Opening this weekend, Graham Oaks Nature Park is returning to its roots – literally. This 250-acre site was once a rich habitat where birds flocked, mammals prowled and camas lily bloomed. But until recently, the land had been cleared of its native habitat and replaced with hundreds of acres of agricultural crops. View a video on Metro's website about restoration projects at Graham Oaks.

Graham Oaks Nature Park and a new section of the regional Tonquin Trail will open Sept. 18 in Wilsonville, marking milestone for Metro’s voter-approved Natural Areas Program. Two voter-approved natural areas bond measures allowed Metro to purchase and restore the 250-acre Graham Oaks and develop it as one of the region’s most sustainable parks. It is the third major park opened by the Metro Natural Areas Program – and one of the region’s largest new parks in several decades. Graham Oaks showcases several trails, including an early section of the regional Tonquin Trail, and eventually will link Wilsonville with Sherwood and Tualatin – connecting natural areas, neighborhoods, schools, jobs, shopping centers and transit stops along the way.

Tigard wants to buy a 43-acre piece of land in the heart of the city known as Summer Creek to preserve it as the city's second largest park and a natural area for everyone to enjoy. That effort just received a $1 million boost from Metro's Nature in Neighborhoods capital grants program.

Metro's Natural Areas program started 2010 with big news - literally - by purchasing 1,143 acres of forestland in the Chehalem Mountains of the Tualatin Valley. It's the largest acquisition in the history of the Portland region's two voter-approved natural area bond measures.

The new Chehalem Ridge Natural Area, south of Forest Grove, is one of the metropolitan area's biggest remaining swaths of undeveloped forest. At about the size of Oxbow Regional Park, the property is positioned to protect water quality and wildlife habitat in the Tualatin River Basin and serve as a scenic and recreational resource for the region.

Since 2006, Metro’s voter-approved Natural Areas Program has funded land acquisitions and capital improvements that protect water quality, preserve fish and wildlife habitat, enhance trails and wildlife corridors and provide greater connections to nature throughout the Portland metropolitan area. With the addition in June of three new properties, the total acreage of protected natural areas has reached the 1,000 acre mark, moving the program closer to the goal of protecting up to 4,000 acres in urban areas and areas where development is likely to occur. With nearly nine miles of stream and river frontage included in the new total, habitat quality for fish and wildlife can be preserved and improved. More

The Metro Council has budgeted $10.6 million to complete design, engineering and construction of an environmentally-focused nature and golf learning center at Blue Lake Regional Park in Fairview, Oregon. The master plan includes a nine-hole family golf course, a six-hole pitch and putt course, a pre-engineered golf and operations building, and a covered driving range. Plans also include replacement of the aging Lake House Events Center, restoration of an existing wetland and other improvements to Blue Lake Park.