String of recent reports critical of Forest Park Management

Commissioner Fish announces new initiatives responding to recent report on Park health

By Brian Hoop, LNA president

The City Club of Portland released a critical report May 20, 2010 calling for new management of Forest Park, Portland's crown jewel in its system of public parks.

"Despite the professionalism and hard work of Parks Bureau staff, the perpetual budget shortcoming has led to an unavoidable conclusion: the City of Portland has failed to properly maintain Forest Park," according to the report.

As reported in the Oregonian, May 20, Forest Park comprises about half of the total park area in the city but gets less than one-half of 1 percent of the parks budget.

Proposed changes include:

• Create a regional park authority to assume ownership and management.
• Enhance existing wildlife corridor link to the Coast Range and the Willamette River.
• Invest $2.6 million a year for five years to eliminate invasive plants and restore habitat.
• Survey park users for objective information about competing interests in recreation and wildlife conservation

There was also recent media attention on a recent report released by Linfield College Associate Professor Nancy Broshot citing an unusually high death rate for young trees in the park. Her study indicates a high mortality rate among trees in the 10% of the park perimeter edge where the most heavily used trailheads match the most degraded condition.

According to a Parks and Recreation map associated with the City Club report there are significant areas rated as "degraded" directly bordering Germantown Rd. and the residential areas of Linnton from Germantown to the area near the Linnton business district. The largest "severely degraded" area appears to be in the vicinity of high-voltage power lines crossing the Willamette River in the northern quadrant of Linnton.

Cycling committee wraps of work with limited recommendations

The Forest Park Off-Road Cycling Committee has completed nine months of work with a limited range of proposals for improving access to cycling in Forest Park. The committee of 17 ended up split in large part between bicycling advocates seeking their fair share of access while others fear further ecological degradation due to constructing new trails.

In the end they recommended revamping three fire lane for better bike access and a fourth be opened as a trail connector, create several new trails and trail connectors for cycling use, and open two existing trails to cyclists.

In addition the committee joined the other recent reports calling for changes in the park's management. As reported in the June 19, 2010 Oregonian, these include:

• Fund new trails, as well as "ongoing operations and maintenance."
• Complete both a comprehensive wildlife and vegetation study, and the recreational users survey as recommended by the City Club.
• Step up funding to allow for multiple park rangers, to ensure park rules are followed

Fish announces new initiatives to improve park's upkeep

On Thursday, June 17 Commissioner Nick Fish announced several new initiatives aimed at countering the recent criticism aimed at the City's ability to maintain Forest Park including:

• Assigning one full-time park ranger in Forest Park.
• Completing a recreational survey in the park over the summer.
• Establishing yearly work plans and long-term goals for the park's condition.
• Formally delineating the relationship between the parks bureau and the Forest Park Conservancy (formerly Friends of Forest Park).
• Involving the City Club of Portland, which helped create the park, in a budget advisory committee