We need your bio! Please give us some history on your education, work background, affiliations, and involvement with Restore Oregon and/or historic preservation in Oregon:
Kimberly Stowers Moreland, MBA, MURP, is currently owner of Moreland Resource Consulting, LLC. She has over 25 years of public sector community development and urban planning experience. She was employed as an urban planner for the City of Portland, OR, City of Tacoma, WA and City of Salem, OR and worked as a project manager for Prosper Portland. She is the author of Arcadia Publishing, Images of America: African Americans of Portland.
She has dedicated much of her time to volunteer service with cultural and heritage nonprofit organizations. and has been a two-time Diversity Scholar for the National Trust. She also serves as a governor-appointed member of the Oregon Heritage Commission and on the Board of Directors for Oregon Black Pioneers (OBP) and the Bosco-Milligan: Architectural Heritage Center.
R.O.Why should Oregonians be advocates for historic preservation?
K.M. Oregonians should advocate for historic preservation because it is a powerful and impactful way of bringing awareness to the social, cultural, and building history of Oregon. Experiencing a historical place invokes a unique, personal encounter with the space and time. Preserving historical places brings honors to and connects us to special events, people and places that have transformed our state.
R.O.Why does preserving the historic fabric of a community matter?
K.M. Preserving the historic fabric of a community matters because it allows us to experience social, cultural, natural and historic heritage. Urban renewal, demolition and deferred maintenance of historic buildings have severely damaged the historic fabric of many urban communities in Oregon. We have lost our connection to the cultural heritage and history of ethnic communities which has left gaps in understanding the context of where we have been.
R.O.What is the future of the historic preservation movement, in general and/or specifically in Oregon?
K.M. Historic Preservation works best when everyone has access to the process, and everyone’s truth and story is valued, shared, and preserved. This will elevate the need to reexamine, and perhaps dismantle for some, the process for nominating historic landmarks. I am encouraged by the effort to streamline the historic places nomination process, the engagement of new stakeholders, and the examination of the inequity of rating architectural heritage significance as a primary threshold for nominating historic buildings. I think the movement in general is in an uncomfortable place, but the recent approval of the Multiple Property Documentation (MPD) for African American resources in Portland is a step in the right direction. Moreover, approval of the MPD will serve as a precedent for other communities and the upcoming Oregon statewide African American MPD, which will lead to the inclusion of other underrepresented groups in Oregon’s historic preservation efforts.
R.O.How do you think historic preservation can be part of solving major issues we’re dealing with today like equity, climate change, affordability, and sustainability?
K.M. Historic preservation must embrace more innovative ways to tackle these important issues, including social justice. Historic preservation can be a major connector in fulfilling each of these major issues. For instance, as an opposition to new developments, the adaptive reuse of historic buildings utilizes less energy and reduces the carbon footprint. Rehabilitation of historic buildings can provide spaces for affordable housing and/or subsidized commercial tenanting. Equity can be accomplished by establishing historic or conservation districts illuminating existing and former African American communities in Portland that have experienced aggressive gentrification and displacement.
R.O. Restore Oregon is working to bring preservation and its tools to more places and people of Oregon so that it can be used to preserve the cultural heritage of all Oregonians–not just the buildings. Do you have any thoughts on that?
K.M. Your efforts to preserve the cultural heritage of all Oregonians is particularly important. Traditional methods will not solve these complex issues. Collaborative and strong coalitions of new, diverse, interdisciplinary stakeholders is a must. The new players can bring forth innovations and/or use historic preservation tools in ways that have not been considered in the past. As an example, although MPDs focus on preserving historic buildings, the information presented in MPDs can be used to develop a heritage marker and oral history programs, tours of historic sites and historic districts, public art, pop-up exhibits, and photo exhibits.
These are all good things to do, but there is no substitute for preserving the actual spaces and the value of “being there.”
R.O. Any other thoughts? Words to live by?
K.M. Oregon history is an incredibly unique American story and if we truly embraced the full Oregon story, historic preservation could educate Oregonians and bring affirmation to ethnic communities whose presence and contributions have not been represented in previous historic preservation efforts.
