The Oregon Zoo is developing a new 20-year master plan and is inviting the public to an early preview. Members of the public are encouraged to drop in at one of two open houses and view conceptual drawings and initial designs, chat with designers and animal experts and provide feedback. The open houses, which are scheduled for Thursday, March 31, from 5 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, April 2, from 9 a.m. to noon, will also include a brief presentation and video (5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on March 31 and 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. on April 2). Both events will take place in the Cascade Grill, lower floor, and they do not require zoo admission.

Today Metro and three community partners launch Opt In, an online research panel that will gather public opinion among residents of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. Opt In is a new way to let decision-makers know what is important to you. The goal of the new panel is to create an easy, cost-effective way for you to provide input into decisions affecting you and your communities.

Metro COO Michael Jordan calls for more effective investments in public structures to maintain quality of life.

Responding to what he labeled an “imperative to act,” Metro Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan today released recommendations that are designed to foster partnerships to invest in sustainable, prosperous and equitable communities. Jordan’s strategy lays out both broad and specific actions that, if followed, will build the public structures needed to make the most of existing communities, provide for good jobs now and in the future and protect important natural areas and recreation opportunities. The recommendations call for cities, counties, Metro and businesses throughout the region to tackle looming financing gaps and inefficiencies that slow progress and increase costs. They also call for new state rules that would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local investments. Along with efficiency measures, the report also responds to Metro’s legal obligation to analyze the region’s employment and population growth capacity within the existing urban growth boundary. The recommendations lay out multiple options for regional policy makers to consider, ranging from no expansion to a very limited expansion primarily for large site industrial development.

Where do you look online for green-living tips and trends? What types of sustainability information do you seek on the web? How do you share ideas with others? Metro has launched a web survey to learn this and more from folks across the region as the agency updates its online resources.Go to the survey

From recycling waste and protecting habitat to driving less and building green, Metro wants to make it even easier for people to find information, exchange ideas and take action toward sustainable living at home, in the office or on the go. Survey results will help guide development of web content and tools to further promote regional sustainability.

Take the five-minute survey, available through Sunday, April 11, at www.surveymonkey.com/s/oregonmetro.

Metro will be holding open houses and hearings beginning next week to give residents a voice in shaping the future of the Portland metropolitan region, specifically where urban growth will and will not occur during the next 40 to 50 years. Events will take place throughout the region, and will occur on both week days and weekends. Residents will also be able to comment online beginning Jan. 11. New detailed maps, descriptions of proposed reserves and online surveys will also be available on Metro's website beginning Jan. 11.

During the next three decades, about 1 million more people will call the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region home, with 700,000 of them living within the urban growth boundary. To plan for this growth, Metro and its partners have focused on an effort called Making the Greatest Place. Its focus is to help us continue making good choices so we maintain our quality of life and plan how our region grows. Learn more

In the next few months, the Metro Council and other local governments will make decisions about how much farm and forest land to protect, where we should grow during the next 50 years and the best way to invest our limited money on creating jobs and making the most of our existing bridges, roads, trails and public transit.

Yesterday, Metro's chief operating officer Michael Jordan released a set of proposed strategies to inform those decisions and to inspire a regional dialogue about our future.