Since the phenomenon of enclosure, wherein land became increasingly private and held by single property owners, there is very little land left to the public and even less that is stewarded in a way that includes public participation in decision-making processes.
However, at least in the United States, it is also a very costly and difficult legal process to put land into a community land trust or otherwise hold land in cooperative ownership (though not impossible—OSALT is a great example, for instance).
Another middle-ground option is to work with your local transportation authority to adopt landscapes in need of collective regeneration. While this does limit what your restoration group can do on the land, it is a free method to engage directly in the landscape.
Case Study: Stephens Creek
After spending time at Lost Valley Education Center and Meadowsong Ecovillage, I fell in love with the idea of a community living more directly with the land, stewarding the environment with collective decision-making. While I ached to move into their community, I felt strongly that I needed take what I learned back to my little urban co-housing environment.
When I felt heartsick to be so disconnected from the land, I took a walk, aiming to view my neighborhood as a piece of land approximately the size of Lost Valley (87 acres). With that view, I walked through an area underneath an overpass to I-5, realizing that a year-round creek flowed through the area.
It took me some time to figure out who “owned” the land. I used the tool Portland Maps to determine ownership (I’m sure other urban areas have similar GIS databases that are available to the public) and discovered that the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) held the land. This is almost always going to be the case for landscapes underneath critical highway infrastructure. Often, land that is very steep or difficult to access is also held by the local transportation authority (at the city or state level).
While there is certainly freeway and stormwater runoff carrying microplastics and other forever chemicals directly to the riparian area and the creek, the area is also an active beaver habitat, home to four local salmonid species, and has native edible plants such as salmonberry and osoberry, giving it enormous conservation value.
So, with the support of local neighbors and organizers at Regenerate Northern Willamette Valley, we applied for the ODOT permit to adopt the landscape.
For more information about the Stephens Creek project, see this website.
What’s Allowed on Transportation Authority Land?
While the requirements are going to vary from location to location, there are some things they will likely have in common.
When working with ODOT, we needed to file for a permit and commit to the following:
- Noxious weed removal at least twice per year
- Trash pickup at least four times per year
- Not planting trees within 75 feet of ODOT structures
- Submitting a planting plan for any new plants we wanted to introduce to the area (native plants only, off on approved City list)
- Submitting a design plan for any stormwater gardens or other infrastructure would we like to add to the space
- No burning (not even for biochar)
- Piling up garbage in a location where ODOT could easily come pick it up
Normally, ODOT does not allow trees to be planted on transportation authority land (for risk of introducing visibility issue from the road), but because our landscape is underneath an overpass, there is no risk of causing visibility issues.
Fortunately, we were able to work with Westside Watersheds, who were able to review our permit plans, provide recommendations, and allow us borrow tools for our work parties.
What Does This Mean in Practice?
Since adopting the area, we have had more than 40 people participate in land-tending gatherings in the last few months. Our restoration group did presentations at the neighborhood association about the project, sent flyers around to all the households that abutted the area, and posted on NextDoor about the gathering to encourage volunteers. We also invited local mutual aid groups because we wanted to be sensitive to houseless individuals living off the land there. Additionally, we invited local bioregional organizers.
By beginning with a land-based grounding meditation, offering a sitting circle, teaching participants about native as well as hyperabundant (invasive) plants, and gathering our local community together around a landscape, we are able to provide an easy way for people to reconnect with shared land practices and begin to get a feel for bioregionalism in their own watershed. Over time, we hope to form a council of people who can collectively make decisions about what work takes place in the landscape.
Takeaways and Calls to Action
Land already exists in the commons—it’s just difficult to see it as such sometimes. While we work to actively reestablish collective care of the landscapes free of government authorities, we can still collaborate with the systems in place to start honoring the landscape.
If you take nothing else away from this article, feel empowered to look differently at the urban spaces you exist around and ask questions. Who currently “owns” this? What are the steps needed to get my community involved? How can I respect the landscape and the people currently living on the land there?
If you have specific questions about how to go through the permitting process for your local transportation authority or just need someone to review your plans, please reach out to learningjourney@regeneratecascadia.org.