Metro’s voter-approved Natural Areas Program supports community projects across the Portland metropolitan area – some on a small scale, others regionally significant.
The City of Portland announced plans on Monday to buy a 146-acre forest from River View Cemetery in Southwest Portland, in partnership with Metro. The $11.25 million purchase, which is expected to be finalized this summer, was negotiated by The Trust for Public Land.
“These are the kind of partnerships that protect our region’s natural resources, our most special places – the places that make Oregon Oregon,” Metro Councilor Barbara Roberts said Monday at a city press conference.
The former governor, whose district is very close to the future natural area, represented the Metro Council at the announcement. Councilors voted last week to invest $2 million from the region’s 2006 natural areas bond measure, which will be recognized in the form of a conservation easement that permanently bans development. Another $2.5 million of the purchase price will come from Portland’s local share of the bond measure.
City leaders said they’ll work with the community to develop a trail and a blueprint for habitat management at the future natural area, which has never been used as part of the cemetery. Immediate plans call for removing invasive species such as English ivy, clematis and blackberry and replacing them with native plants.
Protecting River View’s dense forest and 2.2 miles of streams helps meet Metro’s goals for the Willamette River Greenway, one of 27 focal points of the 2006 bond measure. A work plan developed with the help of scientists, land managers and the general public called for protecting forested land west of the Sellwood Bridge.
“River View provides an extraordinary opportunity to protect water quality and wildlife – two of the major objectives of Metro’s Natural Areas Program,” said Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette, whose district includes the new natural area.
Two bond measures have allowed Metro to acquire 11,000 acres across the region, including 90 miles of river and stream banks. Metro also has opened three major nature parks, planted 1.7 million trees and shrubs and supported hundreds of community projects.
“Metro’s Natural Areas Program empowers every community to protect nature close to home,” said Metro Council President Tom Hughes. “It’s exciting to work with the City of Portland on a project that affects the landscape so dramatically.”