Access to Nature Enhances Livability of Cities

by Moderator M.J. Cody                              View Readers' Comments

First edition of Wild in the City
was published in 2000 

Wild in the City: Exploring The Intertwine and its predecessor, Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas, co-edited by Mike Houck and M.J. Cody, offer lively personal essays on a “sense of place,” natural history essays, and site guides that celebrate the city as a unique, vibrant ecosystem integrating nature with the built environment. Following is an anatomy of how and why these books came to be.

 

In livable cities is the preservation of the wild.

                        —Urban Greenspaces Institute motto

Inspired by a conviction that conservation must focus on cities if we want to protect the wild places beyond the urban fringe, our new mantra, "In livable cities is the preservation of the wild," is an urban corollary to Thoreau's aphorism, "In wildness is the preservation of the world." It will only be through the creation of humane, wildlife-rich cities—urban areas where people actually want to live—that we will stanch the flow of ever-increasing development across the rural landscape and wild lands.

Young Naturalist exploring Portland's
160-acre Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge,
Photo Mike Houck

When the Audubon Society of Portland launched its Urban Naturalist program in 1980 urban wildlife was considered an oxymoron by many. The assertion was that the region’s urban growth boundary was intended to focus on development inside and to protect nature “out there” beyond the boundary. But the Society, long before it was popular to do so, recognized that protecting urban wildlife in the Portland area was vital, and that, as Robert Michael Pyle so aptly writes in his book, The Thunder Tree: Lessons from an Urban Wildland, “What is the extinction of the condor to a child who has never known a wren?”  

Thirty years later access to nature in the city is a critical element of Portland’s modern urban planning and design. 

Wild in the City: How did it happen?

Urban Naturalist 1982
first edition of Audubon
Society of Portland's quarterly
urban natural history journal.

Every book has its own distinctive path to getting published. Wild in the City is a product of serendipity and hard work. Its genesis was in 1982 with the publication of the Audubon Society of Portland’s seasonal journal, “The Urban Naturalist” —a labor of love written, illustrated, and designed by a cadre of dedicated volunteers from across the metropolitan region. After more than a decade of quarterly deadlines, inertia ruled. The energy and motivation to continue, or even to create a book (always in the back of the Audubon crew’s minds), would have to come from elsewhere.

That’s when serendipity interceded from a totally unsuspected source: Mike Houck, part of the “Urban Naturalist” team, reconnected with his old high school chum, M. J. Cody, who had recently returned home to the Northwest from a television writing career in Hollywood.

For years, MJ had suggested to Mike that they collaborate on a book, perhaps a travelogue on Oregon’s special places. This time, on a sunny afternoon over beer at RiverPlace Marina, Mike posited the idea of a guide to Portland’s natural spaces. MJ jumped at the idea. Then, the flash of realization: the archived stacks of “The Urban Naturalist.” Would the old crew be willing to update the material? Would others join the cause? Would a publisher take on the project? They would. They did. Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas was published in 2000.

Mother and daughter enjoy wildflowers, 
Tanner Springs Park in Portland's Pearl District.
Photo: Mike Houck

That we have so many spectacular urban greenspaces to write about is due to a combination of regulatory and non-regulatory approaches to protecting, restoring, and managing the region's natural resources, inside and outside our urban growth boundaries. In fact, many of the contributors to Wild in the City have been active at the local, county, and regional levels working to create and implement regulatory programs to protect fish and wildlife habitat, manage urban stormwater, and better integrate the natural and built environments throughout the region.

Since that first edition in 2000, our regional government, Metro, and local park providers (thanks to the passage of two regional bond measures totaling more than $360 million for land acquisition) have added more than 15,000 acres of natural areas into the public realm. Seventy miles of streamside habitat have been protected; and many miles of trails have been added to the Portland-Vancouver regional trail network.

It was time for another edition of Wild in the City

The original creative team assembled and the process of adding and eliminating sites and content began. This time around, more illustrators and writers, now familiar with the first edition, were eager to volunteer contributions. Thus, the new collection of essays, sites and rambles, along with narratives on efforts to better integrate the built and natural environments was born.

The Wild in the City books are not only indispensable guides to the Portland-Vancouver parks, trails, and natural areas. Thanks to the many talented writers, the books are also an expression of the philosophy that nature not only belongs in the city, but is essential to creating and sustaining our quality of life in this splendid place.

Your Wild in the City?

The Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area is blessed with an abundance of creative writers, illustrators, naturalists and conservationists, as well as collaborative government agencies, all of whom stepped up to help with the project. Is our small corner of the Pacific Northwest exceptional? 

No, it isn't. 

Other areas throughout the country (and world) have their own special attributes, their own extraordinary people, and their own brilliance and sense of place.

In particular, David Goode's Wild in London inspired our work, as did New York City's Natural Resource Group and the East Bay Regional Park District. (These and other inspired conservation efforts will be discussed in the weeks to come).

The Urban Naturalist program and eventual production of Wild in the City, A Guide to Portland's Natural Areas was inspired by Dr. David Goode, then director of the Long Ecology Unit, and by the London Ecology Unit's urban conservation work in the twelve London boroughs.

What we all have in common is facing significant challenges to create livable, ecologically rich cities, while simultaneously saving our rural wild lands.  

Foreground: 160-acre Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge,
Portland's first official urban wildlife refuge, established in 1988.
Background: 350-acre Ross Island and downtown Portland.
Photo: Mike Houck

Our approach may not work for everyone, but we felt that producing a city guide that was more than a handbook to parks, trails, and natural spaces—a more literary tome full of personal stories and insights—would give readers a better understanding of the riches surrounding us and the importance of not only being aware, but experiencing the joys of preserving, restoring, and celebrating nature in this singular place we call home. 

What is going on with the wild in your city?  How does your city use its natural areas?