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Land Acquisition
A history of Friends of Forest Park land acquisition
Since 1991, Friends of Forest Park has raised over $1 million dollars for the acquisition of properties important to the integrity of the Park. Consistent with our goals of protecting the Park's biodiversity and habitat quality, our current land acquisition priority is the Balch Creek watershed.
Goals
Our land acquisition goals are to protect Forest Park's biodiversity from fragmentation and to increase the quality and availability of recreation opportunities. Priorities in acquisition of land and conservation easements are guided by the following principles:
Biodiversity and Wildlife Corridors - Fragmentation poses a significant threat to the Park's biodiversity. The acquisition of private inholdings (parcels completely surrounded by the park) is a top priority, in order to maintain a high quality of interior forest habitat.
Pinch Points - Narrow areas of the Park also pose threats to wildlife habitat and to watershed quality. Land surrounding these areas is an acquisition priority.
Buffer Zones - The rapid development of privately owned land at the edges of the Park has heightened the urgency to secure properties and easements as they become available. Buffers protect the quality of Park habitat for native species and reduce the intrusion of non-native invasive plants and animals into the Park from disturbed areas.
Recreation – Acquisition of new properties can also provide opportunities to improve the trail system and to provide additional Park entrances. These are increasingly important features as our population expands.
Results
Metro's 1995 Open Spaces bond measure has also been instrumental in acquiring important properties. Major acquisitions include:
• The 73-acre Kielhorn purchase near the north of the Park, which allowed completion of the Wildwood Trail to Newberry Road.
•The 38-acre Old Growth purchase in the wildlife corridor a few miles north of the Park.
• The 23-acre Stenzel property inholding near Holman Lane.
• The “fix-the-hole” 73-acre Ramsey inholding in the Park’s northern interior, preserving some of the Park’s best wildlife habitat.
• Conservation easements on several hundred acres of land above the north end of the property, to help permanently protect the wildlife corridor.