Date of volunteer work: 10/04/2018.
Site Name: Powell Butte Nature Park.
Number of hours worked: 1.20.
Field notes:
I used the 148th entrance off Powell Blvd. Having not much time but feeling the urge to visit the park, I walked up the Elderberry trail to the top of the stairs, SW on the Holgate trail, then back along the Dogwood trail. Sword ferns are in charge here along with vine maples, big leaf maples, Douglas fir, and Oregon grape, but there’s also a nice showing of maidenhair ferns and snowberry with their nice white berries. One flower noted and recorded on inaturalist (yellow avens) along with some nice mushrooms. The vine and big leaf maples are just starting to turn yellow. For anyone interested in the geology of Powell Butte, I’ve recently explored this with The Geological Society of the Oregon Country. On top of the butte you’ll find loess (wind blown silt) that originates from the Missoula flood deposits. In the SW corner of the butte you’ll find outcrops of the boring basal lavas (Powell Butte is one of several Boring Lava domes in SE Portland/Gresham), elsewhere on the butte you’ll find the alluvial gravel and mudflows with cobbles of the Springwater formation. Check it out!