Northeast Portland’s Rose City Park Elementary is home to one of the only Vietnamese Dual Language Immersion programs in the country. Nearly half the school body are students of color, and only 35% of students tested at grade level for science.
The Rose City Park schoolyard has one of the largest areas of impervious surface in Portland Public School’s portfolio of schools, with more than 72,000 square feet of asphalt. This sea of asphalt generates stormwater, intensifies the urban heat island effect, and lacks trees and natural features that enhance a schoolyard for learning and play.
In 2026, the Estuary Partnership will lead a project in partnership with Portland Public Schools, Depave, Juncus Studio, and the Rose City Park PTA to depave the northeast portion of the schoolyard and replace it with a nature space, nature play elements, and benches to provide a cohesive green space for students. The native plantings will also help infiltrate stormwater from the schoolyard.
This project is an important phase one of the school’s Schoolyard Vision Plan (at right) created in partnership with Juncus Studio, the school community, and Portland Public Schools.
As part of the project, members of the school community, neighbors, volunteers, and others will remove 6,200 square feet of asphalt. A depave day will be held in partnership with nonprofit Depave on October 3, 2026. Register for the event on Depave’s website.
This area, along with another 2,400 square feet previously depaved, will be planted with native grasses and shrubs. The City of Portland’s Urban Forestry Learning Landscape’s Program will help plant 10-12 trees with the help of students and community members. The area will also be enhanced with nature play features, a crushed gravel path, and benches for resting.
Estuary Partnership Educators will also engage students at Rose City Park with stormwater-focused lessons to help them understand and appreciate their role in the project.
The Rose City Park project is part of the Estuary Partnership’s School Stormwater Reduction program, which designs and builds stormwater retrofits at schools to reduce pollutants entering the Columbia River watershed while supporting environmental education and community engagement. Funding is provided by the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services’ Percent for Green program and an EPA Columbia River Basin Restoration Program Cooperative Agreement award, 44 02J49201.
