There’s one important story you won’t find in the just-released debut issue of Our Big Backyard: the tale of how – and why – Metro transformed its quarterly magazine for nature lovers.  Read on to learn more about the role we hope this new magazine will play in our increasingly digital world.

With good reason, the Portland Harbor cleanup has been the subject of much attention lately, including here at Willamette Riverkeeper. But there are other opportunities that can also help unlock the tremendous potential of our river. Here are four conversations I’d like to see launched in 2014.

If we value our urban trees while they’re living, why do we then so casually discard the deadwood as firewood and mulch? The global greenspaces movement will strongly influence how trees are utilized in the future.  It's time to make urban lumber part of that conversation.

With new shorelines, mudflats and thousands of native plants, many unusual species of shorebird are flocking to Fernhill Wetlands these days. A visit to Fernhill this winter might be just what you need, too.

With December frost sparkling on autumn leaves, our thoughts turn to the future. What will the New Year bring? We asked our nonprofit partners to share their organization's top wish for 2014. Here's what 15 of you had to say.

Many of us know that our parks agencies don't have the money they'd like to enhance The Intertwine. So should they simply want less? Or can our coalition work harder to improve their access to funding programs like the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund?

No city in the contiguous U.S. can boast a resource like Portland's 5,200-acre Forest Park. But it will take a village to protect this carbon-sequestering, wildlife-conveying, soul-fueling urban wild space. Thus, last week, the Greater Forest Park Conservation Initiative was launched.