Basin Stories

Fields Creek Riparian Restoration – a Tualatin River basin restoration project

Lory Duralia (pictured) provided the vision for the Fields Creek restoration, put together the restoration design, invited neighbors, friends and customers of Bosky-Dell Natives to dig in the native plants, organized the barbeque and invited Judy Bluehorse-Skelton to talk about native plants for healing.

Lory Duralia and her neighbors turned their passion for Fields Creek into action, forming Friends of Fields Creek, a group that works to improve stream health for cutthroat trout, red legged frogs and other native species.

Recently Lory and other neighbors worked with the SOLV Team Up for Watershed Health program to remove invasive plant species from the riparian areas of Fields Creek, a tributary to the Lower Tualatin River that enters the Tualatin River 1.6 miles from the river’s mouth, at Willamette-West Linn. The Friends of Fields Creek also planted native plants on various neighbors’ properties.

Lory purchased a third of an acre on Fields Creek last summer and began to pursue her longtime dream to restore the property. She obtained an Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) Small Grant by working with the Tualatin River Watershed Council. Lory also received help from the Clackamas County Department of Transportation. She started Bosky Dell Natives nursery eighteen years ago and now provides her customers with native plants that she and her crews raise from seeds, cuttings, bulbs or propagation. Lory, her Bosky-Dell Natives’ crew and contracted crews removed non-native vegetation, including mature rhodendrons (Lory relocated them to new homes), laurel trees, non-native Himalayan blackberry and other invasive plant species. She also redesigned an off-stream pond so that as it flows back into the stream and provides better water quality.

Judy Bluehorse-Skelton (purple jacket) teaches a blessing song for restoring the creek to the volunteers.

On January 14, 2006, Lory, her crew, and volunteers met for a planting party and barbeque. In addition, Judy Bluehorse-Skelton was invited to talk about native plants that are used for healing. Judy Bluehorse-Skelton, an herbalist and educator, works with Multnomah and Washington County Indian Education programs, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, OMSI and many other groups throughout the Northwest. Speaking and leading field trips, herbal walks and cultural activities, she focuses on the tradition and modern uses for our native plants for food, medicine, utensils, and more.

Jennifer Lockwood, a volunteer at the work party, said she enjoyed the project. “Many different native plants were put in to help shade and stabilize the stream bank. I enjoyed going and felt good about helping improve the stream,” she said. “There was a large group of people and the work done was a beneficial improvement to the surrounding environment.”

Lockwood also mentioned how much she enjoyed learning about native plants. “Judy Bluehorse Skelton invited me to pick native plants and make a Native American tea from Douglas-Fir, Red Cedar and Oregon grape. She said it is a good bacteria-fighting tea. It tasted light and had a lemon flavor to it.”

More pictures from the work party are below:

Barbara Sandhorst, a neighbor with another volunteer planted numerous native plants.

Over 40 volunteers inserted plants along Fields Creek.

Volunteers stayed warm by planting, drinking plenty of coffee and taking advantage of the grill.