United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Success Story

Contacts: U.S. EPA Region 10 (206) 553-1200 or visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields

 Community led action to create the 

Emerson Street Garden

In Portland, Oregon, an EPA brownfields assessment grant helped turn 

an abandoned urban lot into a community garden.

H i ghl i gh t s

The permeable surfaces in the 

garden capture rainfall and 

stormwater, easing the strain on 

Portland’s water collection and 

treatment systems. 

The garden will provide multiple 

benefits to the immediate community 

– from growing food to teaching 

kids about the history of the 

neighborhood. 

The contaminated soil has been 

moved to a fenced area at the back of 

the property and a test using plants 

for phytoremediation to immobilize 

and remove contaminants. If 

unsuccessful, contaminated materials 

will be removed for disposal. 

Former resident, Joanne 

Green (left), and Groundwork 

Portland’s Cassie Cohen at the 

Emerson Street Garden site.

Credit: Jason King/TERRA.fluxus

EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization program and the National Park 

Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program have had 

a successful 12 year partnership with Groundwork USA. Groundwork USA is 

a network of independent non-profit organizations called Groundwork Trusts 

focused on stabilizing and revitalizing their communities through projects and 

programs that improve their environment, economy and quality of life.

Similar to the community led efforts of the Brownfields Program, the Urban 

Waters initiative is an effort to restore and protect urban water bodies and 

adjacent lands. U.S. EPA’s goal is to integrate and leverage existing programs 

to foster increased understanding and a sense of ownership of waters and 

surrounding land in communities across the country. This is especially important 

as urban waters impact large populations and can influence far-reaching landuse decisions. 

Community Gardens, Land Revitalization and Urban Waters

Community gardens are a valuable land revitalization approach and a vital part 

of the Urban Waters initiative. Proper soil management practices, including 
contamination cleanup, are important in mitigating 

stormwater runoff and its impact on urban water 

systems. Improving the soil quality with the addition 

to compost and organic matter, expanding permeable 

surfaces and plant life contained in community gardens 

captures rainfall and stormwater; thereby easing the 

strain on a community’s water collection and treatment 

systems. Community gardens also serve as handson educational tools, teaching residents about soils 

and their connection with water, water resource 

management practices and the value of having good 

water quality. Gardening projects, such as rain barrels 

to capture stormwater, provide lessons on and visual 

reminders of how water systems impact a community 

and its inhabitants.

Empty lots in dense, residential neighborhoods exist in 

every corner of Portland, Oregon and the lot at 822 NE 

Emerson Street, in this sense, is not unique. A singlefamily home stood at this lot until it fell into disrepair 

and was demolished in the 1980s, lying vacant for 

the next few decades. What is unique about this 

site is how a dedicated network – consisting of nonprofit organizations, community groups, government 

agencies, and countless others – is transforming 

the property from a contaminated, vacant lot into a 

community garden and living educational laboratory.

Project History

This process started when a local resident, eager to see 

the site put to use, performed some independent soil 

testing that confirmed the presence of lead. By that time, 

the lot had become the property of Multnomah County 

which looked to EPA for assistance. Through $19,000 

in Brownfields Assessment grants and support from 

the City of Portland Brownfields Program, the County 

was able to perform Phase I and Phase II assessments 

that expanded upon the initial results. Other than the 

lead contamination, the site was in relatively good 

shape. Multnomah County transferred ownership of the 

property to the Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land 

Trust (OSALT), which will maintain the site in perpetuity 

for sustainable local agriculture and education. OSALT 

provides a site manager for the property, but brought 

in Groundwork Portland to facilitate the community 

involvement and help leverage funds. 

Groundwork Portland is part of a larger network of 

other Groundwork trusts, within its parent organization, 

Groundwork USA. Groundwork USA partners with 

EPA’s Brownfields program and the National Park 

Service to restore neighborhoods and empower 

local communities for social and environmental 

improvements. Groundwork Portland is particularly 

interested in redeveloping contaminated properties. 

One of the most significant goals of this project is to 

develop a transferable process for cleaning up small 

residential lots that is inexpensive and helps create 

an amenity for the immediate community. The project 

will clean up the individual site while building local 

awareness about turning brownfields into public gardens 

through a community-driven process. 

The first step was to work with the community to decide 

on the most beneficial reuse of the site. Groundwork 

Portland organized and coordinated a working group to 

discuss: 

•	 How to make the site a community resource;

•	 The impacts of demographic changes on the

neighborhood; and 

•	 Environmental justice concerns.

The community developed a vision for a garden that 

would provide space for sustainable food production, 

educational resources for local students of all ages, and 

highlight the history of the immediate neighborhood. 

A local landscape planning company volunteered its 

services and developed a site plan for the garden based 

on input from community design forums. Ultimately, the 

working group developed a plan for how to sustain the 

project financially and maintain the site.

Engaging Community Stakeholders

This community involvement process and vision for the 

project is evolving, but that hasn’t stopped progress 

on the site cleanup. To date, dedicated volunteers, 

governments, and local businesses have managed to 

make significant progress towards the vision. 

Utilities were installed, according to the site plan. 

Oregon Tradeswomen, a group dedicated to helping 

women learn trades, built and donated a garden shed 

which was installed on the site. An educational kiosk on 

the site fitted with an eco-roof will teach the community 

about affordable healthy soil and water systems and 

Contacts: U.S. EPA Region 10 (206) 553-1200 or visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields
reduce or eliminate stormwater runoff from the site. Rain 

barrels will capture additional runoff from the garden 

shed and provide free, on-site irrigation for the garden. 

Finally the garden features pervious gravel pathways, 

native plants and trees, and natural site barriers 

including stones and living screens. 

Local youth will play a vital role in developing and 

using the garden. To honor past neighborhood leaders, 

young people will interview elders in the community and 

present those stories on the fence, kiosk, or in other 

areas throughout the site. This will help foster a sense 

of community ownership for the garden. The garden 

also will serve as an educational resource by integrating 

gardening activities with the science curricula of nearby 

schools and youth groups. 

Overcoming Contamination Hurdles

One of the most innovative ideas being implemented 

is how to clean up the lead contamination on the site. 

Properties like this one can be found in nearly 

every community. The challenges included how 

to make use of such a small site and how to 

manage the project as a community-led effort. 

To overcome these obstacles, the working group 

of between 12 and 20 people and numerous other 

volunteers have developed a vision, site plan, 

and made significant progress in the cleanup 

and development of the garden. Over the course 

of less than a year, the contaminated soil was 

isolated, the remaining soil was been amended, 

utilities were installed, and the shed was made 

ready to house gardeners’ tools for the next 

growing season. 

In the summer of 2010, volunteers moved the top six 

inches of contaminated soil to the back of the site, 

where it was secured behind a fence for additional 

testing and cleanup. Some residual lead contamination 

remained across the planned garden areas, so 

volunteers brought in new compost and soil to replace 

the topsoil and provide a safe and fertile medium for 

gardening.

The contaminated soil was moved to the back of the 

site and will be the subject of further study to see if 

phytoremediation and composting can provide a safe 

on-site solution for lead contamination. The effort will 

involve researchers and students at Portland State 

University, who will study the concentrations and 

distribution of lead in the stockpiled soil, then develop 

a research design to study uptake by select plants, and 

the risks associated with composting those plants. The 

initial concept is to use plants to draw lead from the 

contaminated soil, then compost the plants until the 

lead concentrations in the compost are no higher than 

50 parts per million. 

This approach has multiple benefits. First, consolidating 

the contaminated soil at the rear of the site allows 

the rest of the site to be put into productive use as a 

community garden. Second, the phytoremediation study 

will serve as both an educational tool for elementary 

and middle school youth from the nearby King School, 

and a cleanup mechanism. The outcomes of this study 

will expand the state of knowledge about the fate and 

transport of low levels of lead in a garden setting. 

Finally, depending on the results from this project, the 

Emerson Street Garden could provide a model for 

other brownfields that can be cleaned up around the 

community and around the country. 

Contacts: U.S. EPA Region 10 (206) 553-1200 or visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields
URBAN WATERS

Urban environments, particularly in underserved communities, are typically characterized by paved or covered 

“impervious” surfaces, working waterfronts with industrial facilities, abandoned industrial sites, and other 

underutilized or contaminated lands. These characteristics, in combination with aging and inadequate storm 

water management infrastructure, generate excess and untreated runoff that transports sewage and hazardous 

wastes into local water bodies. Urban patterns of historical development often make waterways inaccessible to 

adjacent neighborhoods. Lack of access to waterways limits the ability of communities to connect and participate 

in restoring waterways as healthy living ecosystems and reap the benefits of living close to the water in the city. 

Addressing these issues to ensure healthy and accessible urban waters can help grow local businesses and 

enhance educational, recreational and social opportunities in nearby communities. 

EPA is learning from community efforts already underway and supporting communities as active participants in 

the restoration and protection of urban waters. EPA works to increase access to waterways, which promotes a 

sense of public ownership of water resources and integrates environmental goals with other pressing priorities like 

economic development, education, job creation, and greenspace creation and preservation.

URBAN WATERS RESOURCES

www.epa.gov/urbanwaters 

Watershed Planning and Management

•	 Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure -

cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=298

•	 Directory of EPA Watershed Publications -

water.epa.gov/type/watersheds/publications.cfm

•	 Key EPA Water Internet Tools Course -

www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/epatools

•	 Watershed Central and Wiki - wiki.epa.gov/watershed2

Water Quality and Pollution Prevention

•	 EPA Enforcement and Compliance History Online -

www.epa-echo.gov/echo

•	 Nonpoint Source Pollution -

www.epa.gov/owow_keep/NPS/index.html

•	 Water Quality Assessment Tools and Models -

water.epa.gov/scitech/datait/models/index.cfm

Community Information

•	 Groundwork USA - www.groundworkusa.org

•	 National Park Service Rivers and Trails Program -

www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca

•	 Adopt Your Watershed -

www.epa.gov/owow_keep/adopt/index.html

•	 Community Culture and the Environment A Guide to

Understanding a Sense of Place - www.epa.gov/care/

library/community_culture.pdf

•	 EPA Smart Growth - www.epa.gov/smartgrowth

•	 Surf Your Watershed - cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm

Outreach Development

•	 Coastal Urban Waters Toolkit -

www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/debris

•	 Getting In Step: A Guide for Conducting Watershed

Outreach Campaigns - 

www.epa.gov/owow/nps/toolbox/guide.htm

•	 Non-Point Source Toolbox - www.epa.gov/nps/toolbox

Funding

•	 Brownfields Grants to Support Assessment/Cleanup

of Contaminated Property, Environmental Workforce 

Development and Job Training Grants, and Targeted

Brownfields Assessments - 

www.epa.gov/brownfields/grant_info/index.htm

•	 Catalog of Federal Funding Sources for Watershed

Protection - cfpub.epa.gov/fedfund

•	 Sustainable Finance Website -

www.epa.gov/owow/funding/trainings.html

•	 Watershed Funding Resource Directory -

water.epa.gov/aboutow/owow/funding.cfm

Case Studies

•	 Case Studies for Stormwater Management on

Compacted, Contaminated Soils in Dense Urban Areas -

www.epa.gov/brownfields/tools/swcs0408.pdf

•	 Urban Agriculture on Brownfields Website -

www.epa.gov/brownfields/urbanag

•	 Targeted Watershed Grant Case Studies -

water.epa.gov/grants_funding/twg/initiative_index.cfm

For more information on the Emerson Street Project, and on other brownfields related Groundwork projects, contact Groundwork 

Portland at 503-662-2590, or visit the Groundwork Portland web site at: www.groundworkportland.org/home.html. 

Brownfields Success Story

Groundwork Portland

Emerson Street Project

Solid Waste 

and Emergency 

Response (5105T)

EPA 560-F-11-026

April 2011

www.epa.gov/brownfields