The Alma Pacheco Memorial Garden is a nature-scaped pollinator garden. The garden memorializes an important Mt. Hood Community College leader, Alma Pacheco, who passed away suddenly in December of 2016.

Alma Pacheco, was born in El Salvador, grew up in Portland, and was a student at Mt. Hood Community College from 2011 to 2015. During her time at MHCC, Alma held active positions in the campus community as a SOAR team member, co-chair of the M.E.Ch.A, and student body president. Alma left a lasting impact at the college that is remembered by those who knew her or benefited from her work.

The Sandy River Watershed Council partnered with Mt. Hood Community College, its' Transiciones/Transitions program (which Alma was a graduate of), and the Powell Valley Garden Club to create the garden. These partners share common goals of wanting to remove invasive plants and utilize naturescaping to increase the accessibility of green infrastructure and water quality for nearby Beaver Creek. This cross cultural project provides the benefits of cleaner air, water, and beauty. It also directly ties into the MHCC campus wide Salmon Safe projects. The native plant garden will help sustainably manage storm-water runoff by filtering and absorbing storm water before it runs into nearby Beaver Creeks endangered Coho and Chinook salmon habitat.

From the fall of 2017 through the beginning of 2020 a series of invasive plant removal and gardening volunteer events have taken place to prepare this site. Hundreds of volunteer hours have been put in to remove stubborn, invasive, English Ivy. These volunteers include local groups, family members and friends of Alma's, and even alternative spring and fall break groups from Utah and Texas! The Alma Pacheco Memorial Garden project was supported by community volunteers and a Plant America Grant from the National Garden Clubs, Inc.