Portland is a city of parks and natural resources. But perhaps its most amazing blessing is Oaks Bottom, nearly 200 acres of wetland wildlife habitat on the east bank of the Willamette River, just a couple miles south of downtown Portlands. Mike Houck, urban naturalist with the Urban Greenspaces Institute, was one of several people instrumental in saving Oaks Bottom in the 1970s from a wide range of development schemes, including draining the wetland, filling it and turning it into a race track. Mark Wilson, an ecologist with Portland Parks and Recreation, and Anne Nelson with Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services, continue the work that Mike began, now with city-institutionalized support.

Mike, Mark and Ann joins Locus Focus host Barbara Bernstein to discuss the successes and continuing challenges of protecting Oaks Bottom as a unique urban wildlife refuge.

Click on the link above to listen.