A dump truck backed into an empty lot at the corner of Montgomery Street and 12th Avenue on a recent Tuesday morning. Cleo Needham—the garden coordinator with the Student Sustainability Center (SSC)—was there to greet it, her bike sitting off to the side. Needham directed the plaid-wearing, mustached man in the driver’s seat. SSC is preparing for a planting event on this lot, which is a significant change considering its eight years of sitting empty.
This lot is now being called The Green. The near quarter-acre of land sits on 12th Avenue across from Stephen Epler Residence Hall, south of Parking Structure 3 and below the constantly whirring traffic on the exit ramp from Interstate 405 to United States Route 26.
The well-cared for community orchard—leased from the Oregon Department of Transportation and managed by SSC—abuts the south of the lot. It starkly contrasts the empty lot in question.
This lot hasn’t always sat empty. In the early 2000s, a student named Maude Haney was sitting at the now-demolished Metro—a coffee shop at the base of what was King Albert Residence Hall—when she overheard a couple of resident assistants complaining about being in over their heads with to-do’s at their garden plots.
It turned out this garden was a block away and was managed by students housed at one of the College Housing Northwest buildings. She soon had a garden bed and eventually took on the garden coordinator position.
“When I got a hold of the garden, it had gone through a bit of neglect,” Haney said. “But there was always something going on there.” Haney saw her role as a transitional one—to help manage events and train the incoming coordinator.
Students who used their plots supplemented their groceries with fruits and vegetables grown in the garden. However, it wasn’t just a garden. It was an opportunity to build community. “We would do barbeques for all the residents,” Haney said. “We even had movies in the garden.”
Management of the lot changed in 2005. From then on, it was managed by Portland State’s Residence Housing Association (RHA) for students housed on campus only. In 2015, the garden lost its coordinator, and for three years it sat unused.
In 2018, RHA returned the lot to PSU for general use. That’s around when SSC submitted a proposal for the lot’s management. Nearly a year later, PSU approved SSC’s proposal and management of the lot was handed over to them.
Around that time, a survey was conducted to understand what students and faculty wanted from the lot, and SSC based their goals on the responses. Those goals were to “build upon existing successful Orchard programming to create a safe and accessible space for the PSU community,” “provide new opportunities for garden education and service events,” and “increase campus habitat and outdoor space.”
However, SSC was working with a tight budget. Until then, the garden was funded through a student housing fee. SSC received $50,000 when it took hold of the lot.
“We spent the majority of those funds on sloping it, getting water access and making it so that it was more ADA accessible,” said Serena Dressel, the SSC coordinator. “Currently we have about $15,000 left.” Because of the limited funds, their priorities have shifted.
“Our community engagement is less focused on the design of the space and what we should have in the space and more focused on how we can plan for it to be a campus and community resource,” Dressel said. Among these plans are open-to-all garden beds and an outdoor classroom.
Megan Horst—associate professor and director for the master of urban and regional planning program—focuses her research on urban agriculture, among other things. She grew familiar with the lot over the past several years, passing it on her commute to and from campus.
“There’s a lot of evidence that points to the mental health and community benefits of green infrastructure,” Horst said. She also believes the project will help activate the area on the western edge of campus which has been neglected for many years.
“Projects like this without a lot of programming or activation can fall into neglect and can work against the intended vision of those carrying out the projects,” Horst said. “They need to be resourced.”
Although SSC is working with a tight budget, its programming for the upcoming year is ambitious and will focus on ensuring the project’s sustainability.
“We’re planning on focusing on community engagement for the rest of the year, maybe having a big event in the spring that’s really interactive,” Dressel said. “We are hoping to purchase a storage container that can be part of our storage needs as well as those for an outdoor classroom. During that event, we’d like to paint a mural on the container, and we’d like to get more feedback from different groups.”
SSC’s goal to ensure a sustainable approach for the garden doesn’t end there. “We have a new community engagement coordinator and leadership fellow,” Dressel said. “And so they’ll take the lead and I’ll make decisions with them collaboratively on what this year should look like… We really want it to be an inclusive space that feels culturally affirming and welcoming and a space that’s designed for multiple groups at PSU.”