Parks and nature funding

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Six times during the last two decades, voters across greater Portland have approved funding measures to support a network of regional parks, trails and natural areas. Learn how Metro uses the money to protect water quality, restore fish and wildlife habitat, and improve access to nature.

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18,000 acres and counting

Voters asked Metro to buy the region's most special land, before it's too late. Habitat is protected across the Portland metropolitan area, ensuring that nature is always close to home. Two bond measures have preserved 18,000 acres and 90 miles of river and stream banks, and supported hundreds of community projects.

Video

Go behind the scenes at three places protected by Metro's Natural Areas Program, and learn how voters have made a difference for the region’s water quality, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation.

Explore your big backyard

Visit parks and natural areas

Whether you’re in the mood for a short hike or a weekend camping trip, a boat ride or a picnic, Metro has a destination for you.

Explore your big backyard

Newell Creek Canyon

Thanks to voters, Metro is investing a bond measure to purchase wildlife habitat and a levy to help care for regional parks and natural areas and improve them for visitors – including Newell Creek Canyon in Oregon City.

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Nature grants

Metro nature grants reward innovative ideas that connect communities with nature. Could your project be next?

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Metro operates a unique park system, one with nature at its heart.

Thanks to two decades of voter investments, Metro manages more than 18,000 acres of parks, trails and natural areas across every community in the region – from Chehalem Ridge on the west to the Sandy River Gorge on the east, from Blue Lake and Smith and Bybee Wetlands on the north to Graham Oaks on the south.

Voters have repeatedly trusted Metro to protect clean water, restore fish and wildlife habitat and provide opportunities for people to experience nature close to home.

To accomplish this, Metro has built and operates 17 parks, manages 14 cemeteries and offers three boat ramps. Metro purchases critical and rare habitat across the region. Metro scientists help heal damaged habitat by removing invasive plants and planting native trees, shrubs and flowers that support animals big and small.

Racial equity is a key focus at Metro. The department is committed to making Metro’s parks and natural areas safe and welcoming places for people of color, connecting immigrant and refugees communities to nature, providing job training to young people of color and honoring the ongoing connection of Native people to the ceded lands Metro manages.

Across greater Portland, Metro supports community nature projects, from park building to stream restoration to pollinator gardens. By connecting residents and community organizations to each other, Metro helps build a greater sense of community as the community helps nature.

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Calendar

News

Parks and nature bond update: Nature in Neighborhoods capital grants applications open, Parks and Nature annual report published

Jan. 23, 2023 3:47 p.m.

All six of the bond’s programs are now up and running, and with the Nature in Neighborhoods community choice grants launching, bond refinement is done, as is this newsletter.
Parks and nature 2022: Historic cemeteries

Dec. 28, 2022 11:50 a.m.

Sources of history, arboretums and parks, Metro’s historic cemeteries continue to serve as the final resting place for people in the region.
Parks and nature 2022: Community investments

Dec. 28, 2022 11:32 a.m.

Helping communities take on projects they identify and connect to nature in their own ways.
Parks and nature 2022: Community education and stewardship

Dec. 28, 2022 11:21 a.m.

Connecting people to nature through education.
Parks and nature 2022: Land acquisition

Dec. 28, 2022 11:05 a.m.

Metro continues to purchase properties to create natural areas while revamping its acquisitions program to make it more just.
Parks and nature 2022: Access to nature and park improvements

Dec. 27, 2022 3:55 p.m.

Metro opened two new nature parks and continued work to renovate the region’s favorite parks.
Parks and nature 2022: Restoration and maintenance

Dec. 27, 2022 3:44 p.m.

Protecting clean water and restoring fish and wildlife habitat remain at the core of Metro’s parks and nature mission.
Parks and nature 2022: Two new parks and hundreds of acres of natural areas

Dec. 27, 2022 3:33 p.m.

With two park openings and hundreds of acres restored, Metro continued to make good on voters’ investments in clean water, fish and wildlife habitat restoration, and access to nature for all communities in the region.
Small purchase, big impact: Metro creates a 350-acre wildlife refuge with 3.6-acre property acquisition

Dec. 20, 2022 8:49 a.m.

In November 2022, Metro Parks and Nature acquired 3.67 acres along Coffee Lake Creek in Washington County that connects two large natural areas in its portfolio, creating a mile-long wildlife corridor that will help foster biodiversity and climate resilience for years to come.
Parks and nature bond update: Capital grants pilot program launch, Blue Lake Park project news, trails grants awarded, and letters of intent for large scale community visions received

Nov. 10, 2022 noon

The 2022 parks and nature levy renewal was strongly supported, and all programs are moving ahead. Land acquisitions are underway, the Nature in Neighborhoods capital grants pilot program launches soon, work continues at Blue Lake Park, the City of Tualatin made an acquisition with its local share allocation, trails grants have been awarded, letters of intent were submitted for the large scale community visions program, and the Natural Areas Oversight Committee will have its next formal meeting in December.