The Tryon Creek State Natural Area is a
state park located primarily in
Portland, in the U.S. state of
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
. It is the only Oregon state park within a major
metropolitan area. The park lies between Boones Ferry Road and
Terwilliger Boulevard in southwest Portland in
Multnomah County
Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Th ...
and northern
Lake Oswego
Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town w ...
in
Clackamas County and is bisected from north to south by
Tryon Creek. To the north, the park abuts the
Lewis & Clark Law School
The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon.
The law school received ABA approval in 1970 and joined the As ...
campus.
Resources
The park includes hiking trails, a paved bicycle path, and horse trails. The bicycle path, which runs along Terwilliger Boulevard on the east edge of the park to Lake Oswego, is part of the Portland metropolitan area's system of
greenway trails known as the
40-Mile Loop. Near the main entrance off Terwilliger, part of the parking lot is devoted to horse trailers. Riders can choose between the North Horse Loop and the West Horse Loop. Hikers can use the bike path, the horse trails, and of hiking trails. The paved Trillium Trail, a loop furnished with drinking fountains and interpretive signs, can accommodate wheelchairs.
Trillium Trail has benches and two viewing decks.
A park building called the Nature Center is near the main park entrance. It has a small play area for toddlers, a gift shop, a large classroom, and a separate area for educational exhibits. Nearby is the
Glenn Jackson Shelter, a covered structure for outdoor events.
History
In 1850,
Socrates Hotchkiss Tryon Sr., pioneer settler, established a
donation land claim at the south end of the canyon. Five years later, he died, leaving the land to his wife, Frances. The land then passed to other relatives, including Socrates Tryon, Jr., who sold the in 1874 to the
Oregon Iron Company. For nearly 25 years, the company logged
virgin cedar and fir to use in its foundry in Lake Oswego. Its logging road later became Old Iron Mountain Trail in the state park. In 1900, fire in the upper canyon left charred
snags still visible along the park's Center and Big Fir trails.
Logging resumed in 1912 in the north part of the canyon, where the Boone's Ferry Wood and Tie Company had a site near what became Alfred Street. A sawmill and
steam donkey
A steam donkey or donkey engine is a steam-powered winch once widely used in logging, mining, maritime, and other industrial applications.
Steam powered donkeys were commonly found on large metal-hulled multi-masted cargo vessels in the later ...
engine operated near what became the sites of Beaver Bridge and Obie's Bridge. The lumber was used chiefly for
railroad tie
A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie ( Canadian English) or railway sleeper ( Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties tran ...
s,
cordwood and flagpoles, and left huge cedar stumps that remain in the park. Intermittent logging continued through 1961, and a 1962 windstorm known as the
Columbus Day Storm of 1962
The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 (also known as the Big Blow, and originally, and in Canada as Typhoon Freda) was a Pacific Northwest windstorm that struck the West Coast of Canada and the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States on October 12, ...
blew down many remaining trees.
Local efforts began in the 1950s to establish a park along the creek, In 1969, the government of Multnomah County bought to start a large regional park and sought citizen assistance with the project. This led to formation of Friends of Tryon Creek Park, which raised private funds for the park, helped arrange land deals, helped solve problems of jurisdiction in a two-county, two-city park, and sought help from the state. In 1970, Oregon Governor
Tom McCall
Thomas Lawson McCall (March 22, 1913 January 8, 1983) was an American statesman, politician and journalist in the state of Oregon. A Republican, he was the state's thirtieth governor from 1967 to 1975. A native of Massachusetts, McCall grew up t ...
announced the formation of Tryon Creek State Park.
Over the next few years, the state bought more than of land for nearly $3 million, including federal
matching funds. The Friends and the state collaborated in park planning and further fund-raising. In 1973, more than 300 volunteers built trails, and the nature center and shelter were finished by 1975. The park was officially dedicated on July 1, 1975.
Vegetation and wildlife
Dominant plants in the Tryon Creek watershed are
red alder
''Alnus rubra'', the red alder,
is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana).
Description
Red alder is the largest species of alder in Nort ...
,
bigleaf maple
''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''.
It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...
,
Douglas-fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
,
Western redcedar
''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae, w ...
, and
Western hemlock
''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...
. The forest understory in the park includes many
trillium
''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...
s, celebrated each spring during the park's Trillium Festival. More than 90 species of wildflower such as
fringecup are found in the park as well as plants such as
sword fern.
More than 50 species of birds as well as small mammals such as
beaver inhabit the park.
Tryon Creek is among the few streams in the Portland metropolitan area with a run of
steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...
trout,
and
coho salmon
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientif ...
have been recorded
spawn
Spawn or spawning may refer to:
* Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise
** '' Spawn: ...
ing in the creek.
Water strider
The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, or water skimmers. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as tr ...
s are common in the pools of Tryon Creek.
See also
*
Arnold–Park Log Home
*
List of Oregon state parks
References
External links
Friends of Tryon CreekTryon Creek Watershed CouncilTryon State Parkin ''The Oregon Encyclopedia''
{{authority control
1975 establishments in Oregon
Nature centers in Oregon
Parks in Multnomah County, Oregon
Parks in Portland, Oregon
Protected areas established in 1975
Southwest Portland, Oregon
State parks of Oregon