What does restoration really look like?
At this year’s 8th Annual Urban Forest Summit: we’ll explore that question through three short films featuring local places where people have taken action to care for the land and discovered that restoration can transform much more than a landscape.
From a creek corridor where students are helping make room for beavers, to a school community tending a restored wetland, to homeowners rethinking what a yard can provide for wildlife, these stories offer a glimpse into what is possible when people build lasting relationships with the places around them.
8th Annual Lake Oswego
Urban Forest Summit
Stories of Transformation:
Restoring our Human Connection to the Land
Saturday, Oct 24 | 9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Lake Oswego United Methodist Church
1855 South Shore Blvd. Lake Oswego
Register now, it’s free!
Pecan Creek: Making Room for Beavers and Learning Along the Way
Pecan Creek has a history shaped by beavers, whose dams once created wetlands and habitat throughout the watershed. Today, the Oswego Lake Watershed Council (OLWC) and its partners are working to restore conditions that can once again support these ecosystem engineers.
Students overlooking Pecan Creek, with Cook Family Farm in the distance.
Students removing a discarded tire from Pecan Creek.
The OLWC’s Pecan Creek Beaver Habitat Restoration & Education Project combines invasive plant removal, native planting, ecological monitoring, and hands-on learning. This year brings an exciting new chapter: with support from Clackamas Water Environment Services, OLWC expects to work with Lakeridge High School students through monthly field experiences at the site.
The project is about more than restoring habitat. It is also creating a living classroom where students can see ecological change unfold over time and become part of that change.
What happens when students become stewards of a place they can return to again and again? Come see the story.
International Leadership Academy: When Restoration Becomes a Relationship
The story of the International Leadership Academy (ILA) begins with a wetland on the school’s Springbrook Creek property and a restoration effort that has continued to evolve over time.
OLWC originally partnered with the then-owners of the property, Hope Church, through a 2015 City of Lake Oswego Habitat Enhancement Program grant, helping launch restoration work that has continued and expanded under ILA’s stewardship. Today, the school community, including students and parents, has become integrally part of the ongoing relationship with the land.
This film looks beyond the restoration work itself to ask a bigger question: What happens when caring for a landscape becomes part of a community’s identity? The answer may be found in the people who continue to show up for the place.
ILA Project Site Before
ILA Project Site After
Backyard Habitats: One Yard at a Time
A healthy urban forest isn’t only found in parks and natural areas. It can begin in a yard.
The third film follows three local homeowners who have chosen to rethink what their yards can be. By replacing portions of conventional landscaping with native plants and habitat, each property has become something more; a place for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife, and a small piece of a larger ecological network. Their efforts reflect the broader goals of the Backyard Habitat Program, which helps local residents create healthier, more wildlife-friendly yards and demonstrates how individual properties can contribute to a connected urban habitat.
The stories also connect to OLWC’s work to protect and restore Oregon white oak, a keystone species in our region. Even an individual property can contribute to a healthier landscape when an existing oak is protected, invasive plants are addressed, or native species are added around it.
Backyard Habitat Project Before
Backyard Habitat Project After
Come See the Stories
These films are not simply about restoration projects. They are stories about people, places, and the human connections that make restoration possible.
Join us at the 8th Annual Lake Oswego Urban Forest Summit on Saturday, October 24, for Stories of Transformation: Restoring Our Human Connection to the Land. Along with the three films, the Summit will include discussion and Q&A, environmental experts, community organizations, and an update on the City of Lake Oswego’s Tree Code. Thank you to our generous sponsors: Bartlett Tree Experts, Blossom Landscape and Design Native Northwest.
Registration is free, but attendance is limited—reserve your spot early.