FOBW 2026 Native Plant Sale a Success!

Thank you, Sparrowhawk customers and volunteers! We are grateful to everyone who filled the 38 volunteer shifts at the Spring 2026 Sparrowhawk and Friends of Baltimore Woods Native Plant Sale. We also appreciate our partnership with the Bird Alliance of Oregon’s Green Leaders program.

The Bird Alliance of Oregon offers a Green Leadership program for youth between the ages of 15 to 20 from the Hacienda CDC community. Hacienda CDC stands for Hacienda Community Development Corporation. It is a Latino-led, non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon, that focuses on strengthening communities and advancing the social and economic mobility of low-income and moderate-income individuals. Participants are paid monthly to participate in the program. Every week they learn about the local ecology, plants and animals of the Pacific Northwest, with the goals of becoming environmental educators and land stewards. They work as a team to listen to their neighbors and create programs especially for them. For the first time this year, FOBW is donating a portion of the plant sale proceeds, a total of $1000, to support the ongoing work of the Green Leaders.

This year, our plant sale found homes for 10,000 native plants for 540 scheduled customers, plus another 40 people who attended our flash sale. Every single plant found a new home, and we met our annual fundraising goal of $4,500. Once established, these wildlife-friendly native plants require little care while providing essential food and habitat for local birds and pollinators. Remember the rule for their first three years in our gardens: “first they sleep, then they creep, then they leap!”

We also held our second annual nature art sale, thanks to the generosity of FOBW members Lisa Manning, Charlie Montgomery and Nicole Wiseman. Lisa donated the sale earnings of her nature art postcards and children’s book, Falcons in the City. Charlie donated the proceeds from his hand-turned wooden bowls, and Nicole donated the income from her handmade stone earrings. The total income from the 2026 FOBW Nature Art Sale was $1,942.

These sales benefit Friends of Baltimore Woods as we continue advocating for the 30-acre strip of woods and green space running along N Decatur St, between residential and industrial areas. Baltimore Woods is located between Cathedral and Pier Parks in the St Johns neighborhood. Thank you again for everyone’s hard work to make this year’s plant sale a success.

Baltimore Woods is currently working to secure a forested, undeveloped 7.5 acre lot on its north end which we have christened “York’s Overlook”. It is currently privately owned, but would fill a gap in the NP Greenway Trail between Baltimore Woods and Pier Park. This trail will eventually run from downtown Portland to Kelly Point Park, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. The York’s Overlook parcel actually has an easement alignment for the future the NP Greenway Trail to be routed through the property. If you haven’t already, please use the link below to sign the petition asking the city to preserve “York’s Overlook” as a corridor for people and wildlife: York’s Overlook petition link.