RESTORING CAMPUS WILDLIFE
NEW PLANS IN STORE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING CENTER
photo by Tom Bog g ess
BY TOM BOGGESS
Above: Kirill Lgnatyev attended the event in the ELC building on Saturday, April 30.
Below: Community members, administrators, CCC staff, faculty and students gather
during an open house for the Newell Creek Headwaters restoration.
Plans for the Newell Creek Headwaters
restoration at Clackamas Community
C ollege’ s Environm ental Learning
Center were viewed during an open
house by a large number of community
members, administrators, CCC staff,
faculty and students.
They all came together in the ELC
b uildin g located on five acres o f
wetland at the college to show their
interest in the environment.
S h elly P arini, dean o f college
advancem ent, said, “ The W estside
Hall is being utilized for a variety of
reasons. They teach one class here but
this has been the home for community
education for years and years. This is
really a m ulti-use building.”
A grant has b een provided by
Metro to fund this project. The CCC
Foundation is com m itted to raising
$1.7 million to match the grant. The
project is estimated to be finished in
2017.
The main focus of the restoration is
the Headwaters of Newell Creek and
the ponds and w aterw ays feeding
th em . A n oth er n earby bu ild in g,
mainly used for storage now, will be
fixed up during restoration to use it
for classes and offices.
The grounds and the pathways have
a wonderful transformation thanks to
some hard work by mostly volunteers.
Because of those volunteers people can
walk the grounds and paths to explore
what lies there in seclusion.
There are 12,000 feet of pathways
running through the grounds. There
are two more weekends available for
the volunteers to continue cleaning
the area. This even t w ill continue
on May 14 and groundbreaking w ill
occur on the college’ s 50 anniversary
celebration on May 21.
Bob C ochran, dean o f cam pus
s e r v ic e s , e x p la in e d a ll o f th e
construction drawings that were on
display. He went on to explain how the
restoration will change the existing
ponds and the landscapes surrounding
the waterways.
“The pond’s water just kind of sits in
one spot, but the pond’s new formation
in a snaking affect will increase storm
water movement and a calculated time
that it w ill be in the area,” Cochran
said. “ Dr. James Nurmi teaches a class
here called Water and Environmental
Technologies, WET, and he has been
collecting w ater sam ples along the
way and will continue to test the storm
water to see how we have improved the
quality of the storm water.”
Oregon State Rep. Bill Kennemer
from Congressional District 39 was in
attendance looking at the future plans
for the ELC area.
Kennemer said, “ I started coming to
the ELC building in 1986 and I worked
with Jerry Herrmann and I got to know
him w ell. Herrmann was the first
student to get involved with the ELC
in 1974; it’ s exciting to see this whole
project come together.”
Cochran said, “ This w ill be about
a tw o-year project and that is the
storm water component of this, but
w e also w ill have features like the
amphitheater here for education, and
a couple of discovery gardens. We’ll be
having seven new bridges installed and
places where the bank will b e’cut like
stairs so kids and students go down to
the water to collect larva and insects.”
R en ee H arber, c h a ir o f th e
horticulture department, was also in
attendance. Beginning this summer,
Harber will be working with Parini to
coordinate w hat is happening w ith
the educational departm ent here at
the ELC.
ON THE COVER:
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