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Next time you’re traveling in Terwilliger Parkway, and especially if you’re having thoughtful moments in the Walpole Garden, please give a shout out to our board member Bob Bonner. He’s an inspiration to all of us! Here’s his nomination for PGE Parks Champion.

The Walpole Garden, a collaboration with our partners at Portland Parks and Recreation, is named after the noted American botanical illustrator Frederick Andrews Walpole who built a house at Eagle Point (300 ft to the north of the garden) in 1895. We are gradually planting many of the native plants he illustrated for the US Botanical Garden before his untimely death of typhoid in 1905.

2024 was a successful year. Hundreds of Terwilliger Parkway volunteers engaged in restoration and advocacy. From our forested linear parkway, to open viewpoints such as the newly created Walpole Garden, to our one-of-a-kind public Duniway track and lilac garden. We couldn’t have done it without you!!

Our January 2025 Volunteers

Thanks to our April 2024 Volunteers who working like surgeons, carefully removing the invasive ivy while simultaneously protecting and saving our native plants. Now our native plants will have room to spread and thrive

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Sadly, we had to say goodbye to 2 of our favorite Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) employees last month.

Weren’t we lucky to have a second day of students from Lewis & Clark College volunteering to help us restore another area of Terwilliger Parkway? This time it was in the Walpole Garden area; part of the Bancroft right-of-way FOT has been improving for many years now.

You may have noticed on-going work here:

Friends of Terwilliger have been working with Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R) for the past five years to restore a narrow strip (~120ft wide) of ~1 acre parkland centered around the Bancroft St right-of-way just below Terwilliger Parkway and the Marquam Hill hospitals.

Friends of Terwilliger (FOT) was honored to guide participants of the “Preserving the Historic Road International” (PHRI) Conference on a tour of Terwilliger Parkway during their conference being hosted in Portland in late September.

(photo from 1912 bus tour)

Friends of Terwilliger spearheaded work with PGE to cut down a number of large “invasive” black locust trees in the Bancroft Right-Of-Way (ROW). These trees were threatening the main power lines coming up Bancroft St. PGE was told to leave them in place on the ground for Urban Forestry to handle.

This year marked the 18th year of No Ivy Day, an annual event put on by Portland Parks and Recreation, to rid our natural areas and parks of invasive ivy. Friends of Terwilliger was a co-sponsor.

September 13, 2019 as the “Harvest” full moon rose over Mt Hood, about 50 neighbors gathered at Eagle Point for a ice cream social viewing sponsored by Friends of Terwilliger and Homestead Neighborhood Association (HNA). In 2020 we sought to continue the tradition in a Covid-19 appropriate way.

Here’s how we can continue to remember and honor Portland Commissioner Nick Fish.

A few months ago, a realtor’s “For Sale” sign in Terwilliger Parkway prompted concern from neighbors and Parkway supporters, fearful that a development might threaten the integrity of this linear park. This led to calls to both Friends of Terwilliger and the Portland Parks & Rec (PPR).

On November 26, 2019, Commissioner Nick Fish and PP&R Director Adena Long presented “A Sustainable Future” to the Portland City Council for discussion and guidance. This is the first step to determine funding options for PP&R.

Friends of Terwilliger (FOT) Board Members met with the new Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R) Director Adena Long and PP&R City Nature Manager, Rachel Felice recently. The goals for the meeting were to provide Director Long with information about FOT and its mission of protecting and advocating for Terwilliger Parkway, to describe the challenges FOT sees for the Parkway today, and to review the partnerships FOT has established with PP&R over the past 30 years.

Students from Lewis & Clark College, as part of their New Student Orientation (NSO) Service Day, helped Friends of Terwilliger “groom” Eagle Point in preparation for the upcoming Harvest Moon Social September 14th. Check out the before and after photos!

April 2018-Volunteers worked to rid the Terwilliger Parkway of invasive plants.

With a few good workers, Friends of Terwilliger was able to rid the Terwilliger Parkway of more invasive plants.

You’ve probably been hearing the term partnership more often lately. Especially here in Portland where collaborative spirit runs deep. Partnership is defined as an association of persons for business, companionship, or an alliance of persons for a common enterprise. Friends of Terwilliger (FOT) has been in existence over 30 years and find ourselves in the company of many like-minded and similarly focused organizations. Here’s the story of one of them.