Graham Oaks Nature Park is a nature park in Wilsonville in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. Opened in 2010, the park is owned and operated by

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

, the regional government in the Oregon portion of the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

History

Prior to designating the land as a nature park, Metro originally planned to build a

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

on the property in the 1980s. Metro then purchased the property in 2001 for $1.6 million from the state. At one time, the state also owned the adjacent land to the north where the

Dammasch State Hospital Dammasch State Hospital was a mental hospital, asylum, and educational center located in Wilsonville, Oregon, United States. Named for Dr. Ferdinand H. Dammasch, the hospital opened in 1961 and closed in 1995. After its closure, the former site wa ...

stood, and the land to the west where the Callahan Center was located before becoming the

Living Enrichment Center Living Enrichment Center (LEC) was a New Thought organization and retreat center in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was founded in the farmhouse of senior minister Mary Manin Morrissey of Scholls, Oregon, in the mid-1970s; the church moved to a 94, ...

. After buying the land, Metro started planting 150,000 native shrubs and trees on the former farm. Metro also spread an estimated 100 million wildflower and grass seeds and built trails and other amenities prior to the park opening. A preview tour of the park was held in October 2008 at Graham Oaks. In August 2009, the Oregon State Parks & Recreation Commission provided Metro with a $500,000 grant for construction of the park. The next month, JP Contractors won the bid to build the $1.4 million park. Other funding for construction included $300,000 from Wilsonville and about $600,000 from Metro. In November 2009, construction started on park amenities, which were designed by landscape architecture firm GreenWorks. Graham Oaks officially opened to the public in September 2010. In January 2011, Wilsonville's

South Metro Area Regional Transit South Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART) is a public transit system operated by the city government of Wilsonville, Oregon, United States. The system currently consists of seven routes and is funded by local businesses. It was created when Wilsonv ...

added a stop at the park.

Details

The

Villebois Villebois () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ain department The following is a list of the 393 communes of the Ain department of France. The communes cooperate in the follow ...

development lies to the north, and to the east are Inza R. Wood Middle School and Boones Ferry Primary School. Wilsonville Road borders the park to the south, and Grahams Ferry Road on the west. The school district’s Center for Research in Environmental Sciences & Technologies (CREST) located next to the primary school also uses the park as an outdoor classroom. Graham Oaks has six different types of habitat over the park. These habitats include oak savanna, wetlands, oak woodland, and a conifer forest, among others.

Amenities

Amenities at the park include five plazas along the of trails. Trails include a portion of the Tonquin Trail, a paved regional trail planned to connect to Tualatin and

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland *Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district from ...

to the north. Other trails include Coyote Way, Legacy Creek, Arrowhead, Greenway, and Oak Woodland Walk, which connect to the adjacent parks and the neighborhoods of Villebois and the Park at Merryfield. Other features include a parking lot, restroom, picnic shelter, stone acorn sculpted by Mauricio Saldana. The picnic shelter features a green roof that includes plants, while the restroom includes solar panels on the roof. Additional environmentally friendly items at the park include

bioswales Bioswales are channels designed to concentrate and convey stormwater runoff while removing debris and pollution. Bioswales can also be beneficial in recharging groundwater. Bioswales are typically vegetated, mulched, or xeriscaped. They consi ...

, pervious pavement, and LED lighting. There are also overlooks and signs, with the signs provided by the

Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (CTGR) consists of twenty-seven Native American tribes with long historical ties to present-day western Oregon between the western boundary of the Oregon Coast and the eastern boundar ...

. That tribe includes the Kalapuyan tribes who once inhabited the area.

References

External links

*
Portland Monthly
{{Protected areas of Oregon Metro (Oregon regional government) Parks in Clackamas County, Oregon Wilsonville, Oregon 2010 establishments in Oregon Protected areas established in 2010