June 6, 2010

In partnership with Metro, SOLV, Three Rivers, the Bureau of Environmental Services, and Portland Parks & Recreation, the Friends of Baltimore Woods have scored a win for preservation in North Portland. With financial support from these partners, the Friends will purchase 5 of the twelve privately owned lots in the 30-acre Baltimore Woods parcel between Cathedral Park and Pier Park in North Portland.

"The goal," writes Holly Goodman in today's Oregonian, "is to protect and restore the remaining groves of Oregon white oak between Cathedral Park and Pier Park, to create a natural buffer between the industrial area and neighboring houses...and to preserve undeveloped greenspace for the proposed North Portland Willamette Greenway trail."

The area, Goodman writes, was originally destined for residential development, but thanks to the Friends of Baltimore Woods, will likely become part of the future npGREENWAY trail. The npGREENWAY will connect North Portland neighborhoods along the Willamette with a system of trails stretching from the Steel Bridge north all the way to Kelley Point Park, at the intersection of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. 

Thanks to npGREENWAY for this flickr photo!