UGI National Advisory Board member, Jon Kulser , honored by the Association of Wetland Scientists with Lifetime Achievement Award

Portland Memorial Mausoleum/Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge Half Completed. Soon to be the largest mural in the U. S., a wetland motif is being applied to 50,000 square feet of west and south facing walls of the Portland Memorial Mausoleum, which overlooks the 160-acre Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. The mural is so large it can be clearly seen from I-5 on the west side of the Willamette River.

Quiet, No Wake Zone For Holgate Channel and Ross Island

Wild in the City Field Trips - Exploring Regional Greenspaces by Kayak, Bike and Foot

Urban Green, A Radio Documentary on Green Planning in Portland.

UGI Advisory Board Member Honored by Society of Wetland Scientists

Kusler receives national lifetime achievement award from Association of Wetland ScientistsJon Kusler, Associate Director and co-founder of the Association of State Wetland Managers and Urban Greenspaces Institute Advisory Board member, is this year’s winner of the Society of Wetland Scientist’s Lifetime Achievement Award. This special award is given biennially to individuals in recognition of a distinguished and extensive career in wetland science and management. Kusler, a lawyer, scientist and internationally recognized wetlands expert, has for the past 35 years played a key role in defining key directions in national wetland policy. He has authored over 50 published papers, books, and studies on wetland science, floodplain, and river management. Jon co-founded the national Association of State Floodplain Managers and founded and served as Director of the national Association of State Wetland Managers from 1984 to 2000.

Jon’s influence on wetland and stream issues in Portland, OR has been profound. He was the keynote speaker at the first Wild in the City Symposium that Institute Director Mike Houck organized with the Environmental Learning Center at Clackamas Community College in 1981. Subsequently, Jon was instrumental in helping secure an EPA grant to help fund the 3rd Annual Country in the City Symposium held at Portland State University in 1990. That conference, which attracted over 700 attendees over a four day period, was a seminal meeting in promoting multiobjective management of urban streams and wetlands and rivers, here and throughout the U. S. Jon, through his many relationships and connections across the U. S. was able to attract experts from myriad disciplines including A L Riley, urban stream restorationist from Berkeley, CA; Rutherford Platt, Director of the Ecological Cities Project, both of whom are also members of the UGI national advisory board. Also attending from US EPA Office of Wetlands was symposium sponsor Jeanne Christie who now heads the Association of State Wetland Managers.

Jon, who directed the Association of State Wetland Managers from 1984 to 2000, and his colleagues provided inspiring examples of urban stream, wetland and riverine restoration from around the U. S. and internationally. The conference also put a spotlight on Portland and helped place us at the forefront of urban greenspaces planning in the U. S.

Congratulations Jon and thanks for your service to the Urban Greenspaces Institute by continuing to inspire and educate the nation on the functions and values of urban wetlands and greenspaces and continuing that dialogue with the Institute’s staff and board.

This shallow water, wetland and riparian habitat at Portland's Willamette Park developed without human intervention over the past five years.
 Photo: Mike Houck
 
Click here for contact information for the Institute.