6
acresVolunteer Park
4350 Mount Vernon Road
Wild Wetlands and Volunteer Park
When Willamalane’s Volunteer Park was dedicated in the spring of 2005, neighbors found a place where they could play basketball, wander along a pathway, and sit on a bench while the kids tumbled on the playground and ran through the grass.
In addition to the traditional features of a developed park, Volunteer Park sports a more unusual element. A half-acre at the park’s northern edge is home to the native grasses, sedges, rushes, and wildflowers of a Willamette Valley wetland.
The planted wetland is consistent with wetlands that were historically present in the Willamette Valley—it has standing water during the early part of the growing season but dries up by June or July. That’s when the show begins. Wildflowers and native grasses, such as the spike-rush, spring to life and put on their best displays. Several shades of green are evident throughout the wetland along with white, yellow, and blue wildflowers. This wet prairie is picture perfect with the tall grasses swaying prairie-fashion in the breeze, interspersed with sedges and wildflowers.
The wetland was designed by DLA, Inc., and planted by Grant’s Landscape Services.
How to find the park
All driving directions begin at A Street; at the bridge entering Springfield
from Glenwood.
1: Head EAST on South A Street. Continue for 3 miles
2: Turn RIGHT onto South 42nd Street. Continue for .5 miles
3: Turn LEFT onto Mt. Vernon Road. Continue 2 blocks to the park