Talk:Forest Park (Portland)

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i set acreage to 5000 (from 5400) as this is what the 'friends of forest park' website says, and it is close to the official parks and rec site number (which is given later in the sentence). i am not sure where 5400 came from, but if some source can be given, please change it back and reference it. Jon Lon Sito 09:19, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

5,400 came from one of the references, but I don't see it linked anywhere now. Googling turns up these:
The most authoritative would seem to be the park department's fact page which says at the bottom:
... 4,200 acres were formally dedicated as Forest Park on September 23, 1948. Additional acres have been added over the years; Forest Park now includes over 5,000 wooded acres making it the largest forested natural area within city limits in the United States. [1] (emphasis added)
As these references could be repeating an unofficial number, I'm content to leave it at 5,000. EncMstr 16:08, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Portland Tribune story counters 'largest' claim?

The semi-weekly Portland paper, the Portland Tribune recently ran a story entitled 'Forest Park Fallacy'[2] in which they counter the common claim that Forest Park is the "largest forested natural area within city limits in the United States." Ehurtley 23:25, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Reply to Scott Mainwaring, on my User page (and this message erroneously posted there instead of here): The first reason I took it out was because the sentence was not appropriate to an encyclopedia entry. Looking back at the page again, I now see that the page cites it as the largest "urban forest," and at first I did not think it did. What is not in dispute is that Forest Park is NOT the largest forested park in the country (as the Tribune story notes). So the information in my deleted sentence was fine (and I'm now inclined to alter the top sentence) but the style was off. I'll give you a chance to reply before making that re-edit, just in case there's further disagreement (or confusion). Thanks for following up. --WWB 04:41, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Third Largest?

regarding the 3rd largest of all urban parks claim - I don't want to change it with some discussion, but Newport News Park in Newport News VA is 8065 acres wiki article which should make it the 3rd largest and Forest Park the 4th. Am I missing something?

Ygbsm 14:38, 7 July 2007 (UTC)


Also, Fairmont Park in Philadelphia is 9,200 acres, close to twice the size of Forest Park.

[edit] Portland's tallest tree

Perhaps it should be added in the article, that Forest Park contains the tallest tree in Portland, and any major city in the United States. http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfm?c=40906 A Douglas fir, 242 feet tall, and 5 1/2 feet thick at the base. --71.222.59.133 22:20, 30 September 2007 (UTC)