by Loren Payne Opportunities to serve Oregon’s trails with Trailkeepers of Oregon are as diverse as our volunteers’ interests. This year, TKO launched a new Wilderness Ambassador volunteer program in collaboration with the US Forest Service to further…
Urban trails are a cornerstone to nature access for urban and suburban residents, offering countless physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health benefits. TKO has been busy throughout the Portland Metro Area and beyond in 2023 ensuring that these trails can continue to safely connect communities with the outdoors!
Many of TKO’s efforts in urban areas this year have focused on low-barrier and accessible trails and trail parties, in an effort to provide people of all backgrounds and abilities access to nature and all the benefits it provides. At Tryon Creek State Natural Area, TKO has implemented half-day trail party options with short hikes and simple tasks enabling youth as young as three years old to participate! Monthly women’s trail parties, open to women and gender-expansive folks who feel at home in those spaces, have allowed folks to experience trail stewardship free from the influence of toxic masculinity often present in outdoor work spaces.
A women’s trail crew at Tryon Creek State Park.
Monthly family-friendly stewardship days at Tryon Creek and Portland Audubon have gone even further to involve community members in trail stewardship, bringing out entire families to experience the joy and satisfaction of giving back. TKO even had our youngest Trailkeeper ever at two years old at our annual Trick-or-Trails costume-themed trail party! Further west at Killin Wetlands Nature Park, TKO volunteers have been maintaining gravel trails to ensure access for diverse users. Combatting saturated soils, surface runoff, and aggressive vegetation, TKO and our partners at Metro Parks and Nature built a series of drainage ditches and culverts to properly channel water and prevent trail erosion. These efforts have created much more sustainable trail systems well-prepared for the rainy season and lots of visitors!
Trick-or-Trails Stewardship Day participants show off their costumes.
2023 has also been a banner year for new projects and partnerships in urban areas. Through a budding partnership with Portland Parks and Recreation, TKO has begun to steward their vast network of trails throughout the city. Monthly trail parties at Powell Butte Nature Park, one of Portland’s most-visited parks, have focused on repairing erosion damage on the Hawthorne Trail. This meadow trail that sees a lot of traffic, and collaborative efforts to fill ruts with gravel and dig drainage ditches have greatly improved the trail surface. Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in southeast Portland has also received some well-needed TLC in the form of new rock walls stabilizing the trail around the wetland.
Volunteers spread gravel on the trails at Powell Butte Nature Park.
Another new project with our friends at The Nature Conservancy addressed routine maintenance needs at the Camassia Nature Preserve and set in motion a realignment of a steep section of trail and a new bridge at the entrance to the trail. The City of West Linn and TKO are working together to make these improvements with accessibility in mind, and the new bridge is being designed to support access by adaptive hiking devices. Finally, TKO also gained a new partner in the City of Troutdale, where volunteers are making improvements on the trails into Beaver Creek Canyon. This site has been a fantastic hub of education as volunteers have learned about gabion installation, stair construction, and the importance of beavers to ecosystems!
Even among all of these amazing projects, perhaps some of the best examples of the dedication of TKO volunteers have been in Clackamas County. In February, TKO was asked to build a brand new trail at Wilhoit Springs County Park. In just four months volunteers constructed the new trail that serves the park’s visitors by providing access to a secluded wooded area ideal for bird watching! A little ways north, volunteers have had a huge impact at Metzler County Park. Their construction of access trails supported the opening of a new 18-hole disc golf course, and in a massive undertaking they have just completed a new one-mile loop trail! One Volunteer Crew Leader, Elaine, who has led the charge at Metzler reflects on the project: “The satisfaction of seeing a beautiful new trail where none existed before is amazing…We are delighted to have been able to provide significantly more hiking opportunities for visitors to this popular county park.”
Volunteers sit at the top of newly constructed stairs at Metzler County Park.
Volunteers dig a ditch on the new trail at Metzler County Park.
These urban trail projects are making a tangible difference in the daily lives of urban communities. The accessibility of these places make them extremely valuable resources, and TKO is excited to continue to steward them side-by-side with the communities who love them. However, we need your help to secure the funding! Give the gift of trails to yourself and your loved ones by donating to TKO’s Legacy Builders campaign and be entered to win 1 of 17 awesome prizes from REI when you contribute by December 10th!
