The Intertwine & The Intertwine Alliance Addressing Climate Change: A Regional Response

Mike Houck, DirectorUrban Greenspaces Institute

My Assignment

Example of an Existing Program, The Intertwine Alliance

Success Through Regional Collaboration

Challenges We’ve Faced

Regional Conservation Strategy, A Model?

Role of Watershed Planning

Replication Through the Willamette Valley

Example of an Existing Program, The Intertwine Alliance

Success Through Regional Collaboration

Role of Watershed Planning

Urban Biodiversity Is Not An Oxymoron

DIFFERENT SCALES =DIFFERENT SCALES =DIFFERENT ANSWERSDIFFERENT ANSWERS

• Same 57 speciesSame 57 species• Same Coarse FilterSame Coarse Filter• Different MMUDifferent MMU

Gap AnalysisGap Analysis

Metro GapMetro Gap

LowRichness

HiRichness

Pond Turtle

“What’s the extinction of the Condor to a child who has never known a wren?”

Robert Michael Pyle, “The Extinction ofExperience” from The Thunder Tree

Dr. David Goode, Director of the London Ecology UnitSpeaks at City Club of Portland as Country in the City

keynoteaddress

East Bay Regional Park District Tour 1990

PSU’s Dr. Joe Porascky andgraduate student Paul Newmancreate first regional naturalareas map for Metro regionalpark study and inventory, June, 1989

~ July 22, 1992 ~

Greenspaces Master Plan is adopted by Metro Council

1995 bond measure

• 62% voted “yes”

• $135.6 million total

• 8,120 acres and 74 miles of river and stream frontage

• $25 million local share for over 100 natural area related projects

Natural Areas, Parks & StreamsBond Measure, Fall 2006

• $227.4 million total package:

– $168.4 million for regional target areas

– $44 million local share

– $15 million opportunity grant fund

• Cost to property tax payers is estimated at 22 cents per $1,000 assessed value.

Natural Areas in the Metro Region

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

1870 1891 1913 1933 1953 1973 1993

Year

Ac

res

Forest Park

Oxbow Park

Washington Park Linnton & Holman Parks

Tryon Cr. Park

THPRD Nature Park

Smith & Bybee

'95 Bond Measure

'06 Bond Measure

The Intertwine Vision

Exceptional interconnected system of parks, natural areas, and trails, equitably throughout Portland-Vancouver region…..

Regional Greenspaces System

Metro Fish and Wildlife Habitat withBond Acquisitions, Public Land,

and Anchor Sites

Classes I and II

Classes A and B

Metro Fish and Wildlife Habitat Protection Resources

Urban GrowthBoundary

Existing Anchor Sites

Proposed Anchor Sites

Metro Bond Acquisitions,Parks, and GreenspacesOther public land

Drives the Economy and Tourism

Preserves significant natural areas

The system is considered an essential part of the urban infrastructure.

“Someday, all this will be infrastructure.”

Valuing Nature:Ecosystem Services

Economic benefits of the system are integrated into economic developmentand marketing strategies.

Documenting Ecosystem Services:Portland Bureau of EnvironmentalServices

Johnson Creek floodplain before

After

Protects biodiversity across urban and rural landscapes and beyond the region.

Cascadia

Willamette Valley

Attracts federal, state, and regional funding to expand, operate and maintain the system.

Springwater on Willamette Trail

The Regional Conservation Strategy, A Model?

Regional Conservation Regional Conservation Strategy - GeographyStrategy - Geography

June 20 2006Charette

Willamette BasinEcosystem Consortium

FEMA Floodplains

Metro Title 13Fish and Wildlife

TheNature Conservancy

Oregon Department ofFish and Wildlife

Expert Panel

Metro Parks and Greenspaces

New Look

Charrette with RCS model over

CAP cover (full screen)

April 2009

• Adapt successfully to a changing climate.– Strengthen capacity of natural systems to

respond to more severe weather events, streamflow changes and flooding.

– When planning investments, consider physical, social, environmental, economic and regulatory impacts of mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Climate change already is affecting the region’s air and water resources, the quantity and distribution of habitats, and the ranges and behavior of native fish and wildlife species.

Given the many unknowns and the interconnectedness of natural, built, and human systems, it would be wise to adopt a flexible, proactive approach to climate change that is consistent with the precautionary principle—i.e., to act now and manage assuming severe impacts.

Fortunately, across the region there are on-the-ground examples of how climate change adaptation strategies can be combined with other regional and project-level goals.

Theme:

Protecting existing high-functioning areas, maintaining connectivity across the landscape, restoring and integratingnatural areas and features into the built system provides multiple benefits, including mitigation for and adaptation to climate change.

Challenges We've Faced

Political, resistance to regionalism

Silos, including state and local land use programs

Inadequate documentation and documentationre ecosystem Services and multiple benefits of green infrastructure

Lack of O & M Funding

Moving from “one offs” to sustained effort

Patience

Could The Intertwine Alliance be Replicated in the Valley?

The Intertwine Alliance

www.TheIntertwine.org