Mike Houck

Portland

Mike Houck, Director, Urban Greenspaces Institute Education: BS in Zoology from Iowa State University (1969); Master of Science in Teaching, Biology, with an emphasis in plant ecology and plant physiology, from Portland State University (1972). Loeb Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2003. Employment: Audubon Society of Portland’s Urban Naturalist 1982-2019. A founding member of the Coalition For A Livable Future (CLF) in 1994. The Coalition was a 60-member non-profit coalition working for a socially just and ecologically sustainable Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. Work History: Mike founded and has been Director of the Urban Greenspaces Institute since 1999. UGI’s mission is to ensure that parks, regional trail systems, greenways and greenspaces are integrated with the built environment in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region; and to work to promote urban greenspace efforts nationally and internationally. Its motto is In Livable Cities is Preservation of the Wild.” The motto reflects UGI’s philosophy that it is only through creating cities that are livable and loveable that it will be possible to protect ecologically significant landscapes outside urban areas. To be livable and loveable cities must provide access to nature where people live, work and play. Mike has served on regional and local agency committees to provide policy and technical input into land use, park and nature-based recreational programs. He served on the city of Portland’s Parks Board and spent 11 years on the city’s Planning and Sustainability Commission. Mike co-edited Wild in the City, a Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas, a guide to the natural history of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region (Oregon Historical Society Press, 2000); Wild in the City, Exploring The Intertwine (Oregon State University Press, 20110; The Routledge Handbook of Urban Ecology, Routledge Press, 2011. Honors Chevron Corporation national conservation award for the Metropolitan Wildlife Refuge System project, May 199O. Oregon chapter, American Society of Landscape Architects “Conservation of The Urban Landscape” award, September 199O. American Planning Association, Oregon Chapter 1991 award for contributions to Oregon’s land use planning program in the urban environment. George Russill Community Service Award, through the Oregon Community Foundation, 1991. National Wetlands Conservation Award, Environmental Law Institute, Washington, D. C., 1994. Designated as a “Giraffe” by The Giraffe Project, awarded to “Giraffes” who stick their necks out in community-oriented work, July 18, 1995. Selected as a Loeb Fellow at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, 2003. Frances K. Hutchinson Medal, Garden Club of America 2010.