Parks & Recreation Director Message & Mission

A Message from the Director: Ivan Anderholm

Lake Oswego is a community committed to quality living. This commitment has created the City's extensive park and recreation system that offers a wonderful network of community and neighborhood parks, natural areas and open spaces, pathways and trails, recreational facilities, and year round recreational activities.

Take a walk alongside a meandering stream, play a round of golf, sign up for a fitness class or join a softball team, take a watercolor class, go on a family picnic, grow vegetables in a community garden, listen to live music on a warm summer evening, or buy fresh vegetables from a local farmer at the Farmers' Market. Lake Oswego Parks & Recreation has a little something for everyone.

In today's hectic world, it's easy to forget that taking time to enjoy each day is so important to our health and well being. Lake Oswego Parks & Recreation is committed to insuring that every resident has an opportunity to experience outstanding recreational activities and park facilities that enhance our quality of life by helping us stay healthy and fit, build relationships with family and friends, and develop a sense of community pride.

Parks & Recreation Department Mission Statement

Lake Oswego Parks & Recreation provides excellence in building community, enriching lives, and caring for the urban and natural environment.

Lake Oswego Parks & Recreation Achieves Its Mission By:

• Providing a variety of recreation, education, and human service programs that contribute to the health and well-being of people of all ages and abilities.
• Coordinating creative events that enhance community and add to the City’s economic vitality.
• Promoting and expanding community partnerships, and opportunities for civic engagement that leverage resources to meet changing demands for recreation, human services, and natural area preservation.
• Maintaining the community’s investment in the urban and natural environment, with an emphasis on sustainability, safety, accessibility, aesthetic quality and fiscal responsibility.
• Using collaborative public processes to establish community vision and priorities for the City’s park system; while taking a systematic, balanced approach to planning, development and rehabilitation of parks, natural areas, and recreational facilities.

A printable copy of the Mission Statement is available below.

For more information about our Parks system, see About Parks & Recreation.