My wife and I are recently returned Central Oregonians, both having grown up here, me in Redmond. As a child my friends and I spent many hours playing and exploring in the central portion of Redmond’s Dry Canyon, many years before it was a Park. In those days it was all privately owned. Large sections of it had cycled through some years as pasture. Remnants of that era’s ditches are still evident in some areas. For several years plans were being prepared to turn a large portion of it into a golf course, which fortunately, was never built. The result is that as a ‘natural area’ the original plant community is severely degraded. The City’s master plan for the Park designates a large portion, the northern section, north of the dog park and disk golf area, north of Antler, as a natural area preserve.
I still feel a strong connection to the canyon and am beginning work that I hope will contribute to its health and diversity in the years ahead. I’m a retired horticulturist who spent the majority of my career caring for Park lands, previously with time spent maintaining private gardens and installing landscapes, mostly west of the Cascades. I began working for sever landscapers in Central Oregon.
I’m recently returned after almost a 40 year absence. In order to care for any landscape one must know and consider what is there; what uses it is intended to fill and what practices are used to achieve one’s goals. It is impossible to do this without know what is here, as precisely as possible, what conditions the landscape must endure and is shaped by and, how the plants that comprise it, are responding to their use and care over time. Landscapes are extremely site sensitive to whatever we choose to do and not do.
Desert landscapes are even more so because the soils are thin and fragile, very subject to disturbance, the growing season is short and the climate, subject to large temperature swings and dry…this is a desert Lush landscapes are possible only with a lot of water and other interventions. Our native landscapes have a very narrow window in which they can recover from damage. Additionally, because the Canyon was grazed off and on for decades, irrigated and planted with European pasture grasses, the original landscape and its relationships are ‘broken’.
The overall site is full of seed from elsewhere. This comprises a ‘seed bank’ that works against an easy return to the original. Most of these act as weedy invaders of our landscapes. Some of them are fully invasive and capable of taking over intact landscapes on undisturbed sites. Disturbed sites, such as the Canyon, are extremely susceptible to invasion. In spite of all of this, because of the conditions in play here and the availability of seed from nearby native plants, the more adaptable and vigorous of our natives, are attempting a come back on its own…however, the pressures of use and maintenance are impeding its recovery. Additionally, because of all of the introduced weeds and invasive species, unsupported recovery is an impossible task. That historic, native landscape, is likely gone forever, but it can serve as a template for the Canyon’s recovery.
A new dynamic and relatively stable plant community is possible with our shepherding or stewardship. But it will take a lot more than just setting the area aside and calling it a ‘natural preserve’. It requires our active participation. It requires that we take into account what is here now and what the relationships between the member species are. It requires that we assess what we do to support its development and ‘stabilization’ while being very clear about this being a process that will change over time. The strategies we employ themselves will have to adapt as conditions evolve. You can’t grow a stable plant community from scratch in one go while following a rigid plan. Conditions change over time. Our response must change with it. The plants themselves play an active role in modifying the conditions active across the landscape. It is a dynamic system. Is it impossible? After having said all of this, is it even possible?
One thing is assured, if we don’t act, the situation will continue to degrade. As Redmond’s population continues to increase, more people are drawn to the Canyon. They will use it for permitted activities in ever increasing numbers while some others, likely in continuing numbers also, use it selfishly, or ignorantly, in more actively destructive ways. Redmond’s Parks staff is outmatched. After almost 30 years working in another Park system, I know that money will always be a limiting factor in our care of our Park lands. The only way for this to work is when local residents step up and take on some of the responsibility themselves, while at the same time, educating themselves about the rewards, the problems and their role as part of a solution. While not ‘fun’ in the commonly recognized recreational sense, joining with others to learn, develop and protect a valued resource builds our sense of community and delivers its own satisfactions and rewards.
I am beginning to put together a survey of the Dry Canyon’s flora, including both native and non-native species. I am looking for others who feel similarly about the Canyon and would like to contribute. You need not be a botanist. I’m not. We need people who are willing to step up and ‘adopt’ sections of the Canyon to watch over it, to survey and monitor. You can learn your area. You can learn the plants on it and in so doing, begin to understand their relationships and about what is going on your particular ‘patch’. If there are people with a software background, working experience with (Geographic Information Systems) GIS, we can use you to help create a dynamic tool to help us and the City understand this important landscape and to direct its maintenance and development into the future. Join US!
This is a kind of test. An attempt to gauge local interest. Please contact me via FB Messenger if you’re interested. Be aware that there is no organization as of yet. The need is there. Let’s see what we can do!
Please see my previous post. This is the beginnings of a inventory for Redmond’s Dry Canyon Park, as of April 15, 2024:
GardenRiots 