By Laura Masterson, a farmer, writer, and advocate from 47th Avenue Farm (a site for Community Supported Agriculture since 1996)
Hi Folks,
I don’t do this very often, but this is an extremely important issue for those of us who care about food and farming and I’m worried that it is flying below most folks radar. Today, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners is going to consider Urban and Rural Reserves for the region. I’m writing to encourage you to speak up and tell them and the folks at Metro that you care about local food and farms.
Quick links to email your thoughts: Commissioner Jeff Cogen, District 1, District 4 , District 3, Multnomah Chair, and Metro Council.
I was on the Citizen Advisory Committee for this process and I would encourage you to tell the Commissioners that you support the Citizen recommendations. This means…
- Keep the best of the best farmland south of Troutdale as Rural Reserve, do not make it Urban Reserve.
- Show more restraint east of Gresham. This is foundation farmland too.
- On the East side of Multnomah County, we don’t have a Sauvie Island but what we do have is just as valuable and we should protect what little is left.
This is a regional process and our Multnomah County Commissioners should also put pressure on Washington County to do smaller Urban Reserves there. Washington County is the breadbasket of the region and we should protect more of it as Rural Reserves. Strong Rural Reserves - this is legacy we want to leave to future generations!
I’ve always farmed on the urban edge and it is extremely challenging. Don’t let anyone tell you farming in the Urban Reserves is going to work. My most recent blog post is about just that.
This process is important - they’re talking about over 20,000 acres of Urban Reserve in the Metro area and most of that is Prime Farmland! More info at 1000 Friends and Metro.
I’d also encourage you to come to the meeting if you can: Tomorrow Thurs. Dec 10th at 10:30am. Multnomah Building, 501 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, Oregon
Please pass this along and thanks for your help,
Laura