clackamas County Water Commission Treatment Facility in Oregon City. Plant Manager Brent Carrar and Education Coordinator Christine Hollenbeck showed us the whole process of how river water is made clean and safe to drink. They are passionate and enthusiastic about their jobs, and explained how our partner Clackamas Community College has an excellent Water Environmental Technology (WET) training program for those interested in joining the profession. Many skilled folks are expected to retire in the coming years, creating a lot of opportunities.

Brent Carrar shows us where the water is drawn in from a gate in the beautiful Clackamas River.

Christine Hollenbeck explains how the intense recent flooding impacted the river and came close to reaching the treatment facility. The Commission is having to plan for more frequent flooding, droughts, and less reliable summer snow melt due to human-caused climate change.

Plant manager Brent shows us how the water is filtered and treated.

Students inspect the high-tech membrane filter material that can even clean water as turbid as chocolate milk. The facility also has huge filtration ponds to filter water, but they cannot process as much water on days when it is very turbid, such as during the recent flooding.

Brent shows us the different types of filters they use and talks about the pros and cons. We also got to check out some of the heavy equipment they use, and learned that Brent has also loved the many physical aspects of his jobs in both drinking water and waste water treatment.

On January 24 we also visited the new Canyon’s Edge STREAM~N Center site to begin a tree survey and install the “Plant Name Tag” signs we made. One of our goals is to be ready to participate in emerald ash borer (EAB) research and mitigation efforts in the coming year, so we need to know where all the ash trees are and what condition they are in. We hope to eventually create a GIS/mapped database of all the trees and shrubs on site.

Taking a selfie with “Carly,” a red-flowering currant. She is protected with chicken wire from the many deer and other herbivores at the site until she grows a bit more.

On January 31 we teamed up with Columbia Slough Watershed Council for a Stewardship Saturday work party at Wilkes Creek Headwaters. We planted native cascara trees (Franjula purshiana) and wildflowers, including yarrow (Achillea millefolium) and goldenrod (solidago, Asteraceae spp.) to improve wildlife habitat, control erosion, and reduce pollution entering the creek.

Delilah and Nolan plant native cascara trees (a favorite of our feathered friends) near Wilkes Creek.

Kloee, Delilah, Sorelle, Wes, Nolan, Brad, Farrin, Kira, Krista and Rick take a break at the beautiful bridge over Wilkes Creek.

Delilah, Kloee, Lilly, and Francis team up to plant native yarrow and goldenrod wildflowers near Wilkes Creek that are important for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.

Kira and Nolan tackle some English ivy near Wilkes Creek to protect the trees and prepare for  more diverse, native plants.

At Stewardship Saturday at the Environmental Learning Center (ELC) on Feb. 7, Team members chose from a few fun activities:  

Rick, Wes, Nolan, Sophie, Bethany, Wyatt, and Ros braved the rain to restore paths at the ELC’s Community Garden. The great conversation and laughs kept us going!

Gavin, Brindi, and Jasmin were some of the students that chose to create environmental education kits at the ELC on Feb. 7. Here they’re measuring out string for groups of early learners to create models of bird’s nests. 🙂

Krista, Kate, Terry, Jacoby, and Evie bravely tackled some of the pesky ivy killing trees during the Feb. 7 work party. Sorry ivy, the team won the tug of war competitions!