Category: Advocacy

Help complete the npGREENWAY

Baltimore Woods is a 30 acre native oak habitat corridor in North Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood. Friends of Baltimore Woods is collecting signatures to support the acquisition, with Portland Parks and Recreation, of York’s Overlook, a 7.5-acre wooded parcel at the north end of Baltimore Woods in St. Johns (see map below).

York’s Overlook is part of the official alignment of the regional npGreenway Trail that will connect North Portland to downtown and other parts of the city by a walking and biking trail.

The Friends of Baltimore Woods would like York’s Overlook to be conserved as a scenic viewpoint on the regional npGreenway Trail that will eventually be built on the property. They also want it included in the Baltimore Woods corridor as a native oak restoration site offering connectivity for both wildlife and trail users.

Partnership with Portland Parks needed

Metro sees the value of the property and is a willing partner with the Friends of Baltimore Woods in acquiring York’s Overlook. That is good news! But a partnership with Portland Parks is also required. Their role would be to hold and maintain the site in alliance with the Friends group, just as they are currently doing with much of the rest of the 20 acre Baltimore Woods corridor. But Parks partnership on the site is uncertain and has yet to be established.

Please help by signing the petition

Friends of Baltimore Woods is asking Portland residents to help advocate for the wooded site by signing a petition to ensure York’s Overlook is conserved as a historic and scenic viewpoint, as an amenity for the npGreenway Trail, and as a native oak restoration site offering greater connectivity for both trail users and urban wildlife in the Baltimore Woods corridor.

Learn how Metro and the Port of Portland are cleaning up the land at Willamette Cove and weigh in on the design of the future nature park

Along the Willamette River in Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood, Metro and the Port of Portland are working to clean up 70 years’ worth of industrial contamination and make the land at Willamette Cove safe for people, plants and animals.

After the cleanup, Metro plans to make Willamette Cove a nature park that supports thriving plant and animal communities and offers people a connection with nature along the Willamette River. The park will include a regional trail, beach access and education opportunities along with habitats like meadows and woodland.

Community members will help shape how the park balances natural areas with access for people, including helping choose the park’s other low-impact activities and facilities.

Metro is also coordinating this work with multiple Tribes so Willamette Cove can honor the connections the Tribes have had to the river since the beginning of time, especially by creating healthy habitats for salmon and lamprey.

To reach this goal, Metro and the Port are teaming up to clean up the site under the oversight of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Willamette Cove cleanup and future nature park | Metro oregonmetro.gov, https://www.oregonmetro.gov/public-projects/willamette-cove-cleanup-and-nature-park

(adapted from the Willamette Week April 10, 2024)

The npGreenway proposed trail runs through the University of Portland lower campus to Cathedral Park right along the Willamette River.  The University of Portland revived their parcel of land, installing new athletic facilities and building out their portion of the Greenway trail. And just downstream where the proposed Greenway trail runs, the regional government Metro is moving toward activating another stretch of the Willamette River’s industrial past at Willamette Cove. But tucked between those two parcels, the McCormick & Baxter site has lain unused, year after year.  This proposed section of the Greenway trail has been inaccessible for years…

A Once-Polluted Stretch of Riverfront Has Been Clean for Nearly 20 Years. Why Is It Still Off-Limits? (wweek.com)

In March 2023 a study of the Willamette Cove cleanup was conducted.  This study was the next step in the cleanup process and its goal was to learn more about how the contamination was spread across that site, most importantly how deep contamination went. That information will help shape the cleanup designs.

Since the study was submitted to DEQ last March, Metro, the Port of Portland and DEQ have been analyzing the study to understand how it will affect the cleanup. The real heart of the story is these paragraphs:

Cory Eldridge of Metro explains: ‘What did the study find?

• No new human health hot spots (very dangerous levels of contamination) were found.
• It confirmed that contamination is spread across the site.
• It also confirmed the types of contaminants at the site.
• In general, the amount of contamination decreased with depth, as expected.
• However, in most locations, contaminants went down to at least three feet deep, which is as deep as samples were taken.

The cleanup requirements in DEQ’s record of decision anticipated removing soil to a depth of about two feet in some areas, and much less than that, in most areas. The record of decision expected up to approximately 42,000 cubic yards of soil would be excavated and hauled away. The new study estimates that if the same cleanup requirements were extended to remove soil down to three feet in the impacted areas, 76,000 cubic yards of soil would need to be excavated.

The new study also concludes that most trees would need to be removed with the contaminated soil. The record of decision had proposed alternative excavation techniques to save native trees that with existing cleanup requirements would not be possible.’

The full report: wcRemDesignRep2023D.pdf (oregon.gov)

University of Portland recently completed the section of the npGreenway trail that runs through the new lower campus.

The trail is also a very exciting addition to River Campus, giving students the opportunity to walk alongside the Willamette with a sprawling view of Forest Park.

“I walk out to my car every evening and I just hear all different kinds of noises — you know, birds, frogs it’s just, it feels much closer to nature,” Cambier said. “And so the ability to come down here on the Greenway trail is, I think, just a really amazing amenity.”

Franz River Campus boasts new roads, greenway trail and more – The Beacon (upbeacon.com)

After budget scare, Portland Parks says they’re committed to carfree bridge over North Columbia Blvd.

Back in November 2023, trail advocates were dismayed to learn that Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) claimed a $3-4 million funding shortfall meant they could only build a standard, at-grade crossing to get trail users over the busy, high-speed, industrial truck traffic on Columbia Blvd. The bridge had been planned for years, much of the funding had been secured, and design was well underway when the announcement was made.

The official shift in stance came via the City of Portland’s Freight Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, February 1st. Portland Bureau of Transportation Resources Manager Mark Lear told committee members he talked to PP&R Trail Planning Manager Brett Horner and learned that he was “feeling pretty positive about a grant they’re going to apply for.”

After budget scare, Parks says they’re committed to carfree bridge over Columbia Blvd – BikePortland

Once complete, the new bridge and path will add about two miles to the North Portland Greenway and leave us tantalizingly close to having a car-free path from North Vancouver Avenue in the Piedmont neighborhood to Pier Park in St. Johns. PP&R completed a bridge that connects Pier Park to Chimney Park in 2014.

See the article in BikePortland.org for more information:

Planning begins on car-free bridge over Columbia Blvd. and new path through St. Johns Prairie.

 

Monday, January 13, 6-9 pm, 
Metro Council Chambers,
600 NE Grand, Portland

Action Alert! Calling all Portland Metro Region residents who care about trails: Share your support for trails investments in a new regional transportation funding measure. Testify at Monday’s hearing or submit public comment. 

Can’t make the hearing? Use the form provided by our friends at Getting There Together to submit your comments: http://www.gettingtheretogether.org/january-13th-metro-council-meeting-action-alert/

As you may know an important trail link is on the 150% list for ODOT funding.  This project would connect the Pier Park bridge and Chimney Park with a bridge over Columbia Boulevard and trail up to the St. Johns Landfill overlook.  It’s a key link in both the NpGreenway and the 40-Mile Loop.  It’s approximately $5 million in transportation funding. 

Comments in support are due by June 30th.  It’s so important that people write in and support this application.  Please forward to the largest possible list and let people know that comments are due by June 30.  The project is listed under Metro and is titled Willamette Greenway Trail: Chimney Park/Kelley Pt Park.  The comment is in the form of an e-mail and could be as simple as, “I support this trail project with the bridge over Columbia Boulevard and the connection to the St. Johns Landfill.” 

npGREENWAY Supporters,

A crucial opportunity to complete the northern-most segment of the Willamette Greenway trail is here. Metro has submitted a grant, that if funded, will construct the segment between Kelley Point Park and Pier Park (Segment 1).

ODOT is going through a project selection process NOW. Review the grant application and fill out the 5 minute survey to make your choice known. Deadline for survey submission is Thursday,
January 31.

Greetings,

Are you interested in plans to build a 4-mile section of the Willamette Greenway Trail between Chimney and Kelley Point parks in North Portland? Then please take a minute to let the Oregon Department of Transportation know what you think about this and other projects being evaluated for active transportation grants.

Just go to the survey, fill in the required information, select the “Portland and Washington County” area of interest, then weigh in on project #87: Willamette Greenway. The more support a proposal receives, the stronger its chance of being funded. The
deadline for comments is next Thursday, January 31.

Metro and Portland Parks submitted a proposal to do the design and engineering work needed to complete this section of the Willamette Greenway, which is also part of the 40-Mile Loop and the North Portland Greenway Trail. You can read the full application here.

A separate application to build the trail was submitted to another ODOT grant program, and is working its way through the process.