Though Blue Lake Park is popular for its range of activities, it’s still peaceful. Picnicking is prime here, with many group sites available for reservation on a first-come, first-served basis. Family-friendly fun – ranging from archery to trout angling to softball – offers residents in the Portland metropolitan area inexpensive and safe access to the outdoors, where kids can be active and parents can be lazy (if they want), without having to drive very far. It’s just 20 minutes from downtown Portland. As the summer season gets underway, Blue Lake is adding more power to its park punch with several new additions.

Like any good hike, the journey to preserve the Portland metropolitan area's natural treasures warrants a stop along the way to reflect on where the region has come from and where it's going. That’s why Metro is engaging the community this summer with the "It's Our Nature" outreach initiative. You might catch a short film during movie previews, hear a message on the radio or chat with the natural areas team at your local farmers market. You can get out in the wild with Metro's naturalists, or ponder the meaning of place at an outdoor event series co-hosted by Oregon Humanities. And you'll find lots of new photography and videos on the natural areas web pages, where you can explore an interactive storytelling map.

Neighbors in Northeast Portland are taking on an invasive weed that may be relatively new to the Portland metropolitan area but has wreaked havoc in California, other parts of the United States and France. The Metro Council, on May 19, awarded more than $572,000 in Nature in Neighborhoods grants to seven community projects in Multnomah County. One of the projects received a capital grant funded by the natural areas bond measure approved by voters in 2006. The six other projects will get restoration and enhancement grants that come out of Metro's general fund.

Envision standing underneath a magnificent old oak and looking down into the Willamette River to see salmon and trout making their way into the mouth of Johnson Creek. Now imagine watching an invasive weed new to the Portland metropolitan area clog ponds at the Blue Heron Wetlands and make its way to nearby waterways including Smith and Bybee lakes. Efforts to protect, restore, promote and celebrate nature throughout the Portland metropolitan region received a nearly $1.6 million boost from Metro on Thursday. The Metro Council awarded 17 Nature in Neighborhood grants to a variety of worthwhile projects.

Start off the 2011 Sunday Parkways season by getting outside and having some fun! The first Sunday Parkways event of the year will be Sunday, May 22, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., in East Portland. Cars will be kicked to the curb and walkers, bicycle riders, joggers and skaters will take to the streets instead. The Parkways seven-mile route will wind through neighborhood streets closed to cars for the day, and along a section of the Springwater Trail connecting Lents, Bloomington, Gilbert Heights and Ed Benedict parks. 

Come celebrate the Gresham-Fairview Trail at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 19. The public celebration will be held on the trail’s new pedestrian bridge over West Powell Boulevard in Gresham. Metro has been involved for more than 15 years in making the trail a reality. It enhances both recreation and commuting, and links neighborhoods to schools, parks, natural areas and businesses. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Metro Councilor Shirley Craddick will join Gresham City Councilor Josh Fuhrer at the celebration to mark the completion of an important part of the trail, from the Springwater Corridor to Burnside Street. The multi-use path continues north to Halsey Street.

One minute you’re cruising past Happy Valley subdivisions, with basketball hoops in driveways and shrubs lining front yards. The next, you’re climbing a steep, narrow road with fir trees swaying overhead and birds chirping about your arrival. Metro purchased part of a beloved scouting camp overlooking Happy Valley today, and recently bought a smaller property next door. At nearly 100 acres, the new Scouter Mountain Natural Area will feature hiking trails, parking, restrooms and a picnic shelter.

Fisher has guided open space network efforts in the Twin Cities and St. Louis. He's been in the Portland region all week talking about strategies for linking trail and parks networks in both Oregon and southwest Washington. One key message - "The parks are not the system. The region is the system."

The first of three discussion groups will take place this Wednesday, April 27, to talk about potential improvements at the Glendoveer Golf Course and Fitness Trail. The discussion groups will further explore themes and issues heard in surveys conducted both onsite and online about the facility and deepen Metro’s understanding of community values surrounding the Glendoveer facilities. The discussion groups will take place at the City of Portland’s Water House, 1616 NE 140th Ave., Portland, on the following dates and times:

David Fisher, former director of parks districts in Minneapolis and St. Louis, will lead a discussion on creating regional greenways systems at Metro's quarterly trails forum April 27. In Minneapolis, Fisher led what urban planner and author Alexander Garvin later called, "the best-financed, best-designed, best-maintained public open space in America." April's forum also features displays and discussions about current and future trail projects, including updates on the Trolley Trail, from Milwaukie to Gladstone, and the Gresham-Fairview trail, from East Burnside to Springwater Corridor.