PSU Magazine Summer 1990

By Pat Scott M ike Houck is a tall man. Bul ky. With watchful blue eyes above what one admirer called his "bird 's nest" of a beard . He feels like a man with a mi ss ion who has come from and is going to somepl ace important. You are but a pause in hi s hurtling. But once you capture hi s time he captures your attention, your interest and eventuall y, your support. For more than 10 years, with sing le– minded zeal, Houck, a 1972 PSU Master of Science graduate in education, has championed retaining, mainta ining and restoring natural areas in our urban environment . In hi s efforts , he has badgered local, state and federal agencies, as well as academics, deve lopers and po litic ians. And it is due in large part to him that there are patches of "country'' still located wi thin city limits. As urban naturalist with the Audubon Soc iety, Houck earl y on came up with an idea to inventory natural areas in Po rtl and. In researching that project, he di scovered that those areas - wetlands. forests and meadows - within the urban growth boundary were unprotected and in imminent danger of be ing fill ed in or phased out. ''I mean , Forest Park was an acc ident !" Houck says indignantly. "It was slated for development , but a committee in the C ity Club of Portland convinced the c ity to acquire the land . Forest Park is here only because we' re lucky. You don't trash your natural areas within urban growth bound– aries simply because they' re in side an area that 's supposed to be densely deve loped . That's baloney. "So, what we' re pushing for," he ex pl ains, ·'is to actually plan for natu ral areas. Natu ral areas by des ign, instead of by default. " As a zealot, Houck has blunted hi s horns a bit and rounded a few comers on his path to protecting urban natural areas . But if he is less abras ive now than 10 years ago , it 's not because he's been worn down , but because he understands compromi se and the political process eddying around him a little better. "I don't have much patience," Houck admits. "I like do ing my own thing, in my own time , and 1 like doing it my way. If people are muck ing about in what I want to do, I get pretty upset pretty quickl y. But I' ve harnessed or controlled that. I think I've Environmental Evangelist Protecting natural areas in our urban environment is alumnus Mike Houck's life work. PSU 19