Thanks to a grant from Metro, the City of Milwaukie will start Phase I of the construction of Milwaukie Riverfront Park this summer.
On May 19, 2011 the City of Milwaukie and the Johnson Creek Watershed Council were awarded a grant for $225,000 by the Metro Nature in Neighborhoods program. $190,000 of these funds will be used to construct the first phase of Milwaukie Riverfront Park, including Klein Point Overlook, at the north end of the park.
“This first phase of the Riverfront Park will begin reconnecting Milwaukie citizens with the river and the creeks that gave Milwaukie its name,” JoAnn Herrigel, City of Milwaukie Community Services Director and project manager of Milwaukie Riverfront Park, said.
Klein Point will include a small plaza overlooking the confluence of Johnson Creek and the Willamette River and interpretive signage explaining historical aspects of the area as well as habitat enhancements being completed by the Johnson Creek Watershed Council.
The Watershed Council will use the balance of the Metro grant to create a riffle near an exposed sewer pipe which crosses the Creek and install one of about several engineered log jams which will provide shelter for migrating fish.
The wood structure will be constructed using approximately 7 to 10 trees (including rootwads, tree tops, and whole trees) which have been imported from outside the project area. To secure the wood structures, tree stems will be partially buried in the bank and pinned with rebar, weighted with rock ballast, and backfilled with native soils.
Robin Jenkinson, project coordinator for the confluence project, says that the restoration work will take place between July and August of 2011.
