Hillsboro's Orenco Woods Nature Park Opens

After one year of work and planning, Orenco Woods Nature Park in Hillsboro is open for visitors. The 42-acre park is open from sunrise to sunset.

The property was purchased in 2011. After a year of work, it has hiking trails, a nature play area for children, a picnic area, and lots of wildlife including beavers, blue heron, deer, and red-tailed hawk.

The park, which resulted from a partnership between Hillsboro and Metro, is on land that has a rich history dating back hundreds of years when it was inhabited by the Kalapuya people.

More recently. it was the home to the Oregon Nursery Company, which opened there in 1906. it went on to become the largest nursery on the West Coast.

It then became a nine-hole golf course and was set to become a housing development in 2006 when the recession started. That gave Metro and Hillsboro a chance to move in, which they did.

In addition to the trails and picnic area, three new bridges were put in crossing Rock Creek - home to steelhead, cutthroat trout, and Pacific lamprey.

Photos Hillsboro Parks and Recreation