Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine Now Available

Peregrine Falcon - Lei Kotynski

Audubon is happy to announce that Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine is now available at the Audubon Society Bookstore and will soon be available everywhere. This guide to the natural areas and natural history of the Portland-Vancouver Metro Region is a complete rewrite of the original Wild in the City published over a decade ago. Over 100 authors and artists contributed to the effort. The core creative team was made-up of longtime Auduboners Mike Houck, MJ Cody, Bob Wilson, Martha Gannett, Rafa Gutierrez and Bob Sallinger.

Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine

Otter - Elayne Barclay

By Bob Sallinger

Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine is now available!  This completely new volume replaces the original Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland's Natural Areas published more than a decade ago. Like its predecessor it will quickly become an indispensible guide to the region's natural areas and natural history. 

Wild in the City: Exploring Intertwine features over 90 site guides, natural history essays and nature rambles by foot, bike and boat. More than 100 writers and artists donated their time and expertise to this effort ranging from local naturalists to nationally renowned authors such as Richard Louv, Ursula Le Guin and Robert Michael Pyle.

Wild in the City is more than a book---it embodies the spirit of our regional conservation movement. The new volume was made necessary by the rapid expansion of the our regional system of natural areas. Places like Cooper Mountain and Graham Oaks were not open to the public when the original was published. Regional conservation priorities such as green stormwater strategies (ecoroofs, green streets, urban canopy etc.)  and equitable access to nature have evolved tremendously over the past decade and get much more robust treatment in the new edition. The connection between access to nature and human health has become much better understood and the new volume has a heavy emphasis on rambles---enjoying our regions nature  by foot, boat and bike. The subtitle, Exploring the Intertwine, reflects the new name that has been bestowed upon  the interconnected system of parks, trails and natural areas that span the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Region and more importantly the growing recognition that our natural areas, trails, ecoroofs, tree canopy, etc. are all part of an integrated system that supports the health, biodiversity and livability of our region--that nature is truly intertwined with our built landscape.

Most of all this is a product of our community. It is written by the people closest to the land--the people who have worked to protect and restore and introduce the community to the amazing nature of our landscape. Special thanks goes to all of the volunteer writers and artists who donated their time. Thanks also to OSU press and to our funders, US Fish and Wildlife, Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services and Parks, East and West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Vancouver-Clark Parks, National Park Service, Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District, Clean Water Services, Regional Arts and Culture Council, and TriMet. Finally thanks to the core production team of MJ Cody, Mike Houck, Martha Gannett, Bob Wilson, Rafa Guiterrez and Bob Sallinger who spent huge numbers of hour huddled around a table searching for errant commas and arguing about whether bird names should be capitalized.

Meet the editors and authors at Audubon's Wild Arts Festival.