Walnut Grove Park
Unless you are coming specifically to study or look for turtles, there are not many reasons to make the trip to Walnut Grove Park. Located between heavily used Northwest Expressway, rows upon rows of Union Pacific rail cars and the stark new homes across Nantucket Street, this unique, miniature nature reserve seems like a mismatched puzzle piece. Young, sporadically planted trees dot the otherwise occasionally maintained lawn, which also features a handful of picnic benches placed seemingly at random. Shade is lacking, and the open space is rather inadequate for anything other than a meandering dog walk or a casual game of catch.
If wildlife is your fancy, this place is a unique highlight within the city park system. As the interpretive sign on site explains, western pond turtles are protected here as their natural habitats throughout the Willamette Valley become more and more compromised. As awkward as it is to observe turtles sun bathing immediately in front of massive, thundering freight trains, it seems to confirm the threat to the their habitats by encroaching developments and a need to protect what little remains. As you walk the perimeter of the sturdy fence, you may feel like a child at the zoo competing with peers to be the first to spot a turtle on the shore or poking its head above the water’s surface. Because the pond’s edge is well distanced from public access, it may help to bring binoculars to better observe the turtles and other wildlife here.
Visitors are reminded that dogs must be leashed and that turtles are not to be handled or taken home as pets. The park is open to the public from 6am to 11pm and turtles are most often seen in the warmer months basking on logs. For more information about helping the city to preserve turtle habitats, call 682-4850. To get to Walnut Grove Park, go south on North Park Avenue from Maxwell Road, and take a right (west) on Hatton Avenue. (The sign says Nantucket on the east side of North Park.) You can’t miss the park on your left.
Article by Lauren L. Zavrel