Filed under: Nature Parks, New Park | Tags: Beaverton, Cooper Mountain Nature Park
Majestic Views of the Tualatin and Portland-Metro Valley’s seem to appear once you arrive at the summit of Cooper Mountain hill in Beaverton, Oregon. Residents of this Westside Portland area have had quite a treat built literally right in there own back yards.
Just this past June, Beaverton’s Tualatin Park & Recreation District, in partnership with a privately owned company named Metro, have opened a new nature park atop Cooper Mountain.
Cooper Mountain is not only known for its Street of Dreams homes, but also its own winery and vineyard. It is known for being the highest point of elevation in Beaverton at roughly 1,000 ft. Its breathtaking scenery, along with neighborhoods right across the street from endless open terrain, make it a perfect place for the Nature Park.
View from the trail
The Cooper Mountain Nature Park boasts a variety of things to do. It offers a 230-acre park with 3.5 miles of gravel trails that take you through rare habitats and land that have been protected to save threatened species in the area.
The Nature Park also offers a lot more than just trails and tons of good ol’ open space. The property has a Nature House that provides information on the area itself. It’s also used for a weekly kids program that encourages growth and understanding of the environment along with the importance of living harmoniously with nature.
Something incredibly innovative about this park is that its Nature House and other “hardscapes” have been built using sustainable and energy-efficient materials. Atop the Nature House is a solar panel roof, which makes the nature park self-reliable on energy needs while supplying some of Cooper Mountain’s neighborhood energy needs as well.
The Nature House at Cooper Mountain
The benches, walkways, and bridges are made out of recycled plastic lumber. The paint on the Nature House is made up of recycled latex.
The park also boasts the first garden in the area featuring uses of native and drought-tolerant plants.
The Nature Park offers quite a variety of planned programs through the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District. Summer camps, bird walks, and photography development spots are all waiting to be filled!
According to Galen Cranz of horseshoefarm.org, “Sustainable parks build community, relationships, trust and goodwill. They educate the public about the value of natural resource stewardship.”
1. Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
2. The West Side’s Newest Park: Cooper Mountain
3. Nature and Outdoors: Nature Play Time
4. Cooper Mountain Nature Park Opens This Summer!
6. Pictures from Wikipedia.com
Blog by: Cody Dummer
