Paul Agrimis, RLA, PE has joined the GreenWorks team as a Principal and we’re thrilled to have him. Paul brings over 20 years of leadership experience on public infrastructure and natural resources restoration projects with extensive public involvement and stakeholder engagement skills. Paul’s work has a strong thread of context sensitive design and planning on multiple levels. He has led numerous distinctive natural area parks and restoration projects across the Pacific Northwest for Vigil-Agrimis, Environmental Science Associates, and Agrimis Planning + Design. His work also includes park system master planning, park master planning, trails, and bioengineering.

With our team collaborating from home during these days, we thought an interview might help us get to know him a bit better.

GW: Describe your journey before coming to GreenWorks. What led you to where you are now? Did you have any adventures along the way?

PA: Journey is a good word to describe how I came here. I grew up in Connecticut along the Mill River and loved exploring all the nearby property owned by the New Haven Water Company. I loved the river and its nearby tributaries and floodplains, and one of my favorite places while growing up was Sleeping Giant State Park. Having a connection to the outdoors and the fieldwork I did in that area were major themes of my early adult life. I was vice president of my High School Outing Club (hiking, climbing, ski touring, canoeing and kayaking), I majored in Civil Engineering at UConn, and worked as a state park ranger one summer while in college. Those themes continued in my first job, where I was the field representative for a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based geotechnical engineering firm on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red Line Extension from Harvard Square to Alewife Station: Davis Square Station near Tufts University. My responsibilities were to monitor how adjacent buildings responded as the contractor excavated a deep excavation immediately adjacent to a small commercial district. Growing into the role included learning how to communicate and work effectively with the contractor’s superintendent which had the side benefit of developing an appreciation for good cannoli at the local bakery.

I took a winter off to teach Nordic skiing at Temple Mountain, New Hampshire and met my first serious girlfriend. We decided we would go to Alaska the next summer, and we drove the Alaska-Canadian Highway Highway and got jobs in Anchorage. My job was with the US Geological Survey-Water Resources Division and I learned a lot about rivers and floodplains while working as a Hydrologist/Hydraulic Engineer in some of the most remarkable places including the North Slope, the Copper River in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, and Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. It was in the library in the USGS office where I found Design with Nature and my professional journey detoured to landscape architecture.

I went to UW several years later for my MLA while my first wife earned her MSW and MPH. It was very satisfying to meet Ian McHarg when he lectured there once. We moved to Portland after graduate school and I went to work at David Evans and Associates bridging between the LA Team and the Natural Resources Team. That’s where I met Ken Vigil and through working together over nine years we established the relationship that led to forming Vigil-Agrimis (VAI) in 1999. Still influenced by McHarg our practice had three foundations: civil engineering, landscape architecture, and natural resources. We ran VAI for 14 years with projects from Kodiak to Oregon’s South Coast including a healthy number of award-winning projects. We sold our firm to Environmental Science Associates (ESA) in 2013 who had previously acquired Adolfson and then Phil Williams and Associates.

I left ESA in 2018 for a self-funded sabbatical that allowed me to start a writing project. I started Agrimis Planning + Design in 2019 and became chair of the Portland Parks & Recreation Board (PP&R). I attempted to help recruit Mike Faha to the Board earlier this year, but our conversations evolved to sitting down with Mike and Gill and talking about what we could accomplish together.

GW: You’ve been involved in some important conservation efforts over the years, and you’re now the chair of the Portland Parks Board. Can you tell us about these experiences and explain what your role looks like on the Parks Board?

PA: Parks and open spaces have been a refuge for me throughout my life and I am greatly appreciative of the efforts of previous generations who created them. I had two great transitional work experiences during graduate school that were formative for later conservation work. The first was an Environmental Planning internship with the Island Institute in Maine where four graduate students developed conservation plans and master plans for several islands or portions of islands from Penobscot Bay to Machias Bay. The second was as an Environmental Planner with the Washington State Parks Scenic Rivers Program where we developed the Skykomish Scenic River Conservation Plan.

Through work in wetlands while at David Evans and Associates I met Esther Lev, The Wetlands Conservancy (TWC) Executive Director, and that led to me joining the Board and serving as Vice President for several years. One of the most gratifying experiences of serving on the Board then was developing the strategic plan that led to the Oregon’s Greatest Wetlands initiative. That initiative substantially expanded the mission of TWC and resulted in collaborative partnerships that continue to protect key wetlands across the state.

Vigil-Agrimis and then ESA assisted PP&R on a number of projects through the years and Director Mike Abbate’ asked if I would like to contribute to PP&R through serving on the Board. The Nominating Committee thought it was a good fit and I joined in 2017 and was elected Chair last year. It has been a story of change in leadership at the Director level and at the Commissioner level and searching for the means for stable and appropriate funding. There is a $0.5 billion deferred maintenance backlog and a broken business model the Board and PP&R leadership are grappling with. We have a great Board and it is a privilege to serve our City with the “Parkies” to influence policies, budget, and to help PP&R move to a sustainable future on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GW: You have expertise in public involvement and stakeholder engagement, which are fundamental parts of so many GreenWorks projects. Do you have any specific projects that taught you valuable lessons that have made you a better consultant?

PA: The Skykomish Scenic River Conservation Plan experience was a great early learning opportunity. The program manager Steve Starlund was a wonderful mentor who taught me the value of striving to meet people where they are. There are basic tools for having productive meetings like a thoughtful agenda, the value of sometimes departing from the agenda, endeavoring to communicate well and listen even better (we can always improve on both of these fronts), and to make it fun. Listening is so important, and it is something we are generally not skilled at in our culture. That lesson applies well beyond public involvement and stakeholder engagement! The heart of the matter is clearly engaging stakeholders and designing a process that uses their input to shape each project. There is no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach.

GW: Design based on natural process is a hallmark of your work. Can you explain the importance of this particular aspect of design? How does it shape your projects and your design process?

Skykomish River, Washington, Flickr/Nathan McFarland

PA: We are a visually oriented species going back to the African savannas where prospect and refuge were essential to survival of our species. However, we have a tendency to believe that what we see is the story when it is just a snapshot in time; only part of the story. Geology classes helped me begin to appreciate how our planet is in constant process of becoming. Luna Leopold, Chief Hydrologist of USGS (1956-1966), once described “the river as the carpenter of its own edifice”; rivers and floodplains are constantly adjusting to the precipitation, organic material, and sediment pulsing through them. That is clear to hydrologists and fishers visiting streams over time and watching channels migrate, point bars shift, and riparian plant communities change. There is a story for every site in what it is, what it has been, and what the opportunities are for transformation: landscape architects have strong abilities in many cases to discern those stories (often with assistance from allied professions) and use our design skills to shape our projects consistent with the natural processes so that our work is more sustainable.

As designers we learn how important form is to function, safety, and the experience(s) we create. Form is important; yet form changes in many contexts over time as it needs to. I believe it is important to understand what processes are working at a site and use that to inform design. It is the essential starting point of understanding a site in context whether it is a nature park with a major stream feature, or an urban park reclaiming a degraded site, or offers potential to help a neighborhood transform with all the advantages and disadvantages that result.

GW: Can you tell us about one or two notable projects you’ve been involved in? What made each of them meaningful and what did you learn?

PA: A couple of projects immediately come to mind, both in Oregon. One is Cully Park in Portland; the other is Riley Ranch Nature Reserve in Bend. They capture a lot of what is wonderful about the opportunity to practice as a landscape architect in Oregon, where Senator Ron Wyden says: Getting it done the Oregon way, by collaborating.

Cully Park was a 10-year effort from the master plan through construction of Phase 1. It was the transformation of a ragged 25-acre landfill tucked up against the northern edge of the Cully neighborhood, into a remarkable community asset. At one point we had a design charrette with local school children and their families, and I still have the notebook of design ideas that the kids from one school brought – many of which we were able to implement. It also became a public-private partnership between PP&R and Verde during the design phase. We had a great team that included 2.ink Studio and GeoDesign, among others, to include a Native Gathering Garden with a Medicine Wheel on a prospective knoll with strong views to Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. We needed to import 120,000 cubic yards of clean fill to create large surfaces for fields and playgrounds, while not over stressing an older landfill cover. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), and Metro were great partners of ours in addressing the complicated landfill issues. Oregon Department of Transportation, Portland Bureau of Transportation, and BES were great partners for the reconstruction of NE 72nd as a green street. The opening was festive, and it was gratifying to see all the smiling faces of children and their families on the playground as the fulfillment of the promises we made during the earlier charrette.

The Deschutes river at the west edge of riley ranch nature reserve in Bend, Flickr/Nick Varvel

Riley Ranch Nature Reserve began with a management plan for this 185-acre site with two miles of Deschutes River front property. We identified seven management units based on geomorphic features, vegetation, soils, cultural resources, historic ranching land-use, wildlife habitat, and opportunities for recreation. Bend Parks and Recreation Department (BPRD) was a great client. They placed a lot of trust in our team to guide the master planning process as it let natural and cultural resources determine appropriate uses. One unexpected outcome in trail and dog-loving Bend was the Citizen Advisory Committee’s recommendation to limit trails and to exclude dogs to protect wildlife habitat, which BPRD embraced. Because of that decision, a wonderful outcome of the project is occasional views of elk grazing in the Meadow and Juniper Flats Management Units, which is special treat on the outskirts of rapidly urbanizing Bend. Beyond that occasional treat are the incredible views of the Central Cascade Mountains and the trails through the Deschutes Canyon. It is a magical place.

The takeaways are that meaningful engagement always enriches projects, people working with a clear understanding of mission can be highly collaborative, and public-private partnerships can make a tremendous positive impact in leveraging resources for green infrastructure.

GW: You have a planning background that includes park system master plans and park master plans. What makes those types of park projects unique and what skills do they require to be done successfully?

PA: What I enjoy about park system master planning and trail master planning is the challenge of seeing the big picture as a four-dimensional puzzle. These planning efforts look at park systems and identify which services are needed and where they will be needed based on existing conditions and on projected growth. Models and projections for needs are always based on assumptions which may evolve or change over the course of a 10-year planning horizon. For example, pickleball wasn’t in high demand 10 years ago, and who knows what might be in demand 10 years from now. I am fairly certain there aren’t many park system master plans that have a pandemic scenario, and yet every park services provider is currently grappling with when they might be able to reopen indoor recreation facilities and get an income stream to offset the sunk costs of bonds, basic maintenance, and utilities. Park system master planning also often ties into other public infrastructure and we can help communities by integrating with transportation, water, wastewater and other infrastructure planning. This community-wide planning requires thinking comprehensively and creatively to provide resiliency.

GW: You’ve designed places using expertise in bioengineering and living shorelines, can you tell us more about those skills and how you’ve applied them around our region? What are some noteworthy examples?

PA: Bioengineering and living shorelines design is highly multidisciplinary work that landscape architects can be well-equipped to lead, in partnership with allied professionals such as geomorphologists, geotechnical engineers, coastal engineers, and water resources engineers. We’ve all seen the impacts and missed opportunities of riprapped streambanks along Johnson Creek, the Willamette River, and the Columbia River; sea walls in Puget Sound; various rocked road cuts. Bioengineering and living shoreline approaches offer resilient designs using primarily natural materials and provide effective solutions for addressing some of climate change’s impacts.

Johnson Creek at flood level in the Foster Floodplain, upstream from Tideman Johnson park, FLickr/Twelvizm

Take a project I participated in along Portland’s Johnson Creek as a bioengineering example. The deflected stream energy sent downstream from riprapped streambanks scours the next natural bank with that much more hydraulic energy from the much-reduced energy dissipation occurring along a riprapped reach when compared to naturally deforming bank. We designed a quarter-mile stream restoration at Tideman Johnson Park to protect an exposed sewer main operated by the BES and relied primarily on banks reinforced with coir fabric, live stakes, brush layering, and some large woody debris. Those stream banks have functioned successfully over thirteen years and provide both shade and organic debris for the stream system.

A living shoreline example that comes to mind is a beach nourishment project in Birch Bay. The sediment balance in Birch Bay was undone when the Corps of Engineers mined marine gravels for a large project in the 1950s. That resulted in severe shoreline erosion in a tourism-dependent community, as well as impacts to Whatcom County Public Works infrastructure. Individual property owners constructed sea walls and groins to protect their properties and the impact was more erosion on the downdrift properties and the gradual deterioration and ultimately the failure of some of those structures. Again, it was a team effort with coastal engineers and coastal geologists modeling wave energy and longshore drift that gave a design team led by landscape architects the parameters for a gravel beach berm nearly two miles long (110,000 cubic yards). The berm uses gravels and sands suitable for locally spawning forage fish, so these materials work with natural processes while protecting properties and providing a much-needed opportunity for a soft surface trail along the beach. That project just began construction this past winter and will resume after this upcoming Labor Day.

GW: Lastly, we’re an active bunch over here at GreenWorks. and we’re so glad to have you on the team. We’d be remiss if we only asked you about your work. What do you like to do for fun?

PA: I like pretty much anything outdoors: bicycling (road and gravel), trail running, hiking, stand-up paddle boarding, and telemark skiing are some favorite activities. Mary, my wife, and I enjoy travelling and typically plan an extended trip every couple of years and have had some great cycling trips with friends in France and Italy. We enjoy our backyard garden and are getting it certified by Audubon as a Backyard Habitat. Our adult children think we are nerds when we talk excitedly about seeing a downy woodpecker, varied thrush, or spotted towhee in the yard; even more so when it is a Cooper’s hawk in our NE Portland neighborhood.

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GreenWorks Welcomes Paul Agrimis