By Nancy Hiser
Invasive plants plague Linnton. Periodically, volunteers fight battles to remove ivy that is climbing trees and keep it from invading Forest Park. We are also at high risk for wildfires.
In January, a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) grant for $429,174 was awarded to Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) to remove invasive species and decrease fire fuel from Forest Park. Do you recall hearing chain saws and seeing workers in the forest near your property a few months ago? That was the Forest Park Wildfire Risk Reduction Project in action. PP&R, working in conjunction with Forest Park Conservancy and Portland Fire & Rescue, hired contractors to remove ivy, holly, laurel, non-native hawthorn, deadwood debris, and low limbs in the parts of Forest Park that are near homes. They swarmed through our community from south of the St. Johns Bridge to north of Linnton Hill, accomplishing a great deal in a short time.
Efforts to remove invasive plants and eliminate fire fuel are complicated because PP&R cannot work on private property and Linnton is a patchwork of land ownership — homeowners, landlords, ODOT, PBOT, and Multnomah County all claim land. A residential street is often bordered on one side by ODOT land and the other side has County jurisdiction. However, through Firewise Community volunteer events and partnering organizations such as Forest Park Conservancy (FPC) and West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, private landowners can get support for similar wildfire risk reduction work on their property.
PP&R Ecologist Marshall Johnson advised that the remaining $330K will fund ongoing efforts in late summer after wildfire season and will continue through the winter of 2024. A narrow window in the fall is targeted to tackle ground ivy — again only on Forest Park land. Environmental safeguards are observed: funding for herbicide use mandates using only environmentally safe products, no work occurs in windy or rainy conditions, and areas with nesting birds are avoided between February and late July; bald eagle nests are protected by a 660-foot radius buffer. After ivy and invasive plants are removed, 60,000 native plants will be planted in Forest Park.
Meanwhile, Firewise is seeking more Linnton homeowners and renters to take advantage of the free property inspection to assess fire risk and provide recommendations to make their homes safer. Has your neighborhood acted to be fire safe?
https://www.portland.gov/fire/your-safety/wildland-urban-interface-wui-home-assessment. https://www.portland.gov/fire/your-safety/reducing-risk-wildfire
For questions, contact nancyhiser@comcast.net