Portland Media Kit

Green Portland (sustainability + parks/gardens)

Natural Wonders and Sustainable Growth

"America's top green city has it all: Half its power comes from renewable sources, a quarter of the workforce commutes by bike, carpool or public transportation, and it has 35 buildings certified by the U.S.GreenBuilding Council." – Popular Science, February 2008

Portland is known for its green spaces and proximity to natural wonders like the Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood. The city is also known as an incubator for progressive urban planning, environmentally conscious public policy, and the sustainable development movement. Following are examples of what makes Portland a success story among green cities worldwide.

Green Spaces

Home to both a sprawling urban wilderness — the 5,156-acre (2,086-hectare) Forest Park — and the world's smallest dedicated park, Mill Ends Park (24 inches/61 centimeters across), Portland offers visitors a breath of fresh air. The Portland metro area has 37,000 acres (14,973 hectares) of green space, including 288 public parks and 166 miles (267 kilometers) of trails. And, according to Portland Parks and Recreation, 26 percent of the city is covered by tree canopy.

All of the parks and gardens listed below are open year-round, unless otherwise noted. Admission fees may apply to festivals and events held in parks.

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden
For a spectacular view of nearly 2,500 rhododendrons and azaleas, this seven-acre (2.8-hectare) garden with its spring-fed lake and three waterfalls is an enchanting place to visit. Throughout the year, visitors can enjoy feeding resident waterfowl from a water-level bridge that connects the garden's peninsula to its island. Bird watchers should note that 94 species of birds have been identiﬁed at the garden. Best viewing times are March through June (rhododendrons) and autumn (fall foliage). Admission charged during the high season (free September–February).

Southeast 28th Avenue, one block north of Woodstock Street
www.portlandonline.com/parks (type "Crystal Springs" in search field)

Forest Park
Located west of downtown, this eight-mile-long (13-kilometer) "forest in the city" covers 5,156 acres (2,086 hectares). In addition to providing a respite from urban life, the park supports more than 112 bird and 62 mammal species and acts as a natural air purifier. Forest Park's 70 miles (113 kilometers) of trails are popular with runners, equestrians, hikers and cyclists alike. Dogs on leashes are allowed. The 30-mile (48-kilometer) Wildwood Trail connects Forest Park, the Audubon Society Sanctuary, Pittock Mansion and Washington Park and is part of the region's 40-Mile Loop system. Forest Park was recently included in the book 1000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die.

Northwest 29th Avenue and Upshur Street to Newberry Road
www.friendsofforestpark.org, www.40mileloop.org

Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Once the site of a freeway, this downtown riverfront park is a popular place for jogging, in-line skating and cooling off in Salmon Street Springs, a fountain whose water patterns change with the city's mood. The park bears the name of former Oregon Governor Tom McCall, a staunch advocate of recycling, environmental preservation and urban planning. This 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) stretch of green along the Willamette River is home to many annual events, including the Portland Rose Festival, the Oregon Brewers Festival and the Waterfront Blues Festival. The Japanese American Historical Plaza is located at the north end of the park.

Bordering Naito Parkway between the SteelBridge and the RiverPlace Marina
www.portlandonline.com/parks (type "Tom McCall" in search field)

The Grotto – National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother
This 62-acre (25-hectare) Catholic sanctuary is one of Portland's most visited attractions, greeting more than 175,000 guests of all faiths each year. Visitors can stroll through this natural gallery in the woods, view the marble replica of Michelangelo's famous Pietà, carved into the base of a 110-foot (34-meter) cliff; or ride the elevator to the top of the bluff for an impressive, panoramic view of the area's highlights, including the Columbia River Valley, the Cascade Mountain Range and Mount St. Helens. Open year-round. Free; small charge for elevator ride.

Sandy Boulevard at Northeast 85th Avenue; www.thegrotto.org

Hoyt Arboretum
Home to plants from all seven continents, this 185-acre (74.9-hectare) hiker's paradise contains more than 1,100 species of trees and 12 miles (19 kilometers) of trails. It's the largest collection of distinct plant species in the United States. At the south end of the arboretum is the Vietnam Veterans of Oregon Memorial. Free guided tours offered on the first Saturday of the month, April through October. Visitor center offers maps, trail guides and information.

4000 S.W. Fairview Blvd. (in WashingtonPark); www.hoytarboretum.org

International Rose Test Garden
The largest of three Portland public rose gardens, the International Rose Test Garden was established in 1917, making it the oldest test garden in the United States. The 5.12-acre (2.1-hectare) site features 9,000 rose plantings representing some 590 varieties, including Savoy Hotel, Livin' Easy, New Zealand, Climbing Ophelia, and Sweet Juliet. From its vantage point in Washington Park, this terraced garden offers a spectacular view of downtown Portland, majestic Mount Hood and volatile Mount St. Helens. Best viewing months are May through September. In the summer, free public concerts offer another way to experience the garden.

400 S.W. Kingston Ave. (in WashingtonPark)
www.portlandonline.com/parks (type "RoseTestGarden" in search field)

Japanese Garden
Regarded as the most authentic Japanese Garden outside Japan, this beautiful 5.5-acre (2.2-hectare) oasis encompasses a waterfall and koi pond, a pavilion and ﬁve garden styles. Designed to take advantage of "borrowed scenery," the garden showcases the tall Douglas ﬁrs of the surrounding Washington Park and provides views of downtown Portland, the Willamette River, and the nearby mountains. Within the garden's core, visitors will discover winding pathways, bridges, lanterns and raked stone areas. Celebrating 40 years of beauty and harmony, the garden's elements are designed to inspire meditation, reﬂection and calm. Daily tours offered. Admission charged.

611 S.W. Kingston Ave. (in WashingtonPark); www.japanesegarden.com

Mill Ends Park
At 24 inches (61 centimeters) in diameter, this is the world's smallest dedicated park. Located in the median of Southwest Naito Parkway at Taylor Street, its story began when a journalist for the Oregon Journal, Dick Fagan, got tired of looking at the ugly pothole below his ofﬁce window. He decided to plant ﬂowers in the hole and name it Mill Ends Park. To generate interest in this tiny green space, Fagan centered many newspaper stories around the capers of a ﬁctitious park resident, a leprechaun named Patrick O'Toole.

Southwest Naito Parkway median at Taylor Street
www.portlandonline.com/parks (type "Mill Ends" in search field)

Mt. Tabor Park
Rising above Southeast Portland, Mt. Tabor Park is another notch in Portland's greenbelt. Mt. Tabor itself makes Portland one of only two cities in the continental United States to contain an extinct volcano within its boundaries (the other is Bend, Ore.). Established in 1909, Mt. Tabor Park was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Three municipal reservoirs are at the heart of the 196-acre (79.3-hectare) park, which also features trails popular with both bicyclists and pedestrians. The cinder cone's 630-foot (192-meter) elevation affords views of downtown Portland and Mount Hood.

Southeast 60th Avenue and Salmon Street
www.portlandonline.com/parks (type "Mt.TaborPark" in search field)

Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge
This 140-acre (56.7-hectare) wetland just east of the Willamette River in Sellwood is a birdwatchers' paradise. Many species are attracted to the marshes of Portland's first wildlife refuge, including the city's official bird, the great blue heron.

Southeast Seventh Avenue and Sellwood Boulevard
www.portlandonline.com/parks (type "Oaks Bottom" in search field)

Oregon Zoo
The Oregon Zoo is a conservation zoo that breeds endangered-species animals and strives to serve as a model for earth-friendly operations. The zoo's 64 acres (25.9 hectares) are home to animals from all corners of the world, including Asian elephants, Peruvian penguins and Arctic polar bears. The Oregon Zoo even recycles 100 percent of its herbivore manure into useable compost. The finished product — ZooDoo — is used as fertilizer by the zoo's horticultural staff, with leftover ZooDoo donated to such neighboring attractions at Hoyt Arboretum and Washington Park. A summer concert series, seasonal events such as the winter ZooLights festival, and the Zoo Railway help this popular Oregon attraction draw more than one million visitors each year. Admission charged.

4001 S.W. Canyon Road (in WashingtonPark); www.oregonzoo.org

Portland Audubon Society Nature Sanctuary
Adjacent to Forest Park, this 143-acre (57.9-hectare) wilderness contains more than 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) of trails, an interpretive center and nature store, and the Wildlife Care Center, which rehabilitates more than 3,500 animals each year. The sanctuary is home to more than 80 species of birds, as well as a small stand of 500-year-old old growth Douglas firs.

5151 N.W. Cornell Road; www.audubonportland.org

Portland Classical Chinese Garden
Named Lan Su Yuan, or "Garden of Awakening Orchids," the Portland Classical Chinese Garden was developed as a friendship project between Portland and its sister city of Suzhou, China. This walled oasis occupies one entire city block in Portland's Old Town/Chinatown District. Sixty Chinese artisans spent months lending their talent and expertise to the elegant design of this garden. The ﬁnal result: serpentine walkways, ponds, bridges, a tea house and a meticulous landscape of fantastic rock groupings, delicate trees, sculpted shrubs, lattice screens and pavilions. Admission charged.

Northwest Everett Streetand Third Avenue; www.portlandchinesegarden.org

Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade
The Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade, a 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) pedestrian/bicycling trail that extends along the east bank of downtown Portland's Willamette River between the Steel and Hawthorne bridges, opened in 2001. Highlights include a 1,200-foot (366-meter) floating walkway (the longest in the United States), an adjoining public boat dock, public art and places to stop, relax and enjoy. With access from four bridges, cyclists, joggers and walkers can enjoy a complete three-mile (4.8-kilometer) loop that offers unparalleled views of downtown Portland as well as a unique perspective on the river. Thirteen urban markers run the length of the esplanade, marking the eastside street grid and providing information about the river and the history of the area. The entire route is ADA compliant.

East bank of the WillametteRiver between the Steel and Hawthorne bridges
www.portlandonline.com/parks (type "Eastbank Esplanade" in search field)

Green Lifestyle

Recycling

Oregon introduced the ﬁrst bottle bill in the United States in 1971.
Portlanders recycle 52 percent of their waste, one of the highest rates in the nation.

Transportation

Portland has the nation's highest percentage of bicycle commuters, 3.5 percent — about eight times the national average (U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, July 2007). The 2000 U.S. Census found that more than 5,000 Portlanders commute to work by bicycle.
Portland boasts 272 miles of developed bikeways: 171 miles of lanes, 71 miles of off-street paths and 30 miles of shared bicycle boulevards.
Portland's Airport MAX light rail was the first train-to-plane transportation option on the West Coast.
Portland introduced the nation's first modern streetcar system in 2001.
Portland, through a grant with The Climate Trust, has retimed trafﬁc signals at 150 intersections to reduce fuel consumption by 1.1 million gallons of gas per year and decrease CO2 emissions by 9,500 tons (8,618 metric tons) per year.
Portland's "smart" parking meters are solar-powered, accept credit cards and stand one per block. A sticker is issued for each vehicle and is transferable to other spaces.
Portland is the birthplace of car-sharing in the United States. Today, Portland's Zipcar members enjoy access to a ﬂeet of more than 200 vehicles located throughout the metro area. According to Zipcar, each vehicle in its fleet replaces an estimated 15 privately owned cars.

Sustainable Building Practices

The first convention center in the nation to receive the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED-EB (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – Existing Buildings) certification, the Oregon Convention Center features a "Rain Garden" that collects storm water from the facility's roof and ﬁlters it through an attractive system of rock terraces, pools, and soil, helping to prevent environmental pollutants from reaching the adjacent Willamette River. The Convention Center is also certified "Salmon Safe."
The Doubletree Hotel Portland – has earned a Green Seal GS-33 Lodging Sustainability certification. The 476-room Doubletree is the first lodging property in Oregon and the largest hotel west of the Mississippi to receive this green hotel designation, which encompasses a stringent set of environmental standards and practices that hotels must adopt as part of their everyday operations.
Ecotrust's Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center is the ﬁrst gold-level LEED-certiﬁed building in Oregon and the ﬁrst gold-level LEED-certiﬁed historic restoration in the nation.
The transformation of the historic Portland Armory into a performance space earned Portland the distinction of having the only building on the National Register of Historic Places to achieve a LEED Platinum rating. The $36.1 million renovation of the castle-like Romanesque Revival structure, located in the Pearl District, was completed in 2006. The Gerding Theater at the Armory serves as the eco-friendly home to the Portland Center Stage theater company.
Portland currently boasts the most LEED-certiﬁed buildings per capita in the nation.

Green Accolades

No. 2, "World's Greenest City" – Country Home magazine (March 2008)
No. 1, "Greenest City in America" – Popular Science (February 2008)
No. 2, "World's Greenest City" – Grist (July 2007)
No. 2, "America's Greenest City" – MSN.com (2007)
Inaugural recipient, Solar America Cities Award – U.S. Department of Energy (2007)
One of the cleanest U.S. cities for ozone air pollution – American Lung Association (2007)
No. 1, "Environmental Awareness" – CNN/Travel + Leisure (2007)
No. 2, "10 Greenest Cities in America" – MSN.com City Guides (2007)
Cleanest environment of any U.S. city of comparable size, and No. 3 overall in America – Earth Day Network (2007)
Top 10 Greenest Cities – Yahoo! Real Estate (2007)
No. 1 in nation for biking to work – U.S. Census Bureau (2007)
No. 1 most sustainable big city in America – SustainLane.com (2006)
"Best Walking Town in America" – Prevention magazine (April 2006)
"America's Cleanest City" – Reader's Digest (2006)
"North America's No. 1 Cycling City" – Bicycling magazine (2006 and 2001)
"20 Greenest Cities & Towns" – Vegetarian Times (July/August 2005)
America's "Best running town" and "Best urban running trail: the Leif Erickson Trail" – Runner's World (May 2003)
"The City of Portland has a nationally recognized reputation for green building innovation and outreach." – U.S. Green Building Council (2003)
"Top Recycler Among the Nation's 30 Largest Cities" – Waste News (2001)
Portland's Forest Park ranked "Best urban park" in the nation – Outside magazine (October 2001)

Green Portland Resources

Ecotrust – www.ecotrust.org
City of Portland, Ofﬁce of Sustainable Development – www.sustainableportland.org
City of Portland, Ofﬁce of Transportation – www.portlandonline.com/transportation
Metro (regional government) – www.metro-region.org
OregonConvention Center – www.oregoncc.org/sustainability