Volunteer!
Digging Whypass
Volunteers are digging on a new trail upgrade at Whypass. It will be several months before it’s finished and ready to ride, so please stay off it over the winter. Air under your tires is forecast come spring. The Gift keeps giving.
Carpenter Bypass Logging Update
As logging at Whypass continues, operations have moved north. Currently trees are being felled on both sides of Carpenter Bypass Road on SST and on HE above MorePlay. Loggers are done with the south end of the network (Alpha, Nine Yards, Your Sister etc.) but have yet to clear the debris and slash from the trails. The Gift and everything north of the South Staging Area down to the The Pile is open and clear. Donsled and Burial Ground are also open (look for a new fun line under construction connecting Sunset to Donsled). We are hoping for the south end trails to be cleared soon but in the meantime, you might have to use a little creativity to get in a workout. Don’t worry, it will all be over this spring when we will get ALL of our trails back to full shredability.
DOD/Willamalane partnership
Thurston Hills Natural Area nationally recognized for public-private partnerships
Coalition for Recreational Trails honored Willamalane at Oct. 22 event
Willamalane Park and Recreation District received a Tom Petri Recreational Trails Program Annual Achievement Award, recognizing outstanding use of recreational Trails Program funds nationwide.
The Coalition for Recreational Trails presented the award at a virtual ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 22 with participation by award recipients and key trails champions, including members of Congress. Thurston Hills Natural Area was recognized, receiving the Public-Private Partnerships and Access to/Use of Public Lands award for its community partnerships while developing multi-use recreational trails.
“This project is a testament to what the community is capable of,” said Fraser MacDonald, Natural Resources Planner at Willamalane. More than 10 years ago, Rivers to Ridges included Thurston Hills Natural Area in its vision for a regional connected trail system for hikers, mountain bikers, and nature lovers. Beginning in 2017, Willamalane and the Disciples of Dirt mountain bike club partnered to develop the hiking and mountain biking trails. The Bureau of Land Management also collaborated to extend the trail system into their adjacent property.
“The local mountain bike community has been advocating for decades to have mountain bike trails in the Eugene-Springfield metro area, and Thurston Hills is that place,” said Peter O’Toole, Trail Work Coordinator at Disciples of Dirt. The club contributed about 2,400 labor hours from 150 volunteers. They also raised and donated $26,000 in funds toward the completion of the project.
Representative Peter DeFazio, Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and supporter of Thurston Hills Natural Area, recorded a video to congratulate Willamalane at the award ceremony. “[The award] recognizes how incredible you are and how you can work with the diverse groups in the community and provide for us for a better recreational outdoor future for all Springfielders,” DeFazio said.
Details on the honored projects and programs as well as a link to viewing the awards ceremony are available at www.rectrails.org. A video on Thurston HIlls Natural Area and the collaboration with community partners is available here.
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