Butterfly Park is a city park of about in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Located at 7720 South Macadam Avenue, the park includes a natural area and walking paths near the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

. The natural area provides important habitat for butterflies, including

mourning cloak ''Nymphalis antiopa'', known as the mourning cloak in North America and the Camberwell beauty in United Kingdom, Britain, is a large butterfly native to Eurasia and North America. The immature form of this species is sometimes known as the spiny ...

s and orange sulphurs. The Greenway Trail, part of the

40-Mile Loop The 40-Mile Loop is a partially completed greenway trail around and through Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was proposed in 1903 by the Olmsted Brothers architecture firm as part of the development of Forest Park. One greenway expert c ...

, links Butterfly Park to Miles Place and Willamette Park on the north as well as the Willamette Moorage Natural Area, the

Sellwood Bridge The Sellwood Bridge is a deck arch bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The current bridge opened in 2016 and replaced a 1925 span that had carried the same name. The original bridge was Portland's first ...

, and Powers Marine Park, all on the south. Slightly south of Butterfly Park, Stephens Creek empties into the Willamette.

Oaks Amusement Park Oaks Park is a small amusement park located south of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The park opened in May 1905 and is one of the oldest continually operating amusement parks in the country. The park includes midway games, about tw ...

and Sellwood Riverfront Park are on the river's east bank, opposite Butterfly Park. At the park entrance, a

rock garden A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small A ...

near an interpretive sign features

columbines ''Aquilegia'' (common names: granny's bonnet, columbine) is a genus of about 60–70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals Pu ...

penstemon ''Penstemon'' , the beardtongues, is a large genus of roughly 250 species of flowering plants native mostly to the Nearctic, but with a few species also found in the North American portion of the Neotropics. It is the largest genus of flowering ...

fireweed ''Chamaenerion angustifolium'' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed, in some parts of Canada as great willowherb, in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. In ...

, and other flowering plants. Vegetation in the park, once dominated by Himalayan blackberries, includes native grasses, wildflowers, and

dogwood ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or shrub ...

Cedar waxwing The cedar waxwing (''Bombycilla cedrorum'') is a member of the family Bombycillidae or waxwing family of passerine birds. It is a medium-sized, mostly brown, gray, and yellow. This bird is named for its wax-like wing tips. It is a native of Nort ...

killdeer The killdeer (''Charadrius vociferus'') is a large plover found in the Americas. It was described and given its current scientific name in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Three subspecies are described. T ...

orioles Oriole or Orioles may refer to: Animals * Old World oriole, colorful passerine birds in the family Oriolidae * New World oriole, a group of birds in the family Icteridae Music * The Orioles, an R&B and doo-wop group of the late 1940s and early ...

chickadee The chickadees are a group of North American birds in the tit family included in the genus ''Poecile''. Species found in North America are referred to as chickadees, while other species in the genus are called tits. They are small-sized birds ...

s, and other birds frequent the park. A bench along the trail offers views of

Ross Island Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound. Ross Island lies within the boundaries of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New ...

and other spots along the river. It took about 10 years to organize and develop the park, formerly a "derelict patch of land" near the Macadam Bay Club, a residential houseboat community. The South Portland Neighborhood Association worked with

Portland Parks & Recreation Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is a Bureau of the City of Portland, Oregon that manages the city parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails. The properties, which occupy a total of more than . The bureau employs a total ...

to complete the work. The park is "one of the region's smallest, but most biologically productive" greenspaces.

References

External links

South Portland Neighborhood Association
{{Protected Areas of Oregon 1996 establishments in Oregon Parks in Portland, Oregon Protected areas established in 1996 South Portland, Portland, Oregon Urban public parks

See also

References

External links