Below you’ll find a combination of programs offered by Oregon State Parks and Friends of Tryon Creek. Check back regularly for updates and support future programs. You’ll find camp registration here.
Featured Events
Bird Walks
Join Park Ranger, Rhett, for a morning of gentle hiking and bird identification. Walks will start at 8:15am and last up to two hours. Some routes and trails will involve hiking on moderately steep and muddy terrain. Bring your hot coffee and binocular, and plan to dive into the quiet intricacies of birding in the forest.
Meet at 8:15am in front of the Nature Center. We hope to see you there!
Guided Hike - Owls of Tryon Creek
Morning guided hike highlighting owls of Tryon Creek…
Bird Walks
Join Park Ranger, Rhett, for a morning of gentle hiking and bird identification. Walks will start at 8:15am and last up to two hours. Some routes and trails will involve hiking on moderately steep and muddy terrain. Bring your hot coffee and binoculars, and plan to dive into the quiet intricacies of birding in the forest.
Meet at 8:15am in front of the Nature Center. We hope to see you there!
Trillium Festival Member Event
Welcome back Spring! The Annual Trillium Festival at Tryon Creek State Natural Area is an educational event for the whole community that celebrates the season of renewal in the forest and beyond.
This popular spring event looks a bit different this year, with the construction of the new education pavilion underway this year’s event will take place over two days. Starting with a special donor appreciation social and plant sale on Friday evening, followed by a public event and plant sale on Saturday.
Our member social event inside the Nature Center will include:
Appetizers and beverages
Native Plant Sale with Bosky Dell
“Ask a Landscaper” with event sponsor Blessings Landscaping
Mini Habitat living centerpieces demonstration with Poppy & Finch
Enter to win awesome Door Prizes!
Join us or drop off your little ones in the classroom for:
Hands-on native seed ball-making
Springtime nature craft
Invitations will be sent to current members via email. Not a member yet? Join today.
Thank you to this year’s Trillium Festival Sponsors:
Trillium Festival
Welcome back Spring! The Annual Trillium Festival at Tryon Creek State Natural Area is an educational event for the whole community that celebrates the season of renewal in the forest and beyond.
This popular spring event looks a bit different this year, with the construction of the new education pavilion underway this year’s event will take place over two days. Starting with a special donor appreciation social and plant sale on Friday evening, followed by a public event and plant sale on Saturday.
Current members will receive an email to RSVP via online.
For 44 years, Friends of Tryon Creek has celebrated the return of the Trillium, an early-season perennial native to our local forests. This beautiful white flower awakens each year in late February and early March, and slowly turns to a reddish-purple by the end of April or early May, making it a wonderful beginning to the spring wildflower season.
2024 Trillium Festival activities:
Native Plant Sale with Bosky Dell in the Nature Center
“Ask a Landscaper” with event sponsor Blessings Landscaping
Mini Habitat living centerpieces demonstration with Poppy & Finch
Habitat-friendly Gardening Resources Fair at the Friends Circle
Native tree giveaway with Bartlett Tree Experts
Attracting wildlife advice with Backyard Habitat Program.
Firewise and watershed resources with lots of local partners.
Interactive Nature Stations for all ages in the classroom and one the trails.
Current and new members can enter to win awesome Door Prizes from Backyard Bird Shop and REI.
Thank you to this year’s sponsors:
Bird Walks
Join Park Ranger, Rhett, for a morning of gentle hiking and bird identification. Walks will start at 8:15am and last up to two hours. Some routes and trails will involve hiking on moderately steep and muddy terrain. Bring your hot coffee and binoculars, and plan to dive into the quiet intricacies of birding in the forest.
Meet at 8:15am in front of the Nature Center. We hope to see you there!
Guided Hike - Woodpeckers
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Bird Walks
Join Park Ranger, Rhett, for a morning of gentle hiking and bird identification. Walks will start at 8:15am and last up to two hours. Some routes and trails will involve hiking on moderately steep and muddy terrain. Bring your hot coffee and binoculars, and plan to dive into the quiet intricacies of birding in the forest.
Meet at 8:15am in front of the Nature Center. We hope to see you there!
Woodland Mini-Habitat Workshop
What a great way to celebrate Earth Month by learning how to create your own one-of-a-kind woodland mini-habitat centerpiece using Pacific Northwest native plants in a repurposed lamp-globe container surrounded by nature.
This one-hour workshop will cover a short presentation on the versatility of native plants, basic planting, floral design composition techniques and then have fun decorating our centerpieces with rocks, moss, branches, and insect or bird faux decorations.
You will walk away with your own unique mini-habitat tabletop garden with information, care instructions, tips, and resources!
You'll feel empowered and inspired to incorporate native plants to your container gardening, especially for those who live in an apartment with a balcony.
• Workshop fee is $85 and covers all supplies and materials including a gift box.
• 15% of workshop fee will be donated to Friends of Tryon Creek.
• Open for all levels (minimum age is 8).
Guided Hike - Trees
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Full Moon Hike - Members
Join Friends of Tryon Creek staff for an early evening full moon hike to celebrate seasonal changes and the Tryon community.
Bird Walks
Join Park Ranger, Rhett, for a morning of gentle hiking and bird identification. Walks will start at 8:15am and last up to two hours. Some routes and trails will involve hiking on moderately steep and muddy terrain. Bring your hot coffee and binoculars, and plan to dive into the quiet intricacies of birding in the forest.
Meet at 8:15am in front of the Nature Center. We hope to see you there!
Guided Hike - Ask a Ranger
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Indigenous Culture Day
A free, all-ages event offers a chance to listen and learn from Indigenous educators…
Guided Hike-Trilliums
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Guided Hike - Fish
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Full Moon BIPOC Hike
Join Friends of Tryon Creek staff for an early evening full moon hike to celebrate seasonal changes and the Tryon community.
Guided Hike - Ask a Ranger
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Guided Hike-Trilliums
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Bird Walks
Join Park Ranger, Rhett, for a morning of gentle hiking and bird identification. Walks will start at 8:15am and last up to two hours. Some routes and trails will involve hiking on moderately steep and muddy terrain. Bring your hot coffee and binocular, and plan to dive into the quiet intricacies of birding in the forest.
Meet at 8:15am in front of the Nature Center. We hope to see you there!
Guided Hike
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Guided Hike
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Watershed Wide Event
Tryon Creek Watershed Council’s 15th Annual Watershed Wide Event
Join us in supporting the unique urban Tryon Creek watershed by volunteering to remove invasive plant species and plant native plants for Tryon Creek Watershed Council’s 15th Annual Watershed Wide Event on Saturday, March 9, 2023 from 9:00am – 12pm!
This is TCWC’s largest annual volunteer event! Join us afterwards for a group celebration with pizza – this is a fun chance to see and hear what all happened across the watershed and who with. The pizza party location will be a 2-9 minute drive from sites.
Sign up here – we will follow up with you with more information closer to the date!
Volunteer event locations (more information will be sent closer to the date):
– Tryon Creek State Natural Area
– Marshall Park
– Jackson Middle School
– Boonesferry Terrace Greenspace, near Riverdale High School
– LOUCC (Lake Oswego United Church of Christ)
– with Oswego Lake Watershed Council (LOHS and/or Mountain Park HOA, tbd!)
– Lewis & Clark College
Note: Flexible volunteers are *super* helpful! Being able to send volunteers to the sites that need more people allows us to make similar impacts across all sites throughout the watershed. Thank you!
If you’d like to help out somehow other than hands-on weeding & planting (photography? coffee runs?) please reach out (alexis@tryoncreek.org).
FULL - David Lewis: Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley
Indigenous author book event..
Full Moon Members Hike
Join Friends of Tryon Creek staff for an early evening full moon hike.
FULL Love the Land: Biochar Workshop
Benefits of using biochar to restore soil and promote plant health…
Guided Hike - History of Tryon Creek
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Nature Educator Training
Learn more about the environmental field, cultural implementation and working with youth.
Guided Hike - Ask a Ranger.
Discover the Forest with a Park Ranger– This hike has no set topic, we’ll explore various topics from flora and fauna, to weather and trail conditions.
This hike has a set route: Old Main Trail to Big Fir Trail to Center Trail, to Maple Ridge Trail. Access Recreation has an excellent description of this route for those wondering about the accessibility of this hike: https://www.accesstrails.org/overview/tryon-creek/
Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Guided Hike - Fish & Habitat
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Guided Hike - Crows and Ravens
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Can a Rock Grow?Kids Book Reading
Do you have a young rockhound in the family? Join us for a storytime featuring Can a Rock Grow? with local children's author Audrey Sauble.
We'll learn how rocks change, explore different kinds of rocks, and practice being geologists with a nature journaling activity.
This program is geared toward families with young children (preferably ages 2-8) but all are welcome.
Free but RSVP is required, thanks!
Guided Hike -Trees
Join Oregon State Park Rangers and volunteer Naturalists to venture out with a park guide for a free nature hike to explore Tryon Creek’s forest and learn about the plants and animals that call this natural area home. Topics will vary from week to week, and will be geared for ages 5 through adult, but all ages are welcome. Parents must accompany kids on all hikes. No registration needed, meet in front of the Nature Center at 10am.
Learn, craft & create in the Classroom…