Every project must be accessible to the public, and a Metro grant can foot the bill for a maximum of one-third of the total cost. Recipients typically buy land, restore it, improve neighborhood livability or fuel an urban transformation – and this year’s six projects represent all those categories. Recipients will expand Lily K. Johnson Park in Beaverton and the Baltimore Woods corridor in North Portland, develop Cully Park in Northeast Portland and Nadaka Nature Park in Gresham, replace a stone bridge at Tryon Creek State Park and restore a creek in central Beaverton.

And sleepy Toad said to Frog, "Come back again and wake me up at about half past May." Don't be like Toad; embrace April's last showers and May's new flowers. Follow the links below for more information about free and low-cost events around the metro area.

Metro posted 10 grey-and-green demonstration signs along Fanno Creek Trail recently — the beta version of signage the regional government plans to post along The Intertwine network of trails, parks and natural areas.

Humboldt Bay Energy, a corporation registered in Nevada but operating out of Eureka, Calif., has come forward as interested in buying the site, and the bankruptcy court trustee charged with selling Blue Heron's assets said the company is furthest along in the process of buying the property.

The sun came out Thursday – and so did a bald eagle – for a celebration of Hillsboro’s newest natural area: Orenco Woods. Metro teamed up with the City of Hillsboro to protect the 42-acre site, which will be transformed into a nature park.

On Dec. 8, 2011, Metro Council approved funding to construct an 18-hole disc golf course at Metro’s Blue Lake Regional Park. The course design will be the first gold-level disc golf course in the Portland metropolitan area.

Someday, the Tonquin Trail will wind its way through urban and rural landscapes in the southwestern part of the Portland metropolitan area, providing new ways for people to travel to work, shopping, schools, nature and more.

Metro Council votes to spend $2 million to acquire Orenco Woods, a former golf course, as part of natural areas bond program. Hillsboro will contribute another $2 million.

How important are projects that improve bicycling, walking and public transportation in your community? Metro wants your opinion.

Restoration work will transform a former gas station lot into green space at Beaverton's Eichler Park.

The transformation comes through the successful partnership between Metro, the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, Business Oregon and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The brownfield cleanup will add two-thirds of an acre to the park.