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Rinearson Creek

Watershed Overview 

Rinearson Creek is a first-order tributary to the Willamette River in Gladstone, Oregon. It originates in the Boardman Wetland, spends about half of its journey piped underground, but emerges periodically to pass through areas of high habitat potential including the Olson Property and the Meldrum Bar Park Natural Area. Near the entrance to Meldrum Bar, the creek flows through a beautifully forested canyon boasting dozens of native plant species before watering the Meldrum Bar Pond mitigation site.   

Update: Spring 2010 at Rinearson Creek  

Volunteer work at Rinearson Pond and Meldrum Bar Natural Area is in full swing this spring. With the help of SOV and Gladstone High's Green Team, Wilderness International Inc., Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership (LCREP), Oregon Department of FIsh and Wildlife, and many neighborhood volunteers, the Rinearson Creek Watershed continues to benefit from the following activities: 

  • April 10th - Community Conservation Day at Meldrum Bar Park Natural Area. Volunteers of all ages spent the morning removing English ivy and Himalayan blackberry, planting native plants, and cleaning out old garbage.Turtle Surveys at Rinearson Creek
  • May 7 - ODFW, SOLV, and Gladstone High's Green Team are working together to gather information on fish and wildlife at Rinearson Pond. An invasive species of turtles, red-eared sliders, was previously confirmed at Rinearson Pond, but ODFW did not know if native turtles would also be found there. Turtle traps and nesting surveys have confirmed that one native turtle species, the Western Painted Turtle, is also present!
  • May 10 - Danette Faucera of ODFW visited Rinearson Pond with Gladstone High's Green Team for an electro-fishing survey of the Rinearson Creek below the dam and within Rinearson Pond. The efoort resulted in finding 12 three-spine stickleback, 2 bluegill, 1 pumpkinseed fish, 1 sculpin, and 3 juvinile Coho salmon below the dam in the outflow pool. Many adult pumpkinseed fish and one cat fish were surveyed in the pond.
  • May 12 - Wilderness International Inc. and LCREP brought elementary school children to Meldrum Bar Park for an educational canoe ride, followed by native vegetation planting.

 

Upcoming Activities - SOLV and Gladstone High's Green Team will monitor water quality in the creek and pond. Turtle surveys and trapping will continue through June. Wilderness International Inc. has several clean-up days and ivy-pulls scheduled throughout the summer.  The group regularly holds planning sessions and restoration work parties. For more about these activities please contact Carl Poston, cposton1@comcast.net

The Rinearson Coalition 

About five years ago, a group of concerned neighbors began to take interest in about 20 acres of open space within Meldrum Bar Park, known today as the Meldrum Bar Natural Area. Once the location of a wetland mitigation site gone terribly awry, the area had become compromised by invasive species and other stressors (encampments, BMX biking, motorized vehicle usage, etc). The Rinearson Coalition was formed to focus on strategizing restoration efforts within the natural area.

 The Coalition consists of representatives from SOLV, Willamette Riverkeeper, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), VISTA, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), Wilderness International, Gladstone High School Green Team, the North Clackamas Urban Watersheds Council, Ivy Warriors, adjacent Home Owners Association representatives and neighbors of the creek and pond.