Recently, Julie Nader decided it was time to sacrifice her lush, green lawn for something a little more sustainable. So Nader, a six-year resident of Sherwood’s Woodhaven subdivision, had the turf in her front yard and the parking strip behind her backyard fence, removed. Enlisting the help of Kim Hamilton, who owns Kflora landscaping in Tigard, Nader planted a fragrant herbal mixture to replace about 800 square feet of lawn. “The herbal grass is an interesting combination of yarrow, sweet alyssum, chamomile and regular grass,” said Nader. “This ecology seed mix comes from a specialty seed company, Hobbs & Hopkins, Ltd. (in Portland).” A bag covers about 1,000 square feet.

Nader said she likes the fact that everyone can do something to improve the environment. “I’m putting my money where my mouth is,” she said. She hopes the herbal grass will complement a water feature in her front yard and a pond with two waterfalls in her back yard. Nader said what attracted her to the herbal lawn is that it takes no fertilizer, uses less water and needs less mowing. “What a simple way to minimize our footprint on our Earth and, most importantly, save water,” she said. “It is an ideal way to have an ecologically friendly and low-maintenance lawn.” “It’s increasingly important that we think about our environment,” said Nader. “The chemicals are very bad for all of us.” Nader is a board member of Raindrops to Refuge, a Sherwood community watershed stewardship group (see sidebar). She said everything people do to help the environment makes a difference. Landscaper Hamilton said she appreciates the fact that Nader is willing to sacrifice a pristine lawn to benefit the environment. She noted that removing an existing lawn to plant a more sustainable lawn isn’t difficult. One way to kill existing grass without chemicals is to suffocate it with by using black plastic or cardboard, she said. A sod cutter or shovel works to remove the old lawn. Next, herbal grass growers need to spread a blended soil on the ground before planting the seed. “There’s no need for top dressing, peat moss, that kind of thing,” said Hamilton. Hamilton said herb grass is gaining in popularity because everyone is conscious of the amount of water needed to keep up a lawn and the costs. Nader said she knows simply maintaining a standard lawn is expensive and gas-powered lawn mowers create major carbon footprints. Now Nader plans to watch – and smell – her herb mixture lawn sprout to life. “Even so early in the growing process you can see the tiny white flowers of the alyssum,” said Nader. “When it is mowed (about once every 5 weeks) there will be a lovely fragrance.”

Today every 4th grade student in Sherwood (at public and private schools) received a publication called The Pacific Salmon and Steelhead Activity Book, thanks to a grant from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund to Raindrops to Refuge, Sherwood’s environmental nonprofit organization. The activity books depict the different kinds of Pacific salmon, the life cycle of the fish, and what each of us can do to help salmon thrive in this region. The book also discusses why we need salmon and shows places families can go see salmon. The books are published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Raindrops to Refuge also distributed postcards to every school teacher in Sherwood, again in both public and private schools, announcing its new website, with watershed education resources for teachers, among other things.

Lisa Jo Frech, Executive Director of the organization, had this to say about the significance of the activity books, “Anything we can do to boost teachers in their all important job is a potential gain for our natural world. Salmon have a fascinating life cycle and can be studied as part of a watershed curriculum students often receive at this age. Learning about salmon and their habitat teaches us about the interconnectedness of our natural world. The more we understand these relationships, the more likely we are to leave a healthy world to future generations.”

Raindrops to Refuge is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire, educate, and facilitate sustainable community actions to assess, restore, and preserve the watershed health of Chicken Creek, Cedar Creek, and Rock Creek in Sherwood, Oregon.

New natural areas acquired on Chicken Creek and the main stem of the Tualatin River
October 27, 2008

Rolling hills and houses dot the landscape where the slow-moving waters of Chicken Creek flow through small farms and rural properties on their way to the Tualatin River. Chicken Creek bisects the 38-acre property Metro recently purchased, located about a mile outside of Sherwood’s city limits. Large, single parcels of land are hard to find in this area and the property is particularly valuable because of its relatively large size and quality.

“Protecting Chicken Creek and its tributaries is essential to the long-term health of the Tualatin River and the (Tualatin River National Wildlife) Refuge,” said Metro Council President David Bragdon. “This acquisition really builds on and supports that investment in our region.”

At its confluence with the main stem of the Tualatin River, Chicken Creek flows into the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. A stretch of Chicken Creek, and one of its tributaries, crosses the new Metro acquisition, running through a mature forested drainage that provides shade to the creek and gives wildlife food and shelter. The property has a number of significant Western red cedar and Douglas fir trees (visible from Kruger Road) that were left behind after the timber was harvested on the western portion of the property by a previous landowner. More trees will be planted by Metro to expand the forested area and the invasive weeds that have begun to take hold will be removed.

Metro also purchased 1.5 acres on the main stem of the Tualatin River just upstream from Brown’s Ferry Park in Tualatin. The land is directly adjacent to an earlier acquisition by Metro. Protecting land along this stretch of the Tualatin River meets multiple regional goals including protecting water quality and wildlife habitat and creating a future greenway trail to serve local and regional residents.

“This purchase includes a piece of the planned Tualatin River Greenway between Cook Park and Stafford Road,” said Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette, who represents the Metro district where this property is located. “It takes time but, piece by piece, that greenway trail is coming together.”

The Metro Council's voter-approved 2006 Natural Areas Program funds land acquisition and capital improvements that protect water quality and fish and wildlife habitat, enhance trails and wildlife corridors and provide greater connections to nature in urban areas throughout the greater Portland region. For more information, visit www.oregonmetro.gov/naturalareas.

Metro, the regional government that serves 1.3 million people who live in the 25 cities and three counties of the Portland metropolitan area, provides planning and other services that protect the nature and livability of our region.

Maps:

• Revised Chicken Creek (Holmes) map 2008
• Tualatin RiverGreenway (ICON) map2008

DEQ to OK cleanup efforts at polluted Sherwood site
Developer is cleaning up the old Foster Farms site, polluted after a now defunct tannery buried animal hides there years ago
July 1, 2008 By Kelly Moyer

After months of heavy duty cleanup and the removal of 3,315 cubic yards of contaminated soil, the Department of Environmental Quality says three parcels of land on the old Ken Foster Farm site — parcels contaminated by toxic animal hides buried there years ago — meet DEQ standards and need “no further action.”

The proposal, which would bring the site's developer, Patrick Huske of Ironwood Homes, Inc., one step closer to completing the entire environmental cleanup required by the DEQ, drew a handful of citizens to a June 11 public hearing at the Sherwood Police station.

“We don't always do a public hearing for a ‘no further action' proposal, but this report has tremendous detail,” explained Chuck Harman, a site assessment specialist with the DEQ.

The site, which Huske hopes to turn into a new housing development, drew attention from local environmentalists after it was discovered that owners of Sherwood's old tannery had dumped hides there more than 20 years ago.

Because the site contains wetlands and is close to Rock Creek, which runs past the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, advocates from Raindrops to Refuge have also paid attention to the DEQ's cleanup plan.

Lisa Frech, executive director of Raindrops to Refuge, asked several pointed questions at the June 11 hearing, to determine future risks from the site's engineered soil cell, which holds the contaminated soil removed from lots one, two and four; as well as the future of the entire site, including the substantial wetlands area.

Harman said the engineered soil cell has passed several tests and is not leeching any toxins into the nearby soil. The cell is engineered to be structurally sound and is covered in jute matting, fresh soil and grass seed to cover the contaminated soil. At this point, DEQ officials aren't sure if the soil cell will be part of the final site cleanup or if it will be moved to a landfill site, possibly in Hillsboro.

Currently, the soil cell, as well as lot three, is not part of the DEQ's “no further action” proposal.

“We're not NFAing the cells, just the properties,” said Harman. “If it (the soil cell) remains in this location, it would certainly always need to be maintained and monitored.”

Tests of the site's soil showed toxins at levels lower than the federal guidelines for human health risk but at levels harmful to certain wildlife.

“Although there have been repeated questions and concerns about human health, the levels we've established at this site are all under the risk for human health,” Harman said.

Concerns for human health surfaced after a report from the federal Environmental Protection Agency found that certain soil samples from the site did pose a risk to humans.

But, says Bruce Gilles, manager of cleanup and response for the DEQ, the EPA's recommendations depended on “results that are out of line with the bulk of the data.”

Over the past few years, DEQ testing has shown that the soil on this portion of the old Ken Foster Farm site does not pose a risk to humans, but could harm birds. To pass DEQ muster, the contaminants in the soil must be at levels low enough to be harmless to earthworms, the preferred food source for most birds in the region.

To get there, cleanup crews had to dig much deeper than the originally proposed six-inches. In some spots, crews removed three to four feet of soil.

“During all site visits, DEQ observed very good site management and maintenance of runoff and dust controls in place,” Harman said. “Ironwood Homes has acted proactively and cooperated with DEQ … and this doesn't always happen that way, so I thought it was important to point out.”

Huske's company still has several steps to take before it gets final DEQ clearance for development. To complete the DEQ's required Interim Remedial Action Measure, Ironwood Homes must cleanup lot three and remove the soil from that lot to a second engineered soil cell. Once those steps are completed, the IRAM will be complete.

Within 60 days of completing the IRAM, Ironwood Homes will submit a draft Remedial Investigations report for their other properties as well as a Feasibility Study to address contamination cleanup for the wetlands, soil on the remaining lots and the temporary soil cells.

Once DEQ chooses a plan for the remaining cleanup, the issue will go to public hearing again and citizens will have a chance to comment on the proposed remediation. Written comments regarding the DEQ's proposal for “no further action” on lots one, two and four are due July 1 and may be mailed to Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, c/o Chuck Harman, Northwest Regional Office, 2020 S.W. Fourth Ave., Suite 400, Portland, 97201.

For more information, or if you have questions regarding this issue, call Harman at 503-229-5585 or e-mail him at harmacharles@deq.s tate.or.us; or call Bruce Gilles at 503-667-8414, ext. 55009 or e-mail him at gilles.bruce@deq.state.or.us.

One of the most unpalatable environmental stories of the year landed with an alarming splash in March, when The Associated Press reported that water supplies across America are contaminated by trace amounts of pharmaceuticals.

Drugs detected in tap water range from mood stabilizers in Southern California to anticonvulsants in New York City to sex hormones in San Francisco. Altogether more than 100 different compounds have been found in water supplies serving 41 million people, albeit in exceedingly small quantities.

The AP report came in the wake of several scientific studies showing that America’s reservoirs, rivers and lakes are increasingly contaminated with tiny doses of unwelcome pollutants such as steroids, insect repellent, detergents and plasticizers.

Unfortunately, we are not immune. Last week, officials with the Portland Water Bureau told Sustainable Life that inspectors detected extremely minute quantities of two hormones in groundwater samples; previous tests of Portland water found trace amounts of caffeine and pain relievers.

At first glance, the appearance of drugs in the water supply seems the perfect example of how modern technology is driving the planet’s ecosystems to the breaking point.

There’s widespread concern, says Dr. Ilene Ruhoy, a Nevada physician and environmental scientist who has researched the issue for the Environmental Protection Agency. We’ve got to look at this further.

Ruhoy (who comes to Portland next week to present a lecture titled, Drugs in the Water: How our Medicine Cabinets are Contaminating Nature ) is one of a swelling tide of scientists looking at the proliferation of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceutical compounds and personal care products in the environment.

But many experts say there is no evidence that such minuscule traces pose any threat to human health.

First, they point out, the contaminants are being detected at extraordinarily minute levels levels that bankrupt the imagination. For example, the highest concentration of any pharmaceutical ever found in Portland’s water supply was acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, which was detected last year at 18 parts per trillion.

To ingest the equivalent of two Tylenol pills, you’d have to drink 10 gallons of water a day, every day, for 4,021 years.

It shouldn’t be dismissed, says David Shaff, administrator of the city’s water bureau. But it’s a very, very, tiny, tiny amount.

Even at the highest levels detected, and even with the strictest margin of safety, the pharmaceutical compounds so far discovered in drinking water stand at concentrations thousands of times below the therapeutic dose.

In a study published in January in the journal Ozone: Science & Engineering, for example, toxicologist Shane Snyder, research and development product manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, tested water samples from 20 cities across the country.

The most concentrated pharmaceutical he could find was the sedative meprobamate, which has been shown to be toxic in mice; the acceptable daily intake is a mere 180 parts per billion.

However, the highest concentration of meprobamate measured by Snyder stood at the level of 42 parts per trillion. To approach the margin of safety, you’d have to drink more than 4,000 glasses of water a day.

From all the data we have in front of us now, we don’t see any impacts on human health from these extremely minute quantities, Snyder told Sustainable Life.

Experts say that pharmaceuticals now are cropping up in water supplies not because pollution is getting worse, but because tests are getting better.

In the ’50s and ’60s, we could detect pharmaceuticals in parts per million, says chemist Andrew Eaton, laboratory director of Montgomery Watson Harza Laboratories in Monrovia, Calif. In the ’70s and ’80s, parts per billion. Starting in this decade, we went to parts per trillion, and now we’re pushing it lower and lower.

The technical advances mean that chemists now can find contaminants in water that previously would have been considered pure.

Snyder compares the development of better water testing to the evolution of the telescope. In the early 19th century, telescopes could only pick out a few thousand stars, he says. Now Hubble can see billions. But it doesn’t mean they weren’t there before.

A drop in 10,000 buckets

Portland’s water comes from two sources. The main supply is Bull Run, a remote chunk of wilderness on the flank of Mount Hood that feeds a system of rivers, lakes and reservoirs stretching for 102 square miles.

Most of the time, the water bureau relies on Bull Run alone, but during severe storms or summer drought it also can draw groundwater from wells fed by underground aquifers.

The first hint that pharmaceuticals might be seeping into Portland’s drinking water came in August 2006, when an untreated sample from Bull Run water showed caffeine at 9.2 parts per trillion.

Subsequent tests of the groundwater revealed caffeine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen and sulfamethoxazole.

This spring, Shaff, the bureau administrator, ordered another round of tests on water from both sources. The Bull Run samples produced no hits. The groundwater tested positive for a pair of hormones, estradiol and ethinyl estradiol-17 alpha, but found no evidence of the drugs that were previously detected.

I don’t know why those compounds appeared and then disappeared, says Yone Akagi, a water quality engineer for the water bureau. But I am confident our water is safe to drink.

One vexing question is how these contaminants wind up in the drinking water in the first place.

Typically, the scenario goes like this: People take medications that pass through their bodies and eventually are washed down the drain; or they flush old pills down the toilet. Either way, the drugs make their way into a wastewater treatment system, which generally are not designed to remove dissolved compounds in such tiny amounts.

Finally, the treated water is discharged back into a river, stream or lake that serves steady yourself as a drinking source for other communities downstream.

Another route is that contaminants seep from landfills or septic tanks into the soil below, and then percolate deep into underground aquifers. Boaters and bathers can also contaminate rivers with sunscreen, insect repellent and various personal care products.

None of these routes explains why caffeine would be detected in Bull Run. Water bureau officials say they are puzzled by the result. I have no idea, Shaff says. Did the inspector spill coffee on his hands that morning? Did he breathe on the sample?

Small but dangerous?

It’s worth remembering that certain pollutants, such as endocrine disruptors, have been shown to cause problems for fish and other aquatic species even at concentrations of parts per billion.

Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency has not established official exposure levels for most emerging contaminants, which contributes to the lingering uncertainty over what is safe.

Finally, some researchers worry that although individual pharmaceutical contaminants may all fall below the generally accepted level of concern, together they may impose a cumulative toll on our health.

We live in a sea of chemicals, Ruhoy says. Pharmaceuticals are not the only exposure out there.

Nonetheless, local water officials say exotic contaminants pose far less of a potential hazard than familiar headaches such as lead and copper (from old household plumbing) or giardia (from pesky critters that poop near streams.)

Parts per trillion? We lose absolutely no sleep over that, Shaff says.

In fact, he and other water officials fret that the froth over pharmaceutical contamination will divert attention from more prosaic problems, such as aging infrastructure.

There are a lot of issues with drinking water in America, says Snyder, of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. In many parts of the country, we have crumbling infrastructure that is 100 years old. The pipes leak, they crack. Those are real issues. In a way, it’s a shame that people are being distracted by tiny concentrations of contaminants when we have such overt problems in our water systems.

Water officials say it is technically possible to build aggressive treatment systems that scrub more pharmaceutical contaminants out of drinking water, but doing so is extremely expensive and can introduce additional problems.

Stronger doses of chlorine, for example, would remove many of the offending compounds, but also would raise the level of chlorination byproducts, such as haloacetic acids, which themselves constitute a kind of contamination rather like loading too much soap in the dishwasher.

Even multiple disinfection and filtration won’t yield water that is absolutely pure, experts say. There is no treatment in the world that can possibly remove every trace of every compound down to parts per trillion, Snyder says.

Meanwhile, detection technology keeps getting better. The real story here is the advancements in analytical techniques, lab director Eaton says. But that doesn’t generate great headlines.

Oregonian
Watershed watchdogs expand advocacy issues

Raindrops to Refuge - Nonprofit branches out to green housing, invasive plants and other topics Thursday, February 14, 2008 ABBY HAIGHT The Oregonian Staff

Raindrops to Refuge was created to help the residents of rapidly growing Sherwood protect their watersheds.

But like the city it vows to keep green and clean, the little nonprofit has grown. Raindrops to Refuge has become a voice in environmental issues, its supporters acting as advocates not just for watersheds, but as watchdogs where future growth and past actions threaten greenways and creeks.

Raindrops to Refuge is involved in the former Ken Foster farm, where tannery sludge spread years ago poisoned the soil of a new housing development; in closure of the controversial Lakeside Reclamation landfill northwest of Sherwood; and in the future Brookman Road addition, which the organization wants to see built to green standards.

"We're testing our vocal cords and building our capacity about where and how we can be heard on these issues, on behalf of the community and on behalf of the watershed," said Ron Garst, a retired salmon biologist and president of the Raindrops to Refuge board of directors. "As we reach out more and find out more, it's a chance to engage more Sherwood citizens in what is happening in the watersheds."

In its eighth year, Raindrops to Refuge is run out of a tiny office above a children's clothing store. Lisa Jo Frech, who teaches environmental ethics and mediation at Marylhurst University , is its part-time director.

Chicken, Cedar and Rock creeks flow through Sherwood, creating a watershed out of almost every neighborhood. The creeks flow along crumbling banks. Their waters run warm without native trees and shrubs for shade. Runoff filled with bacteria and pollution robs oxygen from the creeks. The Department of Environmental Quality branded the creeks as "water quality limited."

A watershed stewardship was created in 2001 in partnership with the city, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Sherwood Schools and Audubon of Portland.

Raindrops to Refuge was run by the city until 2004, when it became an independent nonprofit. It has campaigned for watershed health through the schools; encouraged property owners to remove invasive species, replacing them with native vegetation; and has taught residents the value of healthy watersheds.

"We are a watershed-based community group," Garst said. "It's all about the watershed -- the health of the watershed, how clean is the water, how is the water managed, how is the water protected."

Branching into wider advocacy is a logical step as the organization grows and matures, Frech said.

"We're one of the fastest growing communities in the state," Frech said. "How can we grow fast and well?"

Subdivisions such as the Brookman Road addition will establish the city's commitment toward sustainability, Frech said. Raindrops to Refuge leaders want a green development, with environmentally safe building materials and other practices that are kinder to the environment.

"We're standing on the edge and looking out and wondering, 'What is Sherwood moving toward,' " Frech said. " If Brookman Road goes in like every other subdivision, that's part of your answer right there."

Meanwhile, Raindrops to Refuge plans to increase the size of its four-member board of directors, seek more grants to pay bills as well as extend educational programs and increase membership.

"It's not just more trails and greenspaces, but clean energy, clean building materials," Frech said. "Can we create an action plan around sustainability that's going to make a difference to Sherwood and Sherwood's watersheds?"

Abby Haight: 503-294-5917; abbyhaight@news.oregonian.com

The West Linn Tidings - October 1, 2007 - Panel talks sustainability at Marylhurst

The Sherwood Gazette -  March 29, 2007 - Planting for the future

The Sherwood Gazette - Jan 4, 2007 - Volunteers take a hack at blackberry bushes

The Oregonian - October 26, 2006 - Environmental expertise perfect match for goals - (See attached pdf document)

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