Forest Park is a public
municipal park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...
in the
Tualatin Mountains
The Tualatin Mountains (also known as the West Hills or Southwest Hills of Portland) are a range on the western border of Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. A spur of the Northern Oregon Coast Range, they separate the Tualatin Basin of Was ...
west of downtown
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...
, United States. Stretching for more than on hillsides overlooking the
Willamette River
The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...
, it is one of the country's largest
urban forest
An urban forest is a forest, or a collection of trees, that grow within a city, town or a suburb. In a wider sense, it may include any kind of woody plant vegetation growing in and around human settlements. As opposed to a forest park, whose ec ...
reserves. The park, a major component of a regional system of parks and trails, covers more than of mostly
second-growth
A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...
forest with a few patches of
old growth
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...
. About of recreational trails, including the Wildwood Trail segment of the city's
40-Mile Loop
The 40-Mile Loop is a partially completed greenway trail around and through Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was proposed in 1903 by the Olmsted Brothers architecture firm as part of the development of Forest Park.
One greenway expert ...
system, crisscross the park.
As early as the 1860s, civic leaders sought to create a natural preserve in the woods near Portland. Their efforts led to the creation of a municipal park commission that in 1903 hired the
Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law O ...
landscape architectural firm to develop
a plan for Portland's parks. Acquiring land through donations, transfers from Multnomah County, and delinquent tax
foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mort ...
s, the city eventually acted on a proposal by the
City Club of Portland
The City Club of Portland is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organization based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1916, the organization had approximately 1500 members and a paid staff of 4 in 2013. The former Mayor of Por ...
and combined parcels totaling about to create the reserve. Formally dedicated in 1948, it ranks 19th in size among parks within U.S. cities, according to
The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...
.
[ The Trust for Public Land (TPL) lists the size of the park as , which is close to its original size of 1948. If the size claimed by the ]Portland Parks & Recreation
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is a Bureau of the City of Portland, Oregon that manages the city parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails. The properties, which occupy a total of more than . The bureau employs a total ...
Department in 2009 were used in the TPL listing, Forest Park would rank 17th.
More than 112 bird species and 62 mammal species frequent the park and its wide variety of trees and shade-loving plants. About of rain falls on the forest each year. Many small tributaries of the Willamette River flow northeast through the woods to pipes or
culvert
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdo ...
s under
U.S. Route 30
U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...
at the edge of the park. One of them,
Balch Creek
Balch Creek is a tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at the crest of the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills), the creek flows generally east down a canyon along Northwest Cornell Road in unincorporated Multnoma ...
, has a resident
trout
Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...
population, and another, Miller Creek, supports sea-run species, including
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...
.
Threats to the park include overuse, urban traffic, encroaching development, invasive flora, and lack of maintenance money. Occasional serious crimes and more frequent minor crimes occur in the park.
Geology and geography
Solidified
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...
from Grande Ronde members of the
Columbia River Basalt Group
The Columbia River Basalt Group is the youngest, smallest and one of the best-preserved continental flood basalt province on Earth, covering over mainly eastern Oregon and Washington, western Idaho, and part of northern Nevada. The basalt grou ...
underlie Forest Park. About 16 million years ago during the
Middle Miocene
The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene.
The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma (million ...
, the Columbia River ran through a lowland south of its modern channel. Eruptions from linear vents in eastern Oregon and Washington flowed down this channel through what later became the
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...
. These flows, some of which reached the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
, recurred at intervals between 16.5 and 15.6 million years ago and covered almost . About eight separate Grande Ronde Basalt flows have been mapped in the
Tualatin Mountains
The Tualatin Mountains (also known as the West Hills or Southwest Hills of Portland) are a range on the western border of Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. A spur of the Northern Oregon Coast Range, they separate the Tualatin Basin of Was ...
(West Hills), where they underlie the steepest slopes of Forest Park and form the columned rocks visible along
Balch Creek
Balch Creek is a tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at the crest of the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills), the creek flows generally east down a canyon along Northwest Cornell Road in unincorporated Multnoma ...
Canyon and Northwest
Cornell Road. The West Hills were later covered by wind-deposited silts that become unstable when saturated with water. Stream bank instability and siltation are common, and landslides deter urban development at higher elevations.
Roughly long, the park is less than wide near downtown Portland and about wide at its northwestern end.
It extends along the West Hills from West
Burnside Street
Burnside Street is a major thoroughfare of Portland, in the U.S. state of Oregon, and one of a few east–west streets that runs uninterrupted on both sides of the Willamette River. It serves as the dividing line between North Portland and South ...
near downtown Portland to where the Willamette River divides to flow around
Sauvie Island
Sauvie Island, in the U.S. state of Oregon, originally Wapato Island or Wappatoo Island, is the largest island along the Columbia River, at , and one of the largest river islands in the United States. It lies approximately ten miles northwest o ...
. Covering most of the east face of the ridge above the Willamette River, it is bounded by West Burnside Street on the south, Northwest Skyline Boulevard on the west, Northwest Newberry Road on the north, and Northwest St. Helens Road (
U.S. Route 30
U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...
) on the east. Elevations above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...
vary from near U.S. Route 30 at the base of the ridge to about near the crest of the ridge along Northwest Skyline Boulevard.
In 2008 Forest Park ranked 19th in size among the largest city parks in the United States, according to
The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...
. The trust's list included state parks, national parks, county parks, regional parks, and national wildlife refuges, as well as municipally owned parks located within cities.
Chugach State Park
Chugach State Park covers 495,204 acres (2,004 square kilometers) immediately east of the Anchorage Bowl in south-central Alaska. Though primarily in the Municipality of Anchorage, a small portion of the park north of the Eklutna Lake area in t ...
in
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...
, was in first place with .
Portland author
Marcy Houle says that the park "captures the essence of what is natural and wild and beautiful about the Northwest... From this forest sanctuary, panoramic views of the city of Portland, the Willamette and Columbia rivers, and five major peaks of the Cascade Range ... can be seen through the tall fir trees. From its inception ..., Forest Park has been a refuge for both people and wildlife, and an integral part of the environment of Portland."
Ecology
Vegetation
Forest Park lies in the
Coast Range ecoregion designated by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale ...
(EPA). In its natural state, the forest consists mainly of three tree species,
Douglas-fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
,
western hemlock
''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...
, and
western red cedar
''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae ...
, and smaller numbers of
grand fir
''Abies grandis'' (grand fir, giant fir, lowland white fir, great silver fir, western white fir, Vancouver fir, or Oregon fir) is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea leve ...
,
black cottonwood
''Populus trichocarpa'', the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology.
...
,
red alder
''Alnus rubra'', the red alder,
is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana).
Description
Red alder is the largest species of alder in ...
,
bigleaf maple
''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''.
It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...
,
madrone
''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islan ...
, and
western yew
''Taxus brevifolia'', the Pacific yew or western yew, is a species of tree in the yew family Taxaceae native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. It is a small evergreen conifer, thriving in moisture and otherwise tending to take the form ...
. Much of the forest that existed here before 1850 was gone by 1940. The stage of re-growth in the forest depends on when it was last logged or burned.
In the mid-1990s, about one percent of the total vegetation in the park consisted of grasses,
bracken
Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produ ...
,
thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...
, and
fireweed
''Chamaenerion angustifolium'' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed, in some parts of Canada as great willowherb, in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. ...
in sections of the forest cleared two to five years earlier. Another two percent had reached the shrub stage, between three and thirty years old, with small trees dominated by such plants as
thimbleberry
''Rubus parviflorus'', commonly called thimbleberry, (also known as redcaps) is a species of ''Rubus'' native to northern temperate regions of North America. The plant has large hairy leaves and no thorns. It bears edible red fruit similar in ...
,
salmonberry
''Rubus spectabilis'', the salmonberry, is a species of bramble in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the west coast of North America from west-central Alaska to California, inland as far as Idaho. Like many other species in the genus ''Rubus'' ...
, and
blackberry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...
. Forest areas 10 to 30 years old that contained tall alder and maple trees and smaller
conifers
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...
accounted for about 20 percent of the park.
Larger areas were occupied by forests in which conifers had grown taller than the alders and maples. About 50 percent of Forest Park consists of these areas, which are between 30 and 80 years old and in which Douglas-firs have begun to dominate. Another 25 percent of the park contains forests dominated by middle-aged conifers, 80 to 250 years old. In these areas, red alders, which live for about 100 years, have begun to die, and the Douglas-firs, which can live for 750 years, attain heights up to about . Under the big trees are shade-tolerant trees such as western red cedar, western hemlock, and grand fir and smaller plants such as
Oregon-grape
''Mahonia aquifolium'', the Oregon grape or holly-leaved barberry, is a species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae, native to western North America. It is an evergreen shrub growing tall and wide, with pinnate leaves consisting of s ...
,
vine maple, and
salal
''Gaultheria shallon'' is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America. In English, it is known as salal, shallon, or (mainly in Britain) gaultheria.
Description
''Gaultheria shallon'' is tall, spra ...
.
The last forest stage,
old growth
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...
, is reached after 250 years and includes many
snags, downed and dead trees, and fallen logs. Timber-cutting and fires reduced old growth in Forest Park to "almost nothing" by 1940, and most of the forest has not yet attained this stage. Patches exist near Macleay Park and further west near Germantown Road and Newton Road. The largest tree in Forest Park is a Douglas-fir near the Stone House, the remains of a former public
restroom near Balch Creek. It is high, and the trunk is in circumference.
Among the prominent wildflowers are
Hooker's fairy bells,
vanilla leaf,
evergreen violet, and
trillium
''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...
. Invasive species include
English ivy
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
,
European holly
''Ilex aquifolium'', the holly, common holly, English holly, European holly, or occasionally Christmas holly, is a species of flowering plant in the family Aquifoliaceae, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asi ...
,
clematis
''Clematis'' is a genus of about 300 species within the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids have been popular among gardeners, beginning with ''Clematis'' × ''jackmanii'', a garden standby since 1862; more hybrid cultivars ...
,
morning glory
Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...
, and
Himalayan blackberry
''Rubus armeniacus'', the Himalayan blackberry or Armenian blackberry, is a species of ''Rubus'' in the blackberry group ''Rubus'' subgenus ''Rubus'' series ''Discolores'' (P.J. Müll.) Focke. It is native to Armenia and Northern Iran, and wide ...
.
Citizen groups such as the No Ivy League.
and The Forest Park Conservancy engage in projects to remove ivy, maintain trails, and plant native species.
Wildlife
![Hairy Woodpecker - Sisters - Oregon S4E2992 (19230037001)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Hairy_Woodpecker_-_Sisters_-_Oregon_S4E2992_%2819230037001%29.jpg)
Wildlife in Forest Park is strongly affected by contiguous tracts of nearby habitat that make the park accessible to birds and animals from the Tualatin River valley, the
Oregon Coast Range
The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. This north-south ru ...
, the Willamette River, Sauvie Island, the Columbia River, and the
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
, lowlands.
Sixty-two mammal species, including the
northern flying squirrel
The northern flying squirrel (''Glaucomys sabrinus'') is one of three species of the genus '' Glaucomys'', the only flying squirrels found in North America.Walker EP, Paradiso JL. 1975. ''Mammals of the World''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universit ...
,
black-tailed deer
Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...
, creeping
vole
Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of lo ...
,
bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the ...
, coyote,
Mazama pocket gopher
The Mazama pocket gopher (''Thomomys mazama'') is a smooth-toothed pocket gopher restricted to the Pacific Northwest. The herbivorous species ranges from coastal Washington (state), Washington, through Oregon, and into north-central California. F ...
, little brown bat,
Roosevelt elk
The Roosevelt elk (''Cervus canadensis roosevelti)'', also known commonly as the Olympic elk and Roosevelt's wapiti, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk (''Cervus canadensis'') in North America by body mass (although by antl ...
, and
Pacific jumping mouse frequent Forest Park.
Blue grouse
The genus ''Dendragapus'' contains two closely related species of grouse that have often been treated as a single variable taxon (blue grouse). The two species are the dusky grouse (''Dendragapus obscurus'') and the sooty grouse (''Dendragapus ...
,
great horned owl
The great horned owl (''Bubo virginianus''), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air"), or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extre ...
,
hairy woodpecker
The hairy woodpecker (''Leuconotopicus villosus'') is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found over a large area of North America. It is approximately in length with a wingspan. With an estimated population in 2020 of almost nine million individ ...
,
Bewick's wren
The Bewick's wren (''Thryomanes bewickii'') is a wren native to North America. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Thryomanes''. At about long, it is grey-brown above, white below, with a long white eyebrow. While similar in appearan ...
,
orange-crowned warbler
The orange-crowned warbler (''Leiothlypis celata'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.
Taxonomy
The orange-crowned warbler was formally described in 1822 by the American zoologist Thomas Say under the binomial name ''Sylvia c ...
,
osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
,
northern pygmy-owl, and
hermit thrush
The hermit thrush (''Catharus guttatus'') is a medium-sized North American thrush. It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of ''Catharus'', but rather to the Mexican russet nightingale-thrush. The specific na ...
are among the more than 112 species of birds that have been observed in the park. In Balch Creek Canyon adjacent to Forest Park, the Audubon Society of Portland maintains a wildlife sanctuary with more than of trails, a wildlife care center, and avian exhibits.
Amphibian species frequenting the Audubon Society pond include
rough-skinned newt
The rough-skinned newt or roughskin newt (''Taricha granulosa'') is a North American newt known for the strong toxin exuded from its skin.
Appearance
A stocky newt with rounded snout, it ranges from light brown to olive or brownish-black on ...
s,
Pacific tree frogs, and
salamander
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...
s.
Pressure from habitat loss, pollution, hunting, and urban development has reduced or eliminated the presence of wolves, bears, and wild cats and has led to increased numbers of
weasel
Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...
s,
raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
s, and other small predators. Invasive plant species such as English ivy have made the habitat simpler and less supportive of native insects and the salamanders and other amphibians that feed on them. Roads in the area severely hamper the movement of large animals.
Multnomah County has designated Northwest Cornell Road and Northwest Germantown Road as "rural collector" streets, carrying traffic of less than 3,000 vehicles per day but more than streets designated as "local roads". Dogs allowed to run (illegally) off-leash in the park pose threats to birds, fish, and other wildlife.
Creeks
About of rain falls on Forest Park each year.
Many small creeks, only a few of which are named, flow northeast through the park from the ridge at the top of the West Hills to the base of the hills near U.S. Route 30. The five named streams from east to west are Balch Creek, Rocking Chair Creek, Saltzman Creek, Doane Creek, and Miller Creek. Rocking Chair Creek is a tributary of Saltzman Creek.
After leaving the park, the streams pass through
culvert
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdo ...
s and other conduits before reaching the Willamette River. These conduits block fish migration to and from the Willamette River except on Miller Creek, where the conduits are short and have been modified to assist the fish.
Near the east end of the park, the free-flowing
reaches of Balch Creek support a population of resident
cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific t ...
.
Near the west end, furthest from the city center, Miller Creek retains much of its historic nature and supports a greater diversity of aquatic organisms than other Forest Park streams.
Biological field surveys of Miller Creek in 1990 noted sea-run
cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific t ...
,
coho salmon
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientif ...
, and short-head
cottid, as well as abundant
macroinvertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...
species including
stoneflies,
mayflies,
caddisflies
The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the ...
,
water striders
The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, or water skimmers. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as tr ...
, and
crayfish
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, m ...
.
History
![Macleay Park 1914 - Portland, Oregon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Macleay_Park_1914_-_Portland%2C_Oregon.jpg)
Before settlers arrived, the land that became known as Forest Park was covered by a
Douglas-fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
forest. By 1851, its acreage had been divided into
donation land claims filed by settlers with plans to clear the forest and build upon the property. After logging, the steep slopes and unstable silt loosened by heavy rains caused landslides that defeated construction plans, and claims were defaulted or donated to the city.
Civic leaders beginning with the Reverend
Thomas Lamb Eliot, a minister who moved to Portland in 1867, sought to create a natural preserve in the woods that eventually became Forest Park.
By 1899, Eliot's efforts led to the formation of the Municipal Park Commission of Portland, which in 1903 hired the highly regarded landscape architecture firm, the
Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law O ...
of Brookline, Massachusetts, to study the city's park system and recommend a plan.
John Charles Olmsted
John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920), was an American landscape architect. The nephew and adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted, he worked with his father and his younger brother, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., in their father's firm. After their fath ...
, the stepson of
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
, spent May 1903 in Portland.
The Olmsted Report, received in December, emphasized creation of a system of parks and linking parkways that would take advantage of natural scenery. It proposed a formal square for
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
, squares along the downtown waterfront, and parks in places later known as Forest Park, Sellwood Park,
Mount Tabor Park
Mount Tabor is an extinct volcanic vent with a city park on the volcano, located in Portland, Oregon's neighborhood of the same name. The name refers to Mount Tabor, Israel. It was named by Plympton Kelly, son of Oregon City pioneer resident ...
,
Rocky Butte
Rocky Butte (previously known as Mowich Illahee and Wiberg Butte) is an extinct cinder cone butte in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is also part of the Boring Lava Field, a group of volcanic vents and lava flows throughout Oregon and Wash ...
, and
Ross Island
Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound. Ross Island lies within the boundaries of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New ...
, as well as Terwilliger Parkway, the
40-Mile Loop
The 40-Mile Loop is a partially completed greenway trail around and through Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was proposed in 1903 by the Olmsted Brothers architecture firm as part of the development of Forest Park.
One greenway expert ...
, and other connecting parkways. Proposed parks for
Swan Island, in the Willamette River, and other places in Portland did not develop. Others like Forest Park came into being only many years later.
The city acquired land for Forest Park bit by bit over several decades. In 1897,
Donald Macleay, a Portland merchant and real-estate developer, deeded a tract of land along Balch Creek to the city to provide an outdoor space for patients from nearby hospitals.
In the 1890s,
Frederick Van Voorhies Holman, a Portland lawyer and a president of the
Oregon Historical Society
The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preser ...
, proposed a gift of of nearby land that was added to the city's holdings in 1939 when his
sibling
A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child.
While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separat ...
s, George F. and Mary Holman, completed the donation.
Clark and Wilson Timber Company donated in 1927 to create a Western Oregon timber park near Northwest Germantown Road. Nine years later, the estate of Aaron Meier, one of the founders of the
Meier & Frank
Meier & Frank was a prominent chain of department stores founded in Portland, Oregon, and later bought by The May Department Stores Company. Meier & Frank operated in the Pacific Northwest from 1857 to 2006.
History Summary
Meier & Frank was f ...
chain of department stores, donated land for Linnton Park near Portland's
Linnton neighborhood along Highway 30. These smaller parks became part of the larger park when it was finally created. Some of them, such as Macleay Park, are still referred to by their original names even though they are part of Forest Park.
Other parcels were acquired through government action. In 1928, the City Council's Delinquent Tax Committee transferred land to the Parks Bureau for a wildflower garden along Balch Creek.
Multnomah County
Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...
in that year gave the bureau perpetual use of about of land north of Washington Park.
Encouraged by the
City Club of Portland
The City Club of Portland is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organization based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1916, the organization had approximately 1500 members and a paid staff of 4 in 2013. The former Mayor of Por ...
, which conducted a park feasibility study in 1945, civic leaders supported the Forest Park project. In 1948, Multnomah County transferred to the city another acquired through delinquent tax
foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mort ...
s.
On September 23, 1948, the city formally dedicated of land as Forest Park, which as of 2009 covered more than .
It is one of the largest
urban forest
An urban forest is a forest, or a collection of trees, that grow within a city, town or a suburb. In a wider sense, it may include any kind of woody plant vegetation growing in and around human settlements. As opposed to a forest park, whose ec ...
reserves in the U.S, though its exact ranking has been questioned. The city's Parks and Recreation Department claims it is the "largest forested natural area within city limits in the United States".
However, an article in the ''Portland Tribune'' said Forest Park ranked no higher than third among U.S. urban forests in 2006.
In 1991,
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
, the regional governmental agency for the Oregon portion of the
Portland metropolitan area
The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...
, began budgeting for what became its Natural Areas Program aimed at protecting these areas in Multnomah,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, and
Clackamas counties. By 1995, the program had targeted next to or within Forest Park for acquisition. A 2006 bond measure allowed for the purchase of more land to expand the park, to protect its creeks' headwaters and those of nearby streams in Washington County, and to link Forest Park to other public lands to the northwest.
In addition to purchases to directly expand the park, since 1990 the Forest Park Conservancy has acquired 14
conservation easements
In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified private land conservation organization (often called a "land trust") or gove ...
covering to create a buffer of undeveloped land surrounding the park.
Crime and other human impacts
![Leif Erickson and Springville Rd](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Leif_Erickson_and_Springville_Rd._Forest_Park.jpg)
Multiple crimes have occurred in Forest Park, including two murders. In 2001,
Todd Alan Reed, a man who preyed on heroin addicts and prostitutes, pleaded guilty to the 1999 murders of three women whose bodies were found in Forest Park near Northwest Saltzman Road, though
forensic analysis
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal p ...
showed the murders took place elsewhere and the bodies were brought to Forest Park.
In 2003, jurors convicted another man of the 1996 murder of his ex-girlfriend on a Forest Park trail.
Less serious crimes have included assault (rarely), car break-ins and petty theft (frequently at trail heads), rare arsons,
rare indecent exposure,
and marijuana cultivation. Multnomah County Sheriff's deputies in 2007 seized 114 mature marijuana plants found growing in the park on a hillside near Portland's
Linnton neighborhood. Deputies had seized another small grow operation in the park in 2005.
More common has been illegal camping by homeless transients and others.
An illegal bicycling trail, about long, was discovered in a remote part of the park in February 2010. In 2014, hikers found a
booby trap
A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...
meant to fire a shotgun shell across a path leading to the park. Portland police removed the device.
In 2004, authorities found a 53-year-old man and his 12-year-old daughter living in the park in a tarp-covered structure stocked with encyclopedias for homeschooling. They told police they had been living in the park for four years.
''My Abandonment'', a novel by
Peter Rock, tells a story built around the incident. The novel was adapted into a film, ''
Leave No Trace'' (2018). Forest scenes were shot in Eagle Fern Park, near
Estacada in
Clackamas County
Clackamas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the Native ...
.
In 1951, a drought-related blaze started by a campfire burned near the western end of the park. In 2005, a reporter for ''
The Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...
'' newspaper interviewed biologists, conservationists, Parks and Recreation officials, and others about the health of Forest Park and its future prospects. Collectively they identified threats to the park: urban development that restricts the movement of wild animals and birds; overuse; invasive plants; loose dogs; fire risk; increasing rates of tree death; lack of rule enforcement, and lack of money.
In 2010, the city hired a full-time ranger assigned to Forest Park. In 2021 and 2022, the city took additional steps to handle wildfire risk in the park, with
Portland Fire & Rescue
Portland Fire and Rescue Bureau, also known as the Portland Fire Bureau, and sometimes informally the Portland Fire Department, is the principle fire suppression, prevention, and rescue agency of the City of Portland, Oregon, United States ...
requesting additional budget to plan for mitigation, and the city designating the park plus surrounding areas a high-risk hazard zone where homeless encampments are banned during wildfire season.
Recreational access
Forest Park is a major component of a regional network of parks, trails, and natural areas managed by
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
.
At the southeastern end of the park, Wildwood Trail, the centerpiece of the Forest Park trail system, passes through Macleay Park. This part of the larger park, which includes the Forest Park field headquarters, is heavily used by pedestrians entering Balch Creek Canyon from nearby city streets. Further southeast, Wildwood Trail, while still in Forest Park, passes
Pittock Mansion
The Pittock Mansion is a French Renaissance-style château in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. The mansion was originally built in 1914 as a private home for London-born '' Oregonian'' publisher Henry Pittock and his wife, Geor ...
and its panoramic views of Portland and five volcanic peaks: Mounts
Rainier,
Adams,
St. Helens,
Hood
Hood may refer to:
Covering
Apparel
* Hood (headgear), type of head covering
** Article of Academic dress#Hood, academic dress
** Bondage hood, sex toy
* Hoodie, hooded sweatshirt
Anatomy
* Clitoral hood, a hood of skin surrounding the clitori ...
, and
Jefferson Jefferson may refer to:
Names
* Jefferson (surname)
* Jefferson (given name)
People
* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States
* Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...
. Beyond the mansion, the trail connects to adjoining
Washington Park and attractions such as the
Oregon Zoo
The Oregon Zoo, originally the Portland Zoo and later the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo located in Washington Park, Portland, Oregon, approximately southwest of downtown Portland. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest zoo west of the Mississippi Ri ...
via the
Barbara Walker Crossing, a pedestrian bridge over Burnside Street. From here and from more remote Forest Park trailheads near the
St. Johns Bridge, other components of the 40-Mile Loop system of trails encircle the city. They follow the Willamette and
Columbia rivers, the
Columbia Slough
The Columbia Slough is a narrow waterway, about long, in the floodplain of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Oregon. From its source in the Portland suburb of Fairview, the Columbia Slough meanders west through Gresham and Portland to ...
and the
Springwater Corridor
The Springwater Corridor Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian rail trail in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon, United States. It follows a former railway line from Boring through Gresham to Portland, where it ends south of the Eastbank Espla ...
along
Johnson Creek and extend to the eastern suburbs of
Fairview,
Gresham and
Boring.
This trail network links more than 30 separate parks that offer diverse recreational opportunities, such as horse-back riding, in-line skating, canoeing, and viewing of wetland wildlife, in addition to hiking and biking. It connects to other trail systems such as Discovery Trail in
Clark County, Washington
Clark County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 503,311, making it Washington's fifth-most populous county. Its county seat and largest city is Vancouver. It was the first co ...
, and the Terwilliger Trail running through
Tryon Creek State Natural Area
The Tryon Creek State Natural Area is a state park located primarily in Portland, in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the only Oregon state park within a major metropolitan area. The park lies between Boones Ferry Road and Terwilliger Bouleva ...
to
Lake Oswego
Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town w ...
.
As of 2015, this network of parks and trails is still expanding. Metro, the regional government, plans to link the 40-Mile Loop to trails along the Willamette River to
Wilsonville, south of Lake Oswego. The regional government has also proposed connecting Wildwood Trail to the partly completed Westside Trail running north–south through Washington County to the
Tualatin River
The Tualatin River is a tributary of the Willamette River in Oregon in the United States. The river is about long, and it drains a fertile farming region called the Tualatin Valley southwest and west of Portland, Oregon, Portland at the northwes ...
. Another planned trail would extend the Springwater Corridor along a proposed Cazadero Trail to
Barton on the
Clackamas River
The Clackamas River is an approximately tributary of the Willamette River in northwestern Oregon, in the United States. Draining an area of about , the Clackamas flows through mostly forested and rugged mountainous terrain in its upper reaches, a ...
. Longer-term goals include trail links to the
Sandy River Gorge Trail east of Gresham and the
Pacific Crest Trail
The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...
, which runs from Mexico to Canada and follows the
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
through Oregon.
Wildwood Trail
![Forest park second growth bowed fallen alder P3910](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Forest_park_second_growth_bowed_fallen_alder_P3910.jpeg)
More than of trails and firelanes cut through the park.
The longest trail in the park is the Wildwood Trail, of which about is in Forest Park and about in Washington Park.
It is also the longest section of the 40-Mile Loop, a trail network of roughly reaching many parts of the Portland metropolitan area. The trail runs southeast to northwest from
trail marker 0 in Washington Park to Northwest Newberry Road, just beyond trail marker 30 on the ridge above the southeastern end of Sauvie Island. The straight-line distance from beginning to end is about , but because the trail includes many
switchbacks and
hairpin turn
A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal hai ...
s, it is long.
In 2019, the City of Portland constructed
Barbara Walker Crossing to allow Wildwood Trail users to safely pass over West Burnside Street.
Wildwood Trail begins in Washington Park near the Oregon Zoo, a
light rail stop, the
Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the
World Forestry Center
The World Forestry Center is a nonprofit educational institution in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located near the Oregon Zoo in Washington Park, the organization was established in 1964 as the Western Forestry Center, with the actual bui ...
and the
Hoyt Arboretum
Hoyt Arboretum is a public park in Portland, Oregon, which is part of the complex of parks collectively known as Washington Park. The arboretum is located atop a ridge in the Tualatin Mountains west of downtown Portland. Hoyt has 12 miles of ...
. Blue diamonds placed about above the ground appear on trees along the trail every . The diamonds and the mileage markers above them are visible to hikers traveling in either direction on the path. In its first , the trail passes near the
Portland Japanese Garden
The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site f ...
, Pittock Mansion, the
Audubon Society of Portland wildlife sanctuary, and the
Stone House in Balch Creek Canyon. From this point west, Wildwood Trail runs through forest generally uninterrupted by buildings but crisscrossed by shorter trails, small streams, roads, and firelanes.
Other paths, streets, easements
Many shorter Forest Park trails, roads, and firelanes intersect the Wildwood Trail. Most of the trails are open only to hikers and runners, but several roads and firelanes are open to bicycles or horses or both. Leif Erickson Drive, a road closed to motorized traffic, runs at lower elevation than and roughly parallel to the Wildwood Trail for about from the end of Northwest Thurman Street to Northwest Germantown Road.
Originally called Hillside Drive, it was renamed in 1933 at the request of the
Sons of Norway
Sons of Norway ( no, Sønner av Norge), founded in 1895 as the Independent Order of the Sons of Norway, is a fraternal organization principally representing people of Norwegian-American, Norwegian heritage in the United States and Canada. The or ...
, a fraternal organization.
Easements for an oil line, a gas line, and electric transmission lines for the
Bonneville Power Administration
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is an American federal agency operating in the Pacific Northwest. BPA was created by an act of Congress in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam located on the Columbia River and to constr ...
(BPA) cross the park. Paved roads surround the park, which is crossed or entered by other roads including Northwest Pittock Drive, Northwest Cornell Road, Northwest 53rd Drive, Northwest Saltzman Road, Northwest Springville Road, Northwest Germantown Road, Northwest Newton Road, and BPA Road.
References
Works cited
*
*
*
*
External links
Forest Park Mountain Biking Map*
*
*
{{Featured article
1948 establishments in Oregon
Forests of Oregon
Hillside, Portland, Oregon
Northwest Portland, Oregon
Parks in Portland, Oregon
Protected areas established in 1948
Urban forests in the United States
Forest parks in the United States