As a city touting recreation opportunities, Portland truly over-promises and under-delivers. Take Forest Park as an example, a 5,100 acre park located about 1.5 miles, or 10 minutes bicycling distance, from the heart of the city (the Pearl District), a location that would make any Orlando Golf Course owner or Charleston real estate developer quiver in ecstasy. In a section of Portland that is literally dying for some great recreational outdoor bars, bicycle shops, tattoo parlors, and vintage clothing boutiques, this area of undeveloped land is like a black stain on the tight jeans of city officials. The area is so underdeveloped that entering it feels like immersing oneself into one of Washington state’s deep rain forests. Portland Parks and Recreation touts the park as the “largest forested natural area within city limits in the United States”, including over 70 miles of trails, several areas of old growth forest, and an area chock full of 112 bird species and 62 mammal species (including flying squirrel, bobcat, coyote, beaver, black bear and cougar). They make it sound as if people will be tripping over these m$thaf*#kers just by taking a few steps into the park.
Well, I don’t see the draw. Let’s deconstruct the recreational value of the park. In my experience, most of the trails do not allow pedestrians to walk off the trail and explore the habitat, citing the broad reason of “conservation considerations”. You can find an example of this environmental dictatorship on the crystal clear creek that passes through Maclaey Park, at the southern end of Forest Park, where signs prohibit people from swimming due to the fragile cutthroat trout population that frequent the waters. In my opinion, if the cutthroat trout can’t handle life in the city, then then they should get the hell out off of my porch and into my frying pan. Now that’s some real cutthroat shit coming atcha.
It seems facist to prevent myself and the hundreds of thousands of other tax-paying Portland residents from soaking our hot and sweaty bodies in the crisp and pristine waters of Balch Creek. And though 28 miles of Forest Parks are open to mountain biking, forest officials have fined me on several occasions for riding my moped on the trails. In fact, no ATVs of any kind are allowed on the trails. Camping, fires and fireworks are also not allowed, and, you guessed it, though there are parking spots at various access points along the trail, none of these locations include RV hookups or overnight parking. It would seem Portland has a very limited definition of “recreation” indeed.
Funny that the Parks and Recreation department has such an iron-fisted grip on the balls of Forest Park, given that the park was in existence even before Portland was a city. The United States “claimed” (i.e. “stole”) the land in 1806 from Native Americans during the famous trek of Lewis and Clark, who traveled up the wet Willamette River in order to stroke the shafts of the massive trees erected on the throbbing hills of the Tualatin Mountains – some with trunks the girth of eight feet in diameter! Exploration into allocating the land for use as a natural park began as early as 1867, but Forest Park wasn’t made an official park until September 23, 1948. Though at the time a measly 3,000 acres, it has since grown to its present size.
The primary trees in the park are douglas-fir, western hemlock and western red cedar. Other flora include sword fern, lady fern (yes, the park is very ferny), vine maple, vanilla leaf, evergreen violet, and trillium. Reptiles have been spotted in the forest, including salamander and treefrogs. Several creeks that pass through the park include many species of fish, including the aforementioned cutthroat trout, as well as coho salmon and steelhead. For bird lovers, you may be able to spot a Pileated Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, Winter Wren, Swainson’s Thrush or Pygmy Owl, among other bastards of the wing, in the trees that infest this area. The geology of the park includes elevations with a low point of 75 feet and a high point of 1,100 feet. The Tualatin Mountains in this area are formed by Columbia River Basalt lava flows. Landslides are a common threat in the area, which is one factor that has helped stave off the threat of development.
The park is currently immersed in a cat and mouse game rife with controversy and white-knuckle drama. With almost half of the city’s parkland included within its perimeter, as of 2010 the park only received about 0.5 percent of the city’s annual recreation budget. Citizens say that this cannot stand. Others, including The City Club of Portland, claim that park officials are missing “the forest through the trees”, by slashing budgets and spending time improving mountain bike access while disregarding the health of the forest – a forest overrun by invasive species and off-leash dogs. The board of trustees of the Medical Society of Portland also released a statement calling mountain bikes “hazardous” on the narrow trails of the park, making it dangerous for walkers and leading some to completely abandon the trails. As if this weren’t enough, young trees located near trails and park heads are dying at rates of up to 75% according to recently released findings that the author calls “alarming”. Many point to mountain bikes again as the culprit.
I, for one, don’t see what the big deal is. From my experience, I cannot throw a rock within Forest Park without hitting a tree. I think that that is something in which we can all agree on.
Forest park is located near the Northwest neighborhoods of Portland and other points North. It borders Route 30 and the Willamette River. A popular access point to the park is near its South end at MacLeay Park, which is located on NW Cornell Rd.
View larger map
I gotta say there Jimmy, many of your points sound as if they are coming from the energized right-wing rather than a self-proclaimed Hipster. Any comment?
As a journalist it is my professional duty to remain fair and balanced.