Bringing Nature to Neighborhoods and Advancing Urban Ecology
Attendees of the Greater and Greener Conference
07/22/2019
Description
"In this session, you'll hear how Portland, OR, is working at multiple scales to bring biodiversity back to the city and its neighborhoods. Portland Parks and Recreation's new ecologically sustainable landscapes program brings nature to neighborhood parks -- improving the ecological functions of park spaces while expanding local access to nature for urban residents. The program is adding nature patches to developed park landscapes that provide natural experiences for people and habitat for wildlife. Nature patches use a varied natural palette of native and flowering plants, logs, boulders, paths and fencing to retrofit parks with spaces that close the play gap and enhance ecological sustainability. These projects help create unique park landscapes intended to help to support native pollinators, reduce maintenance, provide education and exploration opportunities, and foster collaboration. Forest Park Conservancy is leading the Greater Forest Park Conservation Initiative, a public-private collaborative strategy to restore Forest Park and 10,000 acres surrounding the park. They partner with public agencies, non-profits, and individual land owners to restore critical wildlife habitat and recreational spaces. Attendees will learn about FPC's successes and the challenges they've navigated in this 20-year initiative. This session will look at the challenges and lessons learned by the Forest Park Conservancy (FPC) over the past five years leading the Greater Forest Park Conservation Initiative, a public/private collaborative strategy to restore Forest Park and 10,000 acres surrounding the park. We partner with public agencies, other nonprofits, and individual landowners to restore critical wildlife habitat and recreational spaces. Attendees will learn from FPC’s staff about successes and challenges we have navigated thus far in this 20-year initiative. We will lead a discussion about the next five years and a group conversation about restoring large remaining tracts of land in urban areas."
Location
Denver, CO
Instructors
Alejandro Orizola, Forest park Conservancy, Eric Rosewall, Portland Parks & Recreation, Dave Hutch, Vancouver Parks & Recreation.
Website Registration
