PSU Magazine Summer 1990

actually changed my behav ior to some extent over the last 10 years to work better with potential antagoni sts to get to thi s step. " And thi s "step" is a plan to create a Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Wildlife Refuge System. It calls for cooperation in a two-state, fo ur-county area, among park di stricts and myriad other agencies. It invol ves protection and management of critical wildlife corridors and natural areas , future acqui sitions of land , and education of the public as to the value of these areas and the ir appropriate recreational uses. This Portland Audubon Soc iety project is funded in part by a three-year, $ 11 6 ,000 challenge grant from Meyer Memorial Charitable Trust (fom1erly Fred Meyer Charitable Trust) and involves more than 50 sites in Clark , Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties. The idea of maintaining natural areas within urban settings is not new. The Olmsted brothers advocated it in a 1903 proposal to the Po rtl and Board of Park Commissioners. But wetland areas, in particular, have been diligentl y eliminated by developers. Seen by some as swamps, mosquito-in– fested marshes, areas of lurking danger to children, wetlands are actually part of an interconnected ecological system - the body of Earth . Fill one wetl and and you cut a blood vesse l. Fill in severa l and you've severed an artery. Wetlands, such as Oaks Bottom in southeast Portland , affect water quality, fl ood control and wildli fe. According to ecologists, they filter and retain sediment that would otherwise enter ri vers and streams, filling lakes and reservo irs. They absorb excess ra infa ll , preventing minor fl oods and lessening the repercuss ions of major flooding; and they re lease water slowly, maintaining ri ver and stream flows during dry periods. Wetl ands are home to . ?l'ilife and to threatened and endangered species. And without them , many spec ies would die out. Natural areas in an urban setting can also act as a psychological safety valve within the asphalt and cement jungle. "To people who li ve in the most dense ly populated area of the city, northwest Portland , which is where I li ve," says Houck , "j ust knowing an area like Forest Park is out there and having access to it is an amazing psychological, philosophical, PSU 20 phys ica l re lease from li ving in a fa irl y dense situat ion. ··People tend to think of the ci ty as bei ng where nature isn't," Houck continues. "But nature is all over. And when you take nature away from people , when they' re left with a sterile environment , they lose touch with the natura l world out there . If kids don't have an Oaks Bottom to explore, and little mini -wil– dernesses to deve lop their apprec iation of the natu ral world and , to a large ex tent , the ir imaginations - then you've lost tremend– ously in our soc iety!" hrough Houck's efforts and the work of other environmentali sts and T conservationi sts, politicians and even developers are beginning to understand the importance of natura l areas to city li fe. Natural areas add to the value of housing and industrial deve lopments. Their existence cause businesses to move here and Oregoni ans to stay. They are, to a great extent , the reason people from re lati ve ly despo iled areas are pack ing thei r bags for the Pac ific Northwest. Worldwide , people are becomi ng more interested in protecting their natural areas. England 's London Ecology Unit has bee n a help and a role mode l to Houck and other environmentali sts. And recentl y, an Urban Ecology Institute was formed in Berlin , West Germany, which sent its greetings to the ''Country in the City" sympos ium co-chaired by Houck and held at PSU in April. Closer to home , Houck cites Bellevue, Wash., King County, Wash., and the San Francisco Bay area as hav ing innovati ve programs. ''And now, here, four counties and 20- some cities are willing to allow Metropolitan Service District (METRO) to be an umbrell a organization under which they cooperate. And getting all these entities to cooperate on something is a pretty massive undertaking," Houck says . " Huge numbers of people are putting a lot of energy into this natural areas project. Politicians are incorporating it into the ir th ink ing - fac toring maintenance of "/ don 't think this urban wildlife activity would have started without Mike ...He's enthusiastic, he's effective, he's committed. " -Richard Forbes natural areas into the ir plans for develop– ment. That alone is a pretty major step ." And this step very like ly would never have come about were it not fo r Mike Houck. He himse lf admits that 10 years ago only a handful of people were involved in the preservation and restoration of natural areas in an urban context. PSU Biology Professor Richard Forbes, a conservationist himself and Houck's adviser when he was a graduate ass istant at PSU years ago, says, "I don't think thi s urban wildli fe acti vity would have started without Mike. I see him as the nucleus for the whole sphere of acti vity in the metro area. He's en thusiastic, he's effecti ve, he's committed. He has an almost evangelistic zeal. I don't know where any of thi s would be without him . Nowhere, probably." One of Houck's strong points is that he's able to bring together so many facets of so many different communities , including his alma mater, PSU. For the past three years, PSU has co-sponsored and hosted the "Country in the City" symposium . Last fall , METRO contracted with PSU's Geography Department to in ventory natural areas in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. And this spring, Clark County contracted with PSU to perfom1 an identical study. Principal in vestigator Joe Poracsky and