Invasive Ivy Most Wanted for Canyon Day
Student band Mezzo plays as volunteers hunt for ivy
Photo credit: Owen Fidler
During the morning and afternoon of Sunday, April 5, students flocked into the trails behind Vollum College Center with gloves and shovels in hand to partake in the yearly tradition of Canyon Day, an ongoing ecosystem restoration project headed jointly by Facilities and student-led Greenboard. As covered in Greenboard signator Ella Crotty ‘25’s February 28 article “Olde Reed is So Back: Canyon Day,” Canyon Day is one of the oldest ongoing Reed traditions. Its current role as a restoration event has dated back to the 1970s, but evolved from the older tradition Campus Day, which emerged in 1915.
The major goal of Canyon Day for the past 25 years has been to weed out invasive English ivy from the Canyon and replace it with native plants. The issue with English ivy is that it is “really good at laying on top of other plants and pulling them to the ground and slowly killing them,” according to Facilities Operations Manager Zac Perry. “It can grow vertically up trees, and then that biomass has a tendency to put extra weight on trees and push them over. So when you [...] don't manage it, you basically create a monoculture of this plant.” When Perry started in 1999, English ivy was a dominant force harming the Canyon’s ecosystem. Events like Canyon Day, along with regular work done by the Grounds and Facilities teams, have “helped reduce the invasive population to a point where our native plants can now thrive,” Perry explained.
This slow work over time has made an impact in supporting both native plants and what Perry calls the “little critters we can’t see.” These native plants include sword fern, Indian plum, salmonberry, blue elderberry, fringe cup, and Oregon oxalis, which the Canyon Day volunteers plant in areas after they become clear of ivy. The volunteers derooted ivy and were instructed by Perry to throw it onto the trail, so that other volunteers including Perry himself could grab it all at once to move it to the pile outside of the canyon. After that, Perry says it gets “spread across the vacant field north of Trillium, which allows it to bake in the sun and not root back into the ground,” before Facilities comes through and “manage[s] that by mowing and shredding and mulching it, and it just goes away.” This is not only to save the cost of hauling away what Perry expects to be around six cubic meters of ivy in dumpsters, but also to help add natural carbon deposits to the soil near Trillium, which has been impacted by recent construction projects.
Grounds Technician Rowan Jeffrey ‘25 described their experience with Canyon Day, becoming involved as a student worker before getting hired to continue working for Grounds after graduation. “We want to make sure that we're helping encourage the health of native plants and native biodiversity,” said Jeffrey, who explained that “Portland has a lot of green spaces, but people can have a rough time feeling connected with the green spaces they access, even when they do have access to it. So I think it's cool for people to come out here to learn a few of the different plants, and to feel like they've helped contribute to maintaining this space.” Jeffrey explains how over time you can notice the changes in the canyon, coming back after a year to see less ivy and more native species. They recommend students “spend time in the Canyon and to get to know the space and the plants and how they grow,” and they explain how after a while simple work can make a difference in the ecosystem.
Many students, especially first-years, gain an important connection with the campus community through Canyon Day, as students come back year after year, and even after graduation. For Jonah Cowden ‘28, this was their second year doing Canyon Day, as they ended up participating last year after visiting for a Reed Admit Day, due to their flight being delayed by a snowstorm. Cowden has experience with pulling plants from doing similar work at home, and gave some tips for getting the ivy out, explaining, “the closer you get to the ground, the easier it'll be. Sometimes you'll have to thread it to get it around obstacles [...] because it's really weaved into all the other plants.”
Perry demonstrated the best way to pull ivy for each group of volunteers, explaining that unless the plant is pulled out by the root, it will just grow back again. As a long-term goal, the project changes its exact location in the Canyon every year. Last year, Canyon Day volunteers worked closer to the bouncy bridge and near the Cross Canyon dorms, while this year’s group focused on the area behind Vollum towards the southeast side of the blue bridge. According to Perry, the groups “try to systematically move through the Canyon year after year.” With a group of 100–200 volunteers, Perry explained how “if we focus our effort for a couple hours in [an] area, we can have a pretty massive impact. And then next year, we'll move it to a different area, and then the year after that, we move it to a different area.” Over time, the Canyon as a whole will be covered and replenished with native species, but by working on individual sections at a time, volunteers are able to make lasting progress.
During Canyon Day, Greenboard worked above the Canyon to help fuel volunteers with refreshments and food such as water, grilled black bean burgers, vegan brownies, and chocolate strawberries. Greenboard also helped organize live music during the event, with performances from Grant Campbell ‘28, Alexa Miller ‘27, Griffin Bellias ‘28, and Ben Iannini ‘28, and student groups Mezzo, the Reed College Choirs, and Toothache near the west side of Vollum. The Quest was able to speak to Miller, who played mostly songs by Rebecca Sugar on her soprano concert ukulele, along with “Monster” by Dodie Clark, which she describes as having “fairly Reed-ish vibes, but very loosely.” Greenboard also printed designs for Canyon Day 2025 on t-shirts taken from the Swap Shop and the Goodwill bins, which were given out to volunteers who could arrive at the event fast enough.
Canyon Day invites not just members of the campus community, but of the larger neighborhood community as well. Reed neighborhood resident Mike Parr has been helping out with Canyon Day for around five years, and enjoys helping protect the local biodiversity, saying, “I love pulling ivy, you can get back at that evil stuff.” Parr also loves being a part of the larger Reed neighborhood community. “We love Reed,” he explains, “we walk through Reed two miles every day.” This 110-year tradition continues to welcome the neighborhood community into the Canyon, to get dirt on their knees, build community, and preserve Reed’s natural beauty.
Wheelbarrows filled with native plants are brought to be planted into the Canyon
Photo credit: Owen Fidler