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The City of Portland, Oregon

Portland Parks & Recreation

Healthy Parks, Healthy Portland

Phone: 503-823-7529

1120 SW Fifth Avenue, Portland, OR 97204

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Natural Area Vegetation

About the Inventory
Portland Parks and Recreation has completed vegetation surveys of its natural area parkland from 2003 to 2008 as a step in Portland's ecosystem management process. Several natural area properties not owned or managed by PP&R were also surveyed. The field methodology was designed to identify vegetation community characteristics such as dominant and invasive plant species, management concerns, and overall ecological health to inform park management and citywide natural resource planning.

A total of 1,072 surveys were conducted covering 8,213 acres. Average unit size was 8 acres (17 acres within Forest Park). Forest Park accounted for 4,743 (58%) of the total acres surveyed.

Distribution of community types within survey:

NVCS Subclass
(National Vegetation Classification System)
% of Total Acreage Total Acres Number of Units
Mixed Evergreen - Deciduous Forest 41.9 3438 319
Deciduous Forest 25.1 2058 217
Evergreen Forest 13.5 1,112 114
Deciduous Open Woodland 6.4 522 129
Mixed Evergreen - Deciduous Open Woodland 1.4 114 45
Deciduous Shrubland 2.1 176 49
Perennial Grassland Vegetation 5.7 468 115
Perennial Forb Vegetation 0.9 74 10
Other types 3.1 251 74
Ecological Health Scores Number of Units Total Acres % of Total Acreage
1 - Healthy 4 97 1.2
2 - Good 166 2,593 31.8
3 - Fair 319 3,128 38.3
4 - Poor 332 1,587 19.4
5 - Severely Degraded 232 757 9.3