Brian Baumann
I think we will all be reading about the "Singletrack
Angel," known as Shanti Ware, in cycling magazines in
the near future. She is working extremely hard to
improve local mtb'ing for all of us. Please lend a
hand where you can.
Progress in Forest Park
Brought to you by Portland United Mountain Pedalers
(PUMP)
www.pumpclub.org
Hello, PUMPsters and other members of our mtb
community! What an amazing month for Forest Park
Singletrack advocacy. Though this report may seem
short, it feels like we?ve advanced to amazing
degrees. Fellow Fat Tire lovers, I am happy to report
that we are moving in the right direction with
unprecedented commitment and communication from all
parties involved.
The rundown:
Forest Park Ad-Hoc Committee:
The Forest Park Ad-Hoc Committee was formed at the
direction (and is led by) the Forest Park Conservancy
(formerly known as The Friends of Forest Park). This
committee is comprised of user groups of FP with
committee members from City Parks, the biking
industry, The Audubon Society, BTA, a Biking Advocate,
PUMP, and is headed by John Runyon and Stephen
Hatfield of FPC. The purpose of the committee is to
specifically address mountain biking in FP, build
relationships with user groups, overcome
misconceptions of mountain biking via communication
and education, reduce user conflicts, and bring
sustainable mountain biking (singletrack) options to
FP. This includes our (mountain biker) education on
the issues, concerns, and permitting processes germain
to our goal. It is wonderful to see and be a part of
the open and constructive communication happening
here. Every member of this board is concerned with and
curious about the other user groups. No one is saying,
?No.? All parties acknowledge there is a place for
real singletrack mountain biking in FP. If we don't
address it now and plan for the future, current
conflicts in the park will only continue to mushroom
at the expense of the park. We have to plan for its
healthy future now. What we are doing is finding a way
to do that in a sustainable way that will reduce user
conflicts and be best for the park.
This committee is formulating a White Paper with a
completion date of January 1, 2008. This paper will go
to the FPC for review and will then be presented to
the City Of Portland as a recommendation for the park.
Key concerns:
1. Finances
The park?s resources are already strained. They are
having a hard time keeping up the maintenance on the
trails currently exisiting in the park. One question
asked was, ?If we add more trail, how will we maintain
it?? This is an incredibly valid concern. Tom Archer
and I brought ap what COTA has done in Bend, DOD in
Oakridge, and BRMBA in Falls City as examples of
Mountain Bike Clubs being excellent stewards of
(singletrack) trail. Those examples were well
received, but the question was what do we (PUMP) feel
we could realistically commit to. This is where our
adoption of FL5 and trail maintenance parties are
critical to our success. It is also critical that
Non-PUMP Mountain Bikers jump in and join to make our
numbers count. Organized numbers count. (See FL5 Trail
Party Report later in this FP Update).
2. Environmental
Unknown to us (this is where our education comes in),
Forest Park has a soil content that is unique to The
Park and is very vulnerable to erosion. This is
something that we can overcome and are working on it.
IMBA and environmental surveys from other sources will
provide us with some support data we are looking for.
We may need to come up with some funds to do a
specific FP study, but the funds are there when we get
to that point. Luckily Tom Archer is our environmental
and permitting expert and is an amazing board resource
on the matter. (Kudos, Tom!)
3. Permitting
Ah, yes. Permitting. This is a frustration point for
all of us. Currently the wheel must be recreated for
every single trail built. We are working on solutions
to streamline the process. Nothing is being left off
the table.
4. Education
Tom and I are pulling together information on what
other cities (such as NYC, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, New
Jersey, Seattle, etc) are doing in regard to mountain
biking. Everyone on the committee was amazed to hear
there is singletrack in NJ and Manhattan. We are a
hip, outdoor loving city -- We can?t be outdone!
We are also compiling photographs, video, etc., to
show the other user group committee members what a
true singletrack trail is and how non-invasive our
sport is. We have many negative perception points to
overcome. One big sticky-point is the perception
current rouge riders in the park are giving to other
users of the park. It is not helping when people
already think that we are disorganized, disrespectful,
and just really don't care and then have that
perception reinforced when they see off designated
trail riders. Don't shoot the messenger. We are pretty
much a mystery to a lot of people. When people see the
few breaking the rules, they percieve that we all do
"those things." Think before you do ... We are all
ambassadors of our sport. What are you willing to give
up today for a greater future?
Speak - Build - Respect - Ride. It's up to us, folks.
We will be meeting again in a couple of weeks, so look
for another update in the next newsletter.
Firelane 5 Trail Party:
This ball is on a roll! At the behest of Stephen
Hatfield, Director of the FPC, we are in the process
of formally adopting Firelane 5. I am navigating they
process with Fred Nilsen of the Parks Dept. As
referenced in Point 1 of the Ad-Hoc Committee report,
this is key to demonstrating our commitment to
maintaining any singletrack we build.
Our first trail party for our newly adopted was last
Saturday, November 3rd. We had over 40 participants -
Wow! I cannot emphasize enough how far that kind of
turnout goes in getting us to our goal.
The FPC gave us Jeff Hough, FPC Trails Coordinator, as
a resource and the Parks Department dedicated Greg
Holly. Both brought all of the equipment and supplies
to complete the mission. They were amazing! Shout-out
to Grand Central Bakery for providing us with
breakfast pastries. Please stop in and thank them.
Though the main participants were from PUMP, we were
delighted to have Mtbr and OBRA particpants join the
crew. Needless to say, everyone was blown away by the
response and had a really great time. It was a
fantastic opportunity for different groups to come
together, work on trail, and get to know one another.
A special thumbs-up to the Mtbr and OBRA folks: This
event was only posted to Mtbr with two days notice and
(thanks to Brian Baumann) was then posted to OBRA the
night before. These dedicated Mountain Bikers rose to
the challenge and really put their time and energy
where their mouths (and keyboards) are by showing up
and being such amazing partners on such short notice.
We look forward to having more people come out and
join us with more notice going forward. Thank you!
We repaired trail, cut tons of overgrowth, added a
culvert to the bottom of FL5 to eliminate erosion, and
build an S-Curve near the bottom of the trail to slow
bikers down and make it a little more interesting.
Jordan and I have posted some of the pictures to the
PUMP Flickr page
http://www.flickr.com/groups/pump/pool/. I will be
blogging the event (with pictures) to my MySpace page
at www.myspace.com/mtb_grrrl in the next couple days.
Apparently FL1 is in need of some TLC. Jeff Hough and
I are hammering out a December date for that Trail
Party this week. I will send it out on the PUMP
listserve and post it to the club's forum section when
the date is solidified. I will also post to Mtbr and
OBRA. If Mtbr & OBRA folks want to make their voices
(and numbers) heard and stay up to date on what PUMP
is doing in regard to advocacy and more trail parties,
please join PUMP and check our calendar and forum
pages.
Thank you everyone who came to the party! The list of
particpants is below. If I missed anyone, I'm sorry. I
am going off the yellow pad PUMP roster provided at
sign in.
I would appreciate it greatly if those of you who were
on the party or have things you would like to see in
Forest Park would send me an e-mail with your
suggestions. Yes, your input counts! Additionally, if
you show up for work parties, your opinion will carry
significantly greater weight with me. (hint!)
Thank You To:
Geir Eide
Mark Pickett (Revolver Bikes)
Ben Maynard
John (JR) Joy
Cage Aaron
Wayne Naillon
Steve Blackmore
Brian Baumann
Rawls Moore
Amy Singmaster
Shane Gould
Susan Martin
Barbara Nelson
Pete Pollard
Geoff Talbot
Russ Senrus
Bill Ellems
Rene Valencia
Fred MacGregor
Larry Dully
Ray Bayley
Ryan Kilgren
Dave Moser
Ethan Furniss
Brandon Hadley (Fat Tire Farm)
Jason Hinkle
Brigid Gormley
Dan Cheever
Mark Morford
Llunte Morford
Jake Reffie
Chris Cameron
Ben Shattuck
Carson Morfod
Dave Kelm
Aaron Althouse
Michael Forster
Jeff Hough (Friends of Forest Park Trails Coordinator)
Greg Holly (City of Portland Parks Department)
Grand Central Bakery
Ride-On, PUMPsters!
Shanti Ware
PUMP Forest Park Co-Liaison
Mtb_grrl@msn.com
www.pumpclub.org
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