Native relations

Return Serve volunteers tore at the invasive species in Nadaka Park in Gresham on April 17. Nadaka was a Camp Fire Girls camp, then was abandoned. The Wilkes East Neighborhood Association is making great efforts in restoring the park. The park is not very large, but is a remarkably dense forest for being located right in the heart of an suburban residential neighborhood. The smaller size makes the task of removing the invasives not as daunting as it is in a place like Forest Park. At one point, one of our volunteers said: "I think this one's Win-able!!" I think that is the general consensus.

One interesting side note however, one of the neighbors whose backyard shares a fence with Nadaka told one of us that she wished we wouldn't take out all the ivy and blackberry because she had always like the privacy they provided. We're so used to working with people who understand what harm the invasives can do to the forests - I don't know that this neighbor understands that the trees that I am guessing she likes very much are at risk. It's a good reminder that education is one of the most important volunteering we can all do. And, reminding her that Metro had a native plant sale going on just over the fence would have been helpful, too! We'll keep it at it, and maybe once we've "won", the neighbor will love her healthy forest more than she ever thought she could.