BWB2012: Field Trips
Biodiversity Without Boundaries makes a point to offer attendees a chance to get outdoors and experience the local wildlife and landscapes. Organized and led by the staff of the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center, these field trips provide access and insights you might not otherwise get. Sign up when you register!
All field trips take place Sunday, April 22, include transportation, and depart from the conference hotel; fees and further details are noted in the individual trip descriptions. And this is the Pacific Northwest, so come prepared for rain or shine (you might get both!).
Columbia Gorge
All-Day: 9:00am - ~5:00pm
$28 per person, includes lunch
In late April, the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is likely to be in full bloom, so the plan is to head to the eastern edge of the gorge. There are two sites we’ll visit, one being Catherine Creek in Washington, taking a 1.4 mile loop trail. The other is Rowena Dell Preserve and State Park in Washington. Both should have exceptional wildflower displays and views of the Gorge. (Depending on the interest, we can split the trip into two.) The areas can be steep, windy, and both poison oak and rattlesnakes are found. But if you’ve never seen these places, you can’t imagine the amazement you are missing!
Willapa Bay NWR
All-Day: 9:00am - ~5:00pm
$28 per person, includes lunch
This huge bay supports tremendous shorebird populations, especially during the migrations, which should be going along just fine in April. It is an exceptionally cool place, well worth the drive of just under 2 hours from Portland.
Metro Area Wetlands
Smith and Bybee Lakes in Oregon & Lacamas Meadows
Half-Day: 1:00pm - ~5:00pm
$18 per person
At nearly 2,000 acres, Metro’s Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area is the largest protected wetlands within an American city. This beautiful natural area is one of the region’s best-kept secrets, hiding in a part of Portland surrounded by port terminals, warehouses, and other commercial developments. Most visitors to the natural area are surprised to find beaver, river otter, black-tailed deer, osprey, bald eagles, and Western painted turtles living only minutes from downtown Portland. We will wind our way through the wetlands on the Interlakes Trail, an easy trail that includes two wildlife viewing platforms. Following this trip, we’ll make a brief visit to Lacamas Meadows, home to the endangered Bradshaw's desert parsley (Lomatium bradshawii), which should be in full bloom. (This area is mostly privately owned, so permission will be required to see many areas.)
Camassia Preserve and Willamette Falls
Half-Day: 1:00pm - ~5:00pm
$18 per person
Named for the common camas (Camassia quamash) which profusely blooms here in April and early May, this preserve hosts more than 300 plant species, including the rare plants such as the endangered white rock larkspur (Delphinium nuttallii ssp. ochroleucum) which should be just starting to flower. The preserve is a rocky plateau carved by the Bretz Floods, which swept the area 12,000 to 19,000 years ago, bringing granitic boulders from as far away as Canada. It has oak savannas, Douglas-fir forests, and a small aspen wetland just above the Willamette River in West Linn, a suburb of Portland. The preserve is located a few miles from Willamette Falls in downtown Oregon City. It has lovely, short walks and should have many wildflowers (and a small amount of the ubiquitous poison oak).