During an Environmental Analysis course I currently participate in, I was recently presented the opportunity to engage with a panel held by professor Jim Proctor. This panel consisted of five individuals who have special knowledge of the Lewis and Clark College campus, Riverview Natural Area, and/or the Collins View neighborhood (the areas studied in Labs One-Five). For 90 minutes, the panelists interacted with one another, as well as those in attendance, engaging in an active discussion on the observed land cover (physical) changes, specifically regarding natural growth, in these areas.
In the previous five weeks of research, conducted through labs, I compared measurements and data gathered regarding temporal, humidity, and land cover changes in these areas of Southwest Portland. However, despite the controlled, current data from twelve sites and satellite photos of the areas (dating back as far as 79 years prior), there is a lack of primary information in regards to how shifts in urbanization and growth occurred, especially so rapidly from the 1980’s.
During this session, our panelists were able to share historical pieces that explain Southwest Portland’s development, both supporting and disproving many theories that spawned from the previous research I conducted. The Riverview Natural Area, for example, used to be owned by the nearby cemetery, until the city of Portland bought it in 2011, as shared by Marshall Johnson, a Portland Parks and Recreation Ecologist who specializes in habitat restoration in Riverview and Forest Park. While this ownership allowed for preservation of the area in the sense of no urban development, the area has, nonetheless, had large shifts in growth. According to Bob Fischer, a Lewis and Clark alumni and Collins View resident, the area has been forested “historically. What originally was a douglas fir forest, with some hemlock and cedar incorporated is no longer. Logging in the 50’s took out all the pines and firs, while leaving cedar and hemlock, leading to the now fresh growth and the flourishing of those species.” It is amazing how much human interaction has influenced and altered almost every pattern of growth. From introducing new species, such as bringing holly onto the Lewis and Clark campus, imported by the Franks family (which now grows rampant in the area), to altering the patterns of previous natural growth, the very diversity in landscape through the area that I believed to be the lasting essence of Portland proper, is actually just the gentrification of growth. Being a resident of a neighborhood just off campus, I am able to recognize and benefit from the diversity and history that thrives here, but that does not mean I have witnessed the undertaking and detriment that the area has undergone to get there. The panel was enlightening, highlighting the externalities caused by increased demand for urbanization in the area as population grows and referencing how it continues to threaten what few 'natural' areas we have left.
*A special thank you to Bob Fischer (L&C alumni, lives in Collins View), Brendan (ecology expert, lives in Collins View), Denise King (L&C campus development and planning), Marshall Johnson (Portland Parks and Recreation Ecologist), and John Miller (Collins View resident, worked at L&C from 1972-1997) for coming in to share their wealth of knowledge and entertain our forming ideas and questions of how our home came to be as we know it. Also, thank you to Jim Proctor for organizing this panel and further exploration.