Portland Botanical Gardens: A transformation on the Willamette River

Portland Botanical Gardens, an Oregon nonprofit organization, has worked the last two years to acquire the McCormick & Baxter Superfund site in North Portland. Since signing a Purchase and Sale Agreement for the property in April 2024, the organization has submitted a Prospective Purchaser Agreement proposal to the Department of Environmental Quality and conducted a year of due diligence,

planning, and direct public and Tribal outreach. From this process, it has refined its proposal with a

new Conceptual Master Plan (above and attached) and is welcoming public comments and questions.

Over the past year, Portland Botanical Gardens met with hundreds of stakeholders, given dozens of presentations, and led 30 tours of the site with volunteers, donors, and community members. The organization also closely observed Metro’s engagement process for the adjacent Willamette Cove Natural Area and the Portland Harbor Collaborative Group’s regular public meetings. The Conceptual Master Plan is deeply informed by those engagements and other feedback gathered through direct outreach to Tribal nations, neighbors and stakeholders.

The plan expresses the overarching vision of the Portland Botanical Gardens as a collection of curated gardens grouped by plant communities and connected by paths to a visitor hall, conservatory, and research and education facilities. It showcases the riverside Botanical Gardens Greenway trail and extensive native plantings inside and surrounding the main gardens. It also reveals the most feasible areas for buildings, gardens and public spaces, all based on the complex constraints of Superfund sites and Willamette river frontage.

The gardens will be organized around biogeographic collections based on plant origin and ecological community. Visitors will be able to Traverse Oregon and Walk the World, experience the botanical

splendor of the Pacific Northwest and learn about research in climate-adapted horticulture. At full build-out, the Portland Botanical Gardens will feature Oregon’s largest native plant collections, its first public conservatory, a universally accessible river beach, and potentially a new public pier.

The Conceptual Master Plan shows the broad outline of the completed gardens, but key components will be built early on with a targeted completion by Earth Day, 2030. These components include a visitor hall with multipurpose spaces and amenities, an event meadow, initial structures for research and education, parking areas, paths, and the greenway.

The Portland Botanical Gardens, like most of its sister gardens in cities around the country and world, will have spaces for art, events, plant shows, and ongoing educational programming. It will also be a beautiful and inspiring place to explore with no agenda – a place to stroll, enjoy solitude, and take in the uninterrupted views of Portland's downtown and the incomparable Forest Park. The gardens will fulfill the mission to bring plants and people together – for the benefit of both – and provide longstanding impacts through plant conservation, education, scientific research, and improved ecological health.

Following a successful acquisition, Portland Botanical Gardens will work to make the site a community asset in the first year. Litter and invasive plants will be removed, and the existing collection of native plantings will be documented. Initial transportation and infrastructure improvements will allow for early programming, school visits, greenway access, field research, and garden festivals. The organization will also establish a native plant nursery and seed bank, and develop invasive plant screening and integrated pest management policies with project stakeholders.

For more information please visit www.portlandbg.org or email [email protected].

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