Forest Park Conservancy
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Mission Statement
The Forest Park Conservancy protects and fosters the ecological health of Forest Park, maintains and enhances the park's extensive trails network, and inspires community appreciation and future stewardship of the splendor of this iconic, urban wilderness as a gift for generations. Volunteer or make a donation today.
About This Cause
The mission of the Forest Park Conservancy (FPC) is to protect and restore Forest Park for future generations. We engage with and educate over 2,000 volunteers and 150 private landowners each year. Forest Park and the land surrounding it are part of a larger ecosystem (over 15,000 acres) which play a vital role in mitigating the impacts of climate change in the Portland area and provide numerous ecosystem services including cleaner air, cleaner water, carbon sequestration and significantly lowering the urban heat island effect. Our organization serves the Portland/Vancouver region and is currently focusing more specifically on ways in which to serve historically marginalized communities through our work. Through the Greater Forest Park Conservation Initiative (GFPCI), a 20-year collaborative strategy to protect and restore over 15,000 acres of public and private land, FPC plays a lead role in ensuring restoration and conservation practices are implemented collaboratively to protect native habitat and enhance the resiliency of the greater Forest Park ecosystem. We bring together public, private, and non-profit partners as well as community volunteers to remove invasive species, restore streams, maintain trails, reduce wildfire risks, and foster community engagement. As an individual organization, our work to protect and restore this ecosystem occurs at many levels, from partnering on large landscape invasive species removal projects in Forest Park to working with small individual landowners to remove invasive species encroaching on the park. We also educate private landowners on the importance of native habitat and how to reduce the risk of wildfire. Wildfire mitigation is a critical component of protecting both Forest Park and the greater community as the effects of climate change progress. Environmental challenges are complex issues and to be successful at addressing them we must understand the interrelatedness of the social and economic aspects of these issues. Over the past year, we have adapted our approach to our work. When we identify the ecological outcomes of projects, we also identify the equity outcomes and how and where funds are being allocated to bring economic benefit to historically marginalized communities. This approach allows us to move away from a “fee for service”, or consumptive relationship and move towards building institutional relationships with common values, plans, and outcomes that empower communities to lead in the development of restoration projects that also support education, outreach, training, jobs and economic benefits. This approach will result in increased restoration outcomes and equity outcomes that are serving a broader community through a sustainable watershed restoration economy that have a greater impact on the environment and the broader community we must serve.