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Ross Island Vision Team: Envisioning Ross Island
The Institute has produced, with its partners at the Willamette Riverkeeper, Audubon Society of Portland, Greenworks landscape architecture, architects, and landscape architects a plan for Ross Island, Envisioning Ross Island (.pdf), which lays out scenarios for how Ross and its sister islands Hardtack, East and Toe, might be managed as a unit with the Holgate Channel and the 160-acre city-owned Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge as an urban wildlife refuge complex, public natural area park, and place to contemplate nature in the heart of downtown Portland.

Bi-State Trail Plan Unveiled The long awaited Bi-State Trail Plan was released at a meeting of The Intertwine Alliance on April 9th in downtown Vancouver, Washington. The plan contains information regarding the values of a regional trail network and displays 37 regional trail elements of the proposed regional system. The plan was created by the Urban Greenspaces Institute, National Park Service's Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance Program, Metro Sustainability Center and Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation. To read the plan click here.

Oregon Public Broadcasting features Portland Memorial Mausoleum mural project. On April 15th OPB's Art Beat Program ran a 10 minute special feature on the 50,000 square foot wetland mural that the Urban Greenspaces Institute collaborated with ArtFX Murals to produce on the Portland Memorial Mausoleum overlooking 160-acre Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. Click here to view OPBs video.

Urban Greenspaces Institute participates in creating an agricultural and natural resources map for Metro's Urban and Rural Reserves planning.

October 2nd and 3rd Dedication of Portland Memorial Mausoleum and Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge Mural, the nation's largest hand painted mural
[See photo]
[Download invitation]

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

Institute Director Mike Houck receives The Garden Club of America Club Conservation Commendation from the Portland Garden Club, Wednesday, June 11, 2009

Memorial Mausoleum Mural Completed!

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.

Community Outreach

We co-lead kayaking and canoeing tours on the Willamette River to bring the public into intimate contact with the river’s scenic and ecological resources.

The Institute also conducts walking tours such as this one with City Commissioner rand Mayor-Elect Sam Adams at Epler Hall on the Portland State University campus to educate the public about innovative stormwater management efforts.

The Institute promotes and participates in local and regional planning efforts that focus on integrating the built and natural environments. Diana Bradshaw, Damascus resident and activist with Damascus concept plan depicting the parks and greenspace system.

The Institute collaborates with other NGOs to provide outreach in the form of Wild in the city to field tours, conferences and meetings, printed materials, its website, and other means to convey to the public the essential role parks, trails, and greenspaces play in the creation of livable cities and regions. Elected officials, civic leaders, and urban planners need additional socio-economic, ecological, and human health data if we hope to achieve the objective of elevating urban greenspaces as an essential service in our cities and receive the funding for acquisition and management needed to provide equitable access to Greenspaces throughout the region.

The Institute leads numerous Wild in the City public walking, bicycling and kayaking field trips to educate the general public about park, trail and greenway issues in the city of Portland and the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region.

Click here for contact information for the Institute.