As of 2025, Portland has approximately 13,000 acres of land dedicated to parks, natural areas, and open space, or 15.8% of the city’s total area. Portland Parks & Recreation works with over fifty friends-of groups and park partners who provide valuable volunteer support for maintaining and beautifying these areas. PBOT, Metro, the State and various other entities work with other volunteer organizations. Though well established by now, these organizations often arose spontaneously out of neighbors’ concern for their open space.
While we recognize the inadvisability of creating new parks when the ones we have face a significant maintenance backlog, we support the grassroots organizations that, like Rose City Bluff Restoration, see a neglected open space and envision a park or natural area. Here are five examples that we hope you will visit, especially if they are in your neighborhood.
Sumner Association of Neighbors, SAN Lot. Leveraging thePBOT Adopt a Landscape Program, Sumner residents clean, spread native plant seeds, and incrementally improve the SAN Lot, while growing relationships with each other.
Ainsworth Linear Arboretum and Habitat. When the Ainsworth Linear Arboretum started in 2005, there were only six species of trees represented in the median. Concordia residents set out to rejuvenate it with a bold idea. In 2005, they successfully petitioned Urban Forestry to designate the Ainsworth median as a city arboretum. Since then, the median was transformed from a near monoculture to a place where the diversity of trees that can be grown in Portland is celebrated.
Roseway Parkway Plaza. The idea for a community street plaza was born eight years ago when a handful of Roseway neighbors dreamed about creating a permanent plaza along the 72nd Avenue greenway. This dedicated group reached out to the Portland Bureau of Transportation and PBOT expressed interest in it as part of its larger neighborhood greenway project. To help make the project a reality, the Roseway Neighborhood Association formed a Placemaking Committee. There is now a pedestrian plaza with a beautiful street mural. Several picnic benches and planted pollinator patches along the edges make the plaza a gathering spot and ideal place for events like the annual Earth Day Celebration.
Friends of Baltimore Woods. Baltimore Woods, just north of Cathedral Park, stands as a buffer between riverside industry and downtown St. Johns residents. Friends of Baltimore Woods (FOBW) formed in 1998 as a group of neighbors who set out to protect this mature canopy cover from increasing pressure of development in the neighborhood. Recognizing the vital importance of this upland deciduous habitat as a corridor connecting large green spaces of Willamette Cove, Smith and Bybee Lakes, and Kelley Point Park, FOBW embraced the challenge of removing invasive plants and restoring native trees and shrubs to this remnant Oregon White Oak habitat.
Friends of Rocky Butte. The Friends of Rocky Butte seeks to take an existing mature forest land that is currently not publicly accessible and open it to the public. The project emphasizes creating recreational opportunities for all: walkers, cyclists, rock climbers, runners, and sightseers. Their main goal is to provide recreational and public access to the Rocky Butte eastern side by unifying the land under one entity. With coordination, Rocky Butte can be developed into a wonderful public asset that gives outdoor recreation opportunities to a part of Portland currently lacking such access.
Rose City Bluff Restoration 