Ross Island in Public Ownership

On Wednesday, October 31st it became official! The City of Portland and Dr. Robert Pamplin signed an agreement transferring 45-acres of wildlife habitat on Ross Island to the City. Dr. Pamplin also handed the Mayor a check for $100,000 to be used for invasive species removal.

The moment has been more than a century in the making. The Olmsted Brothers proposed making Ross Island part of the Portland Park System, all the way back in 1903. Portland Audubon has worked steadily for nearly three decades to bring this vision to reality. Although it has been a long and winding road to get to this point, we are tremendously pleased and excited about this donation.

It provides the City with the most ecologically significant portion of the island as well as a site which is free of any sort of contamination or long-term liability concerns. It gives the City a significant foothold on the island which will allow us to move immediately to the substantive work of protecting and restoring fish and wildlife habitat and developing a recreation strategy.

Both Dr. Pamplin and the Port of Portland (which owns the North Tip of Ross Island) have reiterated their commitment this morning to working collaboratively to improve the ecological health of the portions of the island over which they will continue to retain ownership.

We offer our sincere appreciation to Dr. Pamplin who noted this morning that the process was not always easy, but that achieving great things never is. Over the past several months, Dr. Pamplin has spent many hours of his own time to work directly with the City and conservation organizations to work out the details of this gift. We also commend Mayor Potter, Mayor Katz and many City staffers (particularly Chris Dearth, Veronica Valenzuela, Sara Culpe and Austin Raglione) for their commitment to bringing Ross island into public ownership.

Most of all, thanks to all of you,  Audubon Society of Portland Members for your strong support of this effort. The interest and enthusiasm of the community played a huge roll in keeping this vision alive over so many years and finally making it a reality.

Official City Council Resolution regarding Ross Island