The city’s verdict is in for bikes in Forest Park: There will be no new trails for bikes amid the 5,000 acres.
- BT Livermore
That’s a surprise, given that for over a year, a group of citizens including NW Trails Alliance members have been working on a committee whose original task was to recommend how to open up 20-30 new miles of Forest Park trails to bikes. Today instead of announcing how and when new trails would be opened to bikes, the Parks Department and Commissioner Fish’s office announced that they would merely work to improve existing trails.
Currently, only 30 miles of Forest Park’s 70 miles of paths are open to bikes and only a measly 1/3 of a mile is the narrow “singletrack” paths mountain bikers prefer.
The plan to build more bike facilities in Forest Park caught a lot of attention last winter when frustrated mountain bikers carved an illegal trail through the woods, causing an estimated $80,000 in damage. The recommendation today says more maintenance work and study is need before new trails can be opened. Once the city can “secure funding to develop, implement and complete a wildlife study” of the park, says the announcement, it could potentially permit new trails based on the results of the study.
Throwing a bone to the bikers, the recommendations also promise to “prioritize” singletrack cycling in the new Gateway Green park and construct two new temporary skills parks somewhere in the city.
One of the issues is lack of resources for Forest Park in general: the 5,000 acre park receives just one percent of the city’s parks funding and employs only one full-time, year-round ranger.
Full list of recommendations below the cut.
• Design and implementation of a new vegetation monitoring program
• Development of a new outreach and education plan to increase knowledge of trail etiquette and safety
• Expand the Recreation User Study
• Secure funding to develop, implement and complete a wildlife study
• Work with partners to improve one to two fire lanes or utility corridors that are currently open to cyclists
• Proceed with permitting applications for additional trail recommendations based on the outcome of completed studies
• With the support of Mayor Sam Adams, PP&R will take the lead role in managing Gateway Green and prioritizing singletrack cycling in this new park
• PP&R will work in partnership with the NW Trail Alliance to construct two new temporary skills parks
• With the support of Commissioner Randy Leonard, PP&R and the Portland Water Bureau will improve the recreational experience for pedestrians, equestrians, and bikers, while also increasing natural area protections at Powell Butte Natural Area
• The City will continue to work with Metro and Intertwine partners to provide more single track cycling opportunities in the Portland region
Actually this decision opens up all the trails in the park to riding. The odds of getting caught are low and playing by the rules bought us nothing. Thanks city for making me feel good about riding wherever whenever.
While it’s nice that mountain bikers have preferences of things like narrow singletrack paths, you can’t always get what you want.
I would prefer sidewalks along one of the main streets in my North Portland Neighborhood. A “measly” 1/3 of a ile would be awesome. Instead, they turned it into a bike boulevard with still no pedestrian improvements. I was told there was only enough money for bike improvements, not pedestrian improvements. Sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don’t.
the puking trees illustration is pretty awesome
It is comments and attitudes like econoline’s that might justify why there will be no new bike trails in Forest Park.
I’m not sure what the puking trees have to do with this issue. Creating bike paths in Forest Park opens up a new option for recreation, but probably won’t offset any motor vehicle use. So why are the trees puking?
If anything, opening existing trails to mountain bike use will exacerbate erosion problems and trail-side habitat degradation.
What’s “poaching” in mountain bike terms? On the bikeportland dot org regarding this story, many of the comments are advocating poaching, which I assume means wrecking trails?
“poaching” in this context, is riding trails that are technically “closed” to bikes.
The puking trees illustration ran with a story over the summer about Forest Park’s lack of resources. It doesn’t 100% relate but, as miguelaron pointed out, it’s such a good illo that I will jump at any chance to use it.