Regional Conservation Strategy

The Intertwine Alliance's conservation work aims to promote effective protection and enhancement of the region's fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, and other vital ecosystems services through strong, clear vision and strategic, science-based approaches.

Specific outcomes would result in:

the protection of a diversity of habitat types, plants and animals across the urban and rural landscape
acquisition, restoration and management of habitat connectivity for fish and wildlife
long-term protection of the ecological integrity of streams, wetlands, rivers and floodplains

The Intertwine Alliance published the Regional Conservation Strategy in 2012 as a way to develop strategies to achieve these desired outcomes. When combined with its companion document, the Biodiversity Guide for the Greater Portland-Vancouver Region, the Regional Conservation Strategy presents a shared understanding of the nature of our region. It defines the challenges facing local wildlife and ecosystems and offers a vision, framework and tools for moving forward collaboratively to protect and restore our natural systems.

Representatives from Alliance partner organizations large and small collaborated for 2 years to create the Regional Conservation Strategy (with its supporting Biodiversity Guide for the Greater Portland-Vancouver Region) as a modern-day “owner’s manual” to guide the expansion, restoration and management of The Intertwine—the region’s network of parks, trails, natural areas and healthy watersheds.

Download the Regional Conservation Strategy, RCS Executive Summary and Biodoversity Guide

Regional Conservation Strategy for the Greater Portland-Vancouver Region

Regional Conservation Strategy for the Greater Portland-Vancouver Region (PDF) 5.33 MB

Regional Conservation Strategy Executive Summary

Regional Conservation Strategy Executive Summary (PDF) 2.77 MB

Biodiversity Guide for the Greater Portland-Vancouver Region

Biodiversity Guide for the Greater Portland-Vancouver Region (PDF) 16.46 MB

You can also interact with the Regional Conservation Strategy via the RCS Viewer, created with generous funding from the Bullitt Foundation, project management by Columbia Land Trust and Metro, and implementation by the GreenInfo Network. Created to bring RCS products to a wider audience, the viewer provides easy access to the data for those without GIS capacity in-house. or for those who just want to browse an area or obtain some quick summary statistics.

The full Regional Conservation Strategy documents, GIS data and modeled outputs are available for download and are an incredibly rich information resource. With GIS capacity, the RCS data—including land cover, high-value habitat- and protected areas—can be viewed and manipulated together with your own layers to see how they relate to one another.

Related Intertwine Focus Areas

Conservation

Project status

The creation of the document and strategy was completed in 2010. But the enactment of the strategy is underway and ongoing, through numerous projects like the Conservation Working Group and the Oak Prairie Work Group.

The Regional Conservation Strategy is unique in four ways:

It focuses on the urban and urbanizing metropolitan region that has received too little attention in previous conservation plans.
It gives equal attention to urban and rural landscapes and addresses the connections between them.
It covers almost 3,000 square miles on both sides of the Columbia River and encompasses parts of Clackamas, Marion, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill counties in Oregon and Clark, Columbia, Cowlitz, and Skamania counties in Washington.
It is paired with the first-ever science-based biodiversity guide for our region, along with high-resolution, cutting-edge mapping and scientific modeling that incorporates information from scientists and practitioners with expert knowledge of the region.

Far too many people in our region lack access to nature within walking distance of their homes and suffer from what author Richard Louv describes as “nature deficit disorder.” With an additional 1 million people expected to move into the region over the next few decades, the pressures on our natural landscape will grow ever more intense. The challenge of global climate change demands that we start now in integrating conservation, adaptation and mitigation strategies to prepare for the unprecedented changes that lie ahead.

Although the challenges may be daunting, a combination of providence and planning has resulted in a region that retains much of its natural capital. Unlike much of the rest of the nation, we have managed to contain our urban footprint through regional growth management and good land use planning. We are fortunate to be surrounded by wildlife refuges, state and national forests, and working forests and farms. Our urban system of parks, trails and natural areas provides the framework for creating an interconnected system of wildlife habitats and corridors that link to one another and the greater rural landscape beyond. And, with our vibrant urban forest canopy, ecoroofs, rain gardens and naturescaped yards, we are recognized as a leader in integrating green infrastructure into our built landscape.

Our region’s network of parks, trails and natural areas is key to creating a lasting legacy for our children and future generations. That’s why the Regional Conservation Strategy describes how we can better integrate nature into the urban fabric at every scale, from individual backyards to larger, regionally important refuges and publicly owned natural areas. The Intertwine Alliance predicts that our region’s children and adults will continue to have access to nature where they live, work and play, and residents will enjoy better health and a stronger economy and society—if we choose to implement the Regional Conservation Strategy.

LEAD PARTNERS

Audubon Society of Portland

Clark County

Clean Water Services

Columbia Land Trust

East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District

Metro

National Park Service -- Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Portland Parks & Recreation

The Nature Conservancy

The Wetlands Conservancy

Urban Greenspaces Institute

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

OTHER PARTNERS

Bullitt Foundation

City of Gresham

City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services

City of Vancouver

Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District

Clackamas Stewardship Partners

Climate Leadership Initiative

Defenders of Wildlife

Economics for Equity and the Environment Network -- an Ecostrust affiliate

Ecotrust

Friends of Trees

Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board

Mason Bruce & Girard

Natural Resources Conservation Service

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service

North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District

NW Regional Biocarbon Initiative

Oregon State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

Portland State University, Institute for Natural Resources

The Trust for Public Land

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District

Western Purple Martin Working Group

Willamette Partnership