Read the Summer 2021 edition of Our Big Backyard

A small squirrel with tufts on its ears holds onto a tree with deep grooves in its bark.

A Douglas squirrel pauses on its way down a tree. Douglas squirrels are one of the surrogate species for Metro’s wildlife corridor studies. Photo by Ben Zerante, CC-BY-NC.

A drone image of a forest with conifer and deciduous trees with a winding creek running through the middle. Beaver dams dot the stream.

Baker Creek in Washington County. Photo courtesy Clean Water Services.

A brown deer looks up from eating, surrounded by foliage and ground plants.

A Columbia black-tailed deer forages within Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area in North Portland. The wetlands is almost completely surrounded by industrial businesses, but does connect to other habitat through wildlife corridors.

July 13, 2021 4:52 p.m.

Throughout greater Portland, natural areas slip between subdivisions and business districts, making homes for animals in the middle of cities. In Washington County, Fanno Creek attracts water fowl and even Roosevelt elk just blocks from OR-217. In Gresham, Gabbert Butte and other hills are home to deer and salamanders. These in-town wildlife neighbors are able to hang around because of wildlife corridors, connected stretches of forests, creeks, wetlands, prairies and other habitat that allow animals to move between natural areas. Metro scientists, with help from partners, have worked to create models of these wildlife corridors to help protect that animals that live in them.

Read about wildlife corridors in the Summer 2021 edition of Our Big Backyard.

Read the print version

Our Big Backyard Summer 2021

The Summer 2021 issue of Our Big Backyard, Metro's quarterly magazine about parks and nature.

3.01 MB Adobe Acrobat PDF Published Jul 13, 2021

Subscribe to the print edition

Subscribe to nature updates by email