Chair:
Margaret Van Valkenburg
This comprehensive research study is currently in progress. In 1945 City Club issued a report recommending the creation of a 6000-acre "Municipal Forest-Park." The chair of the City Club research committee, Garnett Cannon, then established an independent "Committee of Fifty," which successfully petitioned the City of Portland to create "Forest Park" in 1948. Now, over 60 years later, Forest Park faces an accumulation of financial, administrative and environmental challenges: perennial budget woes, balancing preservation with access, and combating the danger of invasive species and wildfire. As a result, a City Club research committee is now taking a close look at how the Club's orginal vision for this tract of forested land has fared and whether the larger community has the ability and will to protect and manage it properly. Read the study charge for more details about the scope and objectives of the study.