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- Nature on Cooper MountainPosted on: 2006-03-26Nature at Cooper Mountain - this is not really news, just an idea to get some dialog going here. I'm wondering if anyone has voluteered with Metro at the greenspace across Kemmer Road, or done their own exploring, and has any stories or pictures they would like to share on this site.
The greenways behind our houses are really 'connectors' for wildlife, that connect the large open space south of Kemmer with greenways and greenspaces all over and outside Portland.
Sometimes I walk at night, and once I spotted a coyote trotting along the sidewalk under a street lamp. Farther down the mountain (from the back yard of our old house), a neighbor's cat was taken, apparently by a coyote.
A couple of blocks from there on Cooper Mountain, and about two years ago, there was a tree that was struck several times by lightning. I heard a deafening thunderbolt at least twice, and each time the next day went to the tree and saw fallen limbs, a burned trunk and branches, and so on. Finally, the owner just had the tree cut down. Something about those roots just attracted lightning - the old giant tree had become a menace to the neighborhood.
On two different occasions I was walking on Cooper Mountain, and stopped to admire cherry trees, fully laden with fruit. The old trees were in a yard fully surrounded by subdivision houses - these were the last survivors of old cherry orchards. Both times, the aged owners came out and said, go ahead and pick some fruit. One man said, climb right up and just cut the entire branches from the top of the tree. I told him I used to prune trees in an apple orchard when I was a kid, and I think it warmed his heart to see someone up in the old tree pruning branches. At the other house, the owner pointed to a large Madrone tree, and said that was the first one planted on Cooper Mountain. From that tree, birds had carried seeds all over Cooper Mountain, where many Madrone saplings start up every year.
The greenways that run behind Kemmer View Estates, Renaissance Point, and so on, are special places. There are at least two small creeks that run water (at least a trickle) year 'round. Many of you know about the 150+ acres of Metro greenspace right across Kemmer Road, and did you know Metro would like to add to the current land holding as part of a proposed tax increase?
On the one hand, we are priveledged to increase our enjoyment of nature, ( and school funding) and on the other, we are already fully engaged in property taxes. I'm sure we will all work the tax issues out for ourselves. But in an area that is expected to grow by 1 million people in the next 20 years, we can count our blessings for the (existing) greenways, greenspace, and nature that surrounds us.Website:www.moneyviewpoints.comEmail:daveerlandson@yahoo.com
