Metro Natural Area Bond Measure needs your help

I currently live in a high-rise apartment building on the edge of busy and noisy downtown Portland. I really enjoy gardening and growing some of my own food, but my apartment doesn’t even have a balcony on which to grow a container garden. Lucky for me, Portland Parks and Recreation has a Community Garden program. I called them this spring and was fortunate enough to get a plot at Adams Community Garden. It’s within bike-riding distance from my apartment, and in the middle Forest Park, just off the Wildwood trail. Every time I ride up to the garden, I am astounded by how I can be at one moment in the middle of a busy metropolis, and in just a few minutes be transported under my own power into the middle a rugged Douglas-fir forest. I could be in the Coast Range, or somewhere in the Cascades rather than a mile outside of downtown Portland. I feel so blessed to live in a place where the people that have come before me have had the vision and values to recognize the importance of protecting natural areas, such as Forest Park, against the onslaught of development. Imagine what living in the Portland area would be like if they had not.

Today, that ever-present pressure to pave over every available parcel of land is greater than ever. It is estimated that 1 million people will relocate to the Portland area in next 25 years. And, considering the passage of Measure 37, who knows what might be steamrolled next. Water quality, protection of wildlife, and easy access to nearby natural areas are threatened as never before. Lucky for us, the voters in the November 2006 election, there is something we can do to protect these things that we value so highly: we can work to assure the passage of the 2006 Metro Natural Areas Bond measure.

In case you are not familiar with this ballot measure, it works basically like this: it raises $277.4 million in bond money for the purpose of protecting approximately 4000 acres in natural areas throughout Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties. The measure will fund the purchase of parcels adjacent to the Tualatin River, Clackamas River, Willimate River, Johnson Creek, Gales Creek, Columbia Slough, Forest Park, and East Butte, to name just a few. The properties targeted for purchase by the bond measure were chosen based on a scientific analysis of which potential purchases would best protect and improve water quality and wildlife habitat in our region. Of the total $227.4 million, $167.4 million is allocated for regional projects, $55 million is allocated to counties and cities for local projects, and $15 million is reserved for grants, for which community groups can apply to fund “Nature in the Neighborhoods” projects.

From the standpoint of the average taxpayer, this measure is a true bargain; a mere $2.95 per month helps to guarantee the protection of water quality, wildlife, and quality of life in our region--things that nearly all Metro-region voters want to preserve, regardless of political persuasion. Furthermore, the measure has built-in accountability mechanisms to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and appropriately. These include a binding plan that restricts spending to specific projects and acquisitions, citizen oversight of spending, and a requirement that an annual accounting of spending be published in local newspapers.

As long as voters are made aware of the value and importance of this measure, it should pass easily. That, however, is the challenge. Even though there is no organized opposition to this measure, the ballot this November may include as many as 12 state-wide measures, and in many localities, measures that will compete for taxpayer dollars. Most of the media attention this election season is likely to go to some of the more contentious ballot measures, and to the gubernatorial race, which also promises to be full of heated partisan quarreling. It would be easy to lose the Natural Areas Bond Measure in all of the noise. That is why it needs your help.

First, please take a few moments to learn about the details of the measure by visiting Metro’s web site. You can also get more information and learn of ways to get involved at www.savenaturalareas.org. If nothing else, please tell your friends and family about this measure and why it is important that it passes. Someone, someday, may stand along a quite stream bank, or perhaps ride a bicycle to garden in the middle of a forest, and thank you.