Forest Park, COA 058

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Mushrooms in Forest Park — Photo Credit: Jon Roberts, WikiMedia Commons

This area in the Tualatin Mountains (Portland’s West Hills) includes the City of Portland’s 5,172-acre Forest Park.

COA ID: 058

Recommended Conservation Actions

address fish and wildlife movement barriers (roads, culverts, fences).
Foster forest succession to old growth.
Improve stream buffer vegetation and width.
increase channel complexity and fish habitats.
Maintain and expand existing Oregon white oak habitat.
Manage for future habitat complexity
Manage public access and recreation to protect fish and wildlife
Protect and improve headwater streams and riparian habitat
protect and improve water quality.
remove invasive vegetation plants in particular English ivy.

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Balch Creek Watershed Protection Plan (1991)
Forest Park Desired Future Condition (2011)
Forest park Ecological Prescriptions (2011)
Forest Park Natural Resources Management Plan (1995)
Forest Park Wildlife Report (2012)
Northwest Hills Natural Areas protection plan (1991)
TNC Willamette Valley Synthesis Conservation Opportunity Areas

Potential Partners

Audubon Society of Portland
City of Portland
Forest Park Conservancy
Friends of Forest Park
Homeowners Associations and individual home/land owners
Metro
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Oregon Department of Forestry
Oregon Department of Transportation
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
Three Rivers Land Conservancy / Columbia Land Trust
Tualatin Hills Park & Rec District
U.S. Bureau of Land Management
Washington County
West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program

Special Features

General

An important wildlife movement corridor between the Coast Range and Willamette River.
Includes Forest Park, the largest forested urban park in the United States

Previously Associated With

2006 COA ID CR-09 (Portland's Forest Park)
2006 COA ID WV-01 (Columbia River Bottomlands)
2006 COA ID WV-03 (Willamette River Floodplain)

Ecoregions

Coast Range Ecoregion

Coast Range

Oregon’s Coast Range, known for its dramatic scenery, is extremely diverse, with habitats ranging from open sandy dunes to lush forests and from tidepools to headwater streams. It follows the coastline and extends east through coastal forest to the border of the Willamette Valley and Klamath Mountains ecoregions

Finley Muddy Creek Area

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley ecoregion is bounded on the west by the Coast Range and on the east by the Cascade Range. This long mostly level alluvial plain has some scattered areas of low basalt, and contrasts with productive farmland and large urban areas. It has the fastest-growing human population in the state resulting in challenges due to land-use changes.

Strategy Habitats

Grassland Strategy Habitat

Grasslands

Grasslands include a variety of upland grass-dominated habitats, such as upland prairies, coastal bluffs, and montane grasslands.

Coast Range Ecoregion

Late Successional Mixed Conifer Forests

Late successional mixed conifer forests provide a multi-layered tree canopy, including large-diameter trees, shade-tolerant tree species in the understory, and a high volume of dead wood, such as snags and logs.

Example of Oak Woodlands, which is a Strategy Habitat within the Oregon Conservation Strategy

Oak Woodlands

Oak woodlands are characterized by an open canopy dominated by Oregon white oak.

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats include all naturally occurring flowing freshwater streams and rivers throughout Oregon as well as the adjacent riparian habitat.

Ducks on a wetland in Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area, Oregon

Wetlands

Wetlands are covered with water during all or part of the year. Permanently wet habitats include backwater sloughs, oxbow lakes, and marshes, while seasonally wet habitats include seasonal ponds, vernal pools, and wet prairies.

Specialized Local Habitats

Headwater streams of the Willamette and Tualatin Rivers
Old-growth Douglas fir

Strategy Species

Acorn Woodpecker (Observed)

Melanerpes formicivorus

California Myotis on tree

California Myotis (Observed)

Myotis californicus

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern (Observed)

Hydroprogne caspia

Chipping Sparrow (Observed)

Spizella passerina

Clouded Salamander

Clouded Salamander (Modeled Habitat)

Aneides ferreus

Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Documented)

Oncorhynchus clarki clarki

Coastal Tailed Frog (Modeled Habitat)

Ascaphus truei

Coho Salmon (Documented)

Oncorhynchus kisutch

Columbia Torrent Salamander (Modeled Habitat)

Rhyacotriton kezeri

Common Nighthawk (Observed)

Chordeiles minor

Cope’s Giant Salamander (Modeled Habitat)

Dicamptodon copei

Fringed Myotis (Modeled Habitat)

Myotis thysanodes

Hoary Bat (Modeled Habitat)

Lasiurus cinereus

Lewis’s Woodpecker (Observed)

Melanerpes lewis

Long-legged Myotis (Observed)

Myotis volans

Northern Red-legged Frog (Observed)

Rana aurora

Northern Spotted Owl (Observed)

Strix occidentalis caurina

Olive-sided Flycatcher (Observed)

Contopus cooperi

Oregon Slender Salamander (Observed)

Batrachoseps wrighti

Oregon Vesper Sparrow

Oregon Vesper Sparrow (Modeled Habitat)

Pooecetes gramineus affinis

Peregrine Falcon (Observed)

Falco peregrinus anatum

Purple Martin (Observed)

Progne subis arboricola

Red Tree Vole (Modeled Habitat)

Arborimus longicaudus

Short-eared Owl (Modeled Habitat)

Asio flammeus flammeus

Silver-haired Bat (Observed)

Lasionycteris noctivagans

Townsend's Big-eared Bat

Townsend’s Big-eared Bat (Modeled Habitat)

Corynorhinus townsendii

Western Bluebird (Observed)

Sialia mexicana

Western Gray Squirrel (Observed)

Sciurus griseus

Western Meadowlark (Modeled Habitat)

Sturnella neglecta

Western Painted Turtle on a log

Western Painted Turtle (Observed)

Chrysemys picta bellii

Northwestern Pond Turtle (Observed)

Actinemys marmorata

Western Toad (Modeled Habitat)

Anaxyrus boreas

White-breasted Nuthatch (Observed)

Sitta carolinensis aculeata

Willow Flycatcher

Willow Flycatcher (Observed)

Empidonax traillii

Yellow-breasted Chat (Observed)

Icteria virens auricollis