Portland groups forming community-based land trust
A Portland coalition recently was awarded national funding to establish a community-based land trust to clean up and care for neglected areas in the city’s neighborhoods.
Groundwork Portland, a coalition consisting of community-based nonprofits as well as Portland State University, the city of Portland and EPA Region 10, aims to reclaim vacant and contaminated lands for conservation and recreation. Among its goals is to empower low-income neighborhoods in Portland.
“Our vision is to inspire communities to transform (blighted lands) into parks and other community assets,” says Mike Slater, EPA Region 10 brownfields coordinator for the Portland office and a member of the Groundwork Portland’s steering committee.
Groundwork Portland joins Groundwork USA (www.groundwork.net), a network of independent, nonprofit environmental businesses called Groundwork Trusts that are in 17 cities around the nation. Established on the East Coast, Groundwork USA’s mission is to develop community-based partnerships that empower people, businesses and organizations to promote community pride and rejuvenation.
Groundwork USA, which partners with the National Parks Service and the EPA, selected Portland to receive funding after touring the city in February and April. The Portland organization is the first established in the Pacific Northwest.
“The Portland committee did a good job of showing us the need and plan to address brownfields in the community,” Vernice Miller-Travis, Groundwork USA executive director, says in a press release. “We are delighted to spread our trust network into the Pacific Northwest.”
Groundwork Portland will receive $100,000 a year for two years for initial project work. That money is to be used to establish the organization and hire staff, says Clark Henry, project coordinator for the city of Portland’s brownfields program. About $15,000 is to be used immediately to develop a feasibility study and strategic plan, which is expected to be completed in March, Henry says. The city of Portland is matching $25,000 a year for three years, he adds.
Henry believes the new nonprofit is a good match for brownfields work. He expects Groundwork Portland to target environmental injustice issues on Portland’s north, northeast and southeast sides. Many of the commercial corridors in these areas have seen cases where contaminated properties, such as gas stations and dry cleaners, were abandoned rather than cleaned up. There will be much discussion with communities about what they want to see done in their neighborhoods with properties such as these.
All properties will have a community focus, Henry says. The Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust is on the organization’s steering committee. So, one possibility is to turn some of these lands into community gardens and kitchens.
Ultimately, it will be the neighborhoods that determine the best use for these lands, Slater says.
