The day after voters approved the green-spaces funds, Blair's phone didn't stop ringing. From across the country, his peers in land-conservation circles begged to know Portland's secret. With funding secure, the Trust for Public Land--a private, nonprofit organization that acts as a go-between on land-acquisition deals--could proceed with plans to purchase private lands from willing buyers, then convey them to the public domain as green spaces.

"It's exciting that Portland can be a role model for the nation," Blair says. "We have a community of people here who share a vision, who have a depth of understanding about issues like parks, land use and transportation. People are thinking regionally. And they share a real passion for the outdoors."

On a warm July morning, a crew of eight young workers in dusty blue-jeans takes a well-earned breather next to the giant dumpster they have nearly filled with debris. For 25 years, this parcel of land within shouting distance of Portland Airport has been swallowing up rubber tires, broken glass, scrap metal, kitchen sinks and anything else that trash haulers were given permission to dump by the previous landowner. As a fitting symbol, a broken toilet bowl stands at the front of the rubble pile.

Now that Metro has the funds to rehabilitate this site as a green space, workers from EnviroCorps (the national service organization launched by President Clinton) are doing the dirty work of reclaiming the pocket known as Whitaker Ponds. Some local residents are old enough to remember when the two spring-fed pools on this 21-acre site were deep, clean fishing holes instead of dark, dank ponds.

But the optimistic EnviroCorps workers envision the not-so-distant day when the water once again runs clean enough to support native fish and waterfowl. Already, they have started replanting the banks with native vegetation. When completed, Whitaker Ponds will bring nature trails, picnic grounds, wildlife habitat and new recreational opportunities to a part of the city that houses some of its poorest neighborhoods.

"This is reality, right in your face," says Josh Feigin, a 24-year-old college graduate with a science degree who has traveled from Anchorage, Alaska, to become part of the EnviroCorps team in Portland. "We have a massive cleanup effort to do, but we're already seeing results." By July, the group had hauled out some 1,400 tires, 14 dump trucks filled with scrap wood and mountains of other debris. "We're denting it," Feigin says. Teenagers from nearby neighborhoods have been hired to help with the summer cleanup effort, and in the process gain some first-hand lessons in ecology.

Another member of the EnviroCorps crew, 27-year-old Brian Elliott of Wisconsin, points out a pair of great blue herons watching the crew from across the pond. "Even in a site with this much damage, wildlife is around," he says. "There are good ecological values in restoring it." By designing Whitaker Ponds to include both recreational areas and wildlife preserves, Elliott adds, "We'll have a healthy balance for people and animals."

And so it goes on the front lines of Portland's green-spaces movement, where both great blue herons and inner-city youth are being given a place to stretch their wings. Even in polluted pockets of the urban landscape, Oregonians can find reason to get excited about the outdoors. By salvaging one little piece of land at a time, they are building more breathing room into their neighborhoods, and feeding their dream of a livable city.

Indeed, as Portland braces for growth, its citizens can rest assured that their community of the future will remain wild at heart.

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Article reprinted by permission of America West Airlines Magazine and Suzie Boss.