What the Maps Tell Us: Initial Findings

The Atlas mapping tool measures the distance to a publicly accessible park from every square block in a neighborhood (or city, county, or census tract). This measurement results in a proximity score for that geographic area. A score of “5” indicates that virtually every location in the neighborhood is within ¼ mile of a publicly accessible park. A score of “1” or below indicates that virtually every location in the neighborhood is more than a mile from a publicly accessible park.

The Proximity to Publicly Accessible Parks map indicates that park-rich neighborhoods are distributed throughout the region, particularly in urban areas. Twelve neighborhoods earned a proximity score of “5”, indicating that virtually every location in the neighborhood is within ¼ mile of a publicly accessible park. Half of those neighborhoods are located within Portland city limits:

• Airport Green (Vancouver)
• Bella Vista (Vancouver)
• Foothills (Lake Oswego)
• Goose Hollow/Southwest Hills (Portland)
• Hazelwood/Mill Park (Portland)
• Healy Heights/Southwest Hills (Portland)
• Hillside/Northwest District (Portland)
• Johnson City (Clackamas County)
• Lloyd District/Sullivan’s Gulch (Portland)
• Northcrest (Vancouver)
• Old Town (Lake Oswego)
• Vernon (Portland)

The Atlas mapping tool’s proximity scores enable us to easily compare neighborhoods (or cities, counties, or census tracts) to one another. However, it is important to note that when we analyze equitable access to parks, what we really care about is whether people – including specific populations such as youth, populations of color, or low-income populations – live in proximity to a park. The Proximity to Publicly Accessible Parks in Relationship to Areas with Above Regional Average Percent Youth (Ages 0-17) map highlights young people’s access to parks because children and youth are key users of park facilities. This map reveals that among the twelve neighborhoods listed above, only three - Hazelwood/Mill Park in Portland, and Airport Green and Northcrest in Vancouver – are located in census tracts with youth populations above the regional average of 23.68%. Many of Portland’s park-heavy neighborhoods lie in more densely urbanized areas, whereas the census tracts with youth populations above the regional average exist mainly in suburban areas on the periphery of the region. The areas with the greatest overlap between high youth populations and high proximity to parks are located in more developed suburbs and close-in cities like Gresham, Vancouver and West Linn.

Fourteen neighborhoods earned less than a 1.25 on the proximity to publicly accessible parks index. Many of these neighborhoods are in large industrial areas or rural areas with low-density residential populations:

• Aurora–Butteville–Barlow (Clackamas County)
• Barlow (Clackamas County)
• Boring (Clackamas County)
• Caufield (Oregon City)
• Damascus (Clackamas County)
• East Fork Frontier (Clark County)
• Enterprise/Paradise Point (Clark County)
• Fern Prairie (Clark County)
• Hayden Island (Portland)
• Hockinson (Clark County)
• Meadow Glade (Clark County)
• Northwest Industrial (Portland)
• Proebstel (Clark County)
• Ridgefield Junction (Clark County)

Many of these neighborhoods overlap with census tracts that have above the regional average percentages of youth. This includes portions of Damascus, Caufield, Aurora-Buttevile-Barlow in Clackamas County; portions of Ridgefield Junction in Clark County; and all of Fern Prairie, Proebstel, Meadow Glade, East Fork Frontier and Hockinson in Clark County.

The clear mismatch between the locations of park-rich neighborhoods and the areas of the region with the highest percentages of youth raises important questions that can help to inform future planning. Additional research will be needed to further understand the demographics, population densities, and availability of other forms of outdoor recreation in each of these neighborhoods to help prioritize where additional parks are most needed.

The Proximity to Publicly Accessible Natural Areas map highlights the high levels of access to natural areas in rural parts of the region located outside of defined neighborhood geographies, particularly in eastern Multnomah and Clackamas counties and western Washington County. While it is not surprising that unincorporated parts of the region close to protected forest lands and natural attractions such as Mount Hood show up on this map, ten more urbanized neighborhoods also earned a high score of ‘5” on this indicator:

• Ardenwald–Johnson Creek/Woodstock (Portland)
• Ashcreek/Crestwood (Washington County)
• BHT (West Linn)
• Childs (Lake Oswego)
• Forest Park/Northwest District (Portland)
• Healy Heights/Southwest Hills (Portland)
• Hidden Springs (Clackamas County)
• John’s Woods (Lake Oswego)
• Skyline Ridge (West Linn)
• Uplands (Lake Oswego)

Fifty neighborhoods in the region earned a score of “1” or below on the proximity to publicly accessible natural areas index, indicating that natural areas are further than a mile from any location in the neighborhood. Many of Portland’s closer-in neighborhoods were among the neighborhoods in the region with the lowest scores on this measure. As with the publicly accessible parks map, many neighborhoods with primarily industrial uses and neighborhoods with large swaths of publicly inaccessible land (like Hayden Island) also scored low. The lowest-scoring neighborhoods in the region were:

• Eliot (Portland)
• Fern Prairie (Clark County)
• Hayden Island (Portland)
• North Fork Lewis River (Clark County)
• Old Town/Chinatown (Portland)
• Riverview (Vancouver)

As could be expected, many of the neighborhoods that have high scores on the Proximity to Publicly Accessible Parks and Natural Areas Composite map are the same neighborhoods that scored well on the individual parks and natural areas maps. Interestingly, nine out of the top twelve high scoring neighborhoods in this composite index are located in a cluster of cities along the Willamette in Clackamas County – Lake Oswego, West Linn and Oregon City: