Community Member Highlight: Paul Taylor & the 45,000 pieces!
Blog post by Thomas Meinzen, Program Associate, with Paul Taylor, Slough Adopter Extraordinaire. Photos by Paul Taylor.
We at the Council are lucky to have an amazing community of folks who give their time to care for the Slough and its watershed. Some have really stood out to us in their efforts to clean up the Slough, connect others with urban nature, or contribute in other ways to the watershed.
We’d like to recognize these star volunteers in a new “Community Member Spotlight” series, focused on folks who are going above and beyond in helping build a healthy Columbia Slough watershed. Some of these people have been volunteering their time for years, while others have just become involved recently. If you would like to nominate someone for us to highlight who has made a big difference in your experience of the watershed, let us know! Send an email to thomas.meinzen@columbiaslough.org.
Paul and his wife, Hope, who always tells unsuspecting friends that if Paul asks you to go "kayaking" it means an hour of kayaking and 3 hours of trash pickup.
We’ll begin this series with Paul Taylor, a longtime NE Portland resident who adopted a stretch of the Slough through SOLVE’s Adopt-A-River program. I talked with Paul to find out more about how he went—in one year—from casual kayaker to Slough adopter and rubble-removing extraordinaire.
How did you begin caring for the Slough?
Paul: I started kayaking and exploring the Slough last summer as something to do after work during the pandemic. But seeing trash in the Slough was, as they say, really harshing my mellow. I was kayaking there with my wife one day and she said, “well, you can keep complaining, or you can do something about it.”
Paul leads a crew from the Multnomah Youth Cooperative and Columbia Slough Watershed Council on a major trash pickup effort in August.
So I started picking up the trash, one bag at a time. But as I picked up more and more, I found that taking it out of the Slough was just half the battle—getting rid of it was another problem.
This challenge ended up connecting me with a bunch of different groups, from Metro RID Patrol and Portland Parks and Recreation to the Council, Mark from the Blue Heron Kayak and Canoe Company, and even a fellow from the Armed National Guard who took trash to their dumpster. Last December, my wife suggested I look into adopting the stretch of the Slough I was cleaning up, like many folks adopt segments of roads.
So, I found SOLVE’s Adopt-A-River program and adopted a 2-mile stretch from Whitaker Ponds east to NE 65th and Cornfoot.
A few of the “infamous piles” of trash Paul hauled up from the Slough this year, including an impressive array of tires, oil, and propane tanks.
I’ve heard you’ve removed a lot of trash since then…
Well, I’ve picked up over 45,000 pieces of trash. That’s about 210 bags worth, plus another third that doesn’t get bagged—big stuff like the 40 tires and 15 Propane tanks I’ve removed from the Slough. For much of the winter, I was going out 4-5 days a week.
Wow. That’s amazing!
What makes the Slough special to you?
It’s really close to home, and right here in the city. It’s more grit than gem, I think, but I’m going to embrace that. And if we enjoy and also take care of it, it’s going to be that much better.
There are five blue herons along my route, one each half mile. It’s cool to see them each time. I’ve nicknamed the one right at Whitaker ponds Janx because of his janky broken wing. He’s my mascot for the Slough.
Janx the Great Blue Heron (above) and a river otter in the Slough.
You can go into the big forests of Oregon and you can hardly see any wildlife, because they have so much room to disperse. On the Slough, however, so much wildlife is right there, easy to see. I see beaver, river otter, nutria, green herons, raccoon, deer—there’s always something special.
Anything in particular that you have found rewarding about adopting part of the Slough?
It’s very satisfying to see the Slough become cleaner over time and to be able to enjoy and share that with other people. I’m happy to know that all that trash isn’t ending up in the ocean, and glad to be helping improve water quality and making a better environment for all the wildlife—they deserve it!
I’m also excited to see others rallying around the cause of cleaning up the Slough. Three other volunteers have adopted sections of the Slough this year. We’re always looking for more folks to get involved!
Huge thanks to Paul Taylor for helping us keep the Slough clean! Next time you paddle the Slough from Whitaker Ponds, head east (right) and check out Paul’s adopted 2-mile section. And if YOU would like to learn more or get involved, check out our Adopt the Slough page!
