City of Portland Commissioner Nick Fish, who oversees the Parks Bureau, has responded (read in full below) to League of American Bicyclists President Andy Clarke about the issue of bicycling in Forest Park.

When Commissioner Fish announced at the end of last month that he would not improve trail access opportunities for bicycles for at least two years, Clarke called the decision, "disappointing". (more...)

A large crowd turned to the Share the Park Ride and Rally at Forest Park on Saturday Morning.
- Video/Slideshow below-
(Photos © J. Maus)

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Forest Park.
(Photo: J. Maus)

Commissioner Nick Fish's big decision to put off improved bike access to Forest Park may have come and gone, but the issue is still in the news.

Oregon Public Broadcasting is set to air a special episode of Oregon Field Guide tonight on Forest Park and the Northwest Trail Alliance has released more details and a statement about their "Share the Park" event that's happening on Saturday.

You might recall that it was an OPB crew that stumbled upon the illegal trail working on this special that set off a media frenzy and ended up having a major impact on the ongoing discussion about bicycling in the park. The special airs on OPB tonight at 8:30 p.m.. Here's how OPB frames the bicycling portion of the show (via a press release): (more...)

Traffic intermingles on Leif
Erikson road in Forest Park.
(File photo © J. Maus)

After expressing their disappointment with last week's decision by City Commissioner Nick Fish to not grant any new or improved singletrack trail access for bikes in Forest Park, the Northwest Trail Alliance has announced a "Share The Park" ride.

The event will be held on Saturday, October 16th. According to the NWTA, it will be a rally and a group ride in Forest Park (on roads where riding is allowed of course) that is intended as a "peaceful action".

From the event announcement: (more...)

[Portland-based off-road cycling advocacy group, the Northwest Trail Alliance, has a long legacy in Forest Park. In fact, they came onto the scene over 20 years ago (as PUMP, the Portland United Mountain Pedalers) in order to make sure cycling wasn't completely prohibited from the park.

That history gives you some idea of how long and how hard local advocates have worked to improve access for bikes in Forest Park. Several members of the NWTA were on the Forest Park Single Track Cycling Advisory Committee whose recommendations influenced the big decision yesterday by Commissioner Fish and Parks Director Santner. Below is an op-ed from the Board of the NWTA.]

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Nick Fish
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City Commissioner in charge of Parks, Nick Fish, announced a set of "actions" earlier today about off-road cycling in Forest Park. I spoke to him on the phone from his office in City Hall about that announcement...

You told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) today that Forest Park isn't ready for new bike trails. Why not?

"I don't think the park is ready to have an expansion in bike trails right now for two reasons. Number one is that we don't have all the data that we need to make thoughtful decisions; data about who uses our parks, the health of our park, and so on. This was a significant problem I discovered through this process. The second part is that anything I propose for the future is going to be subject to a Type II or Type III land use review, so if we don't have the science ironed out than nothing gets through land use review. Nothing would be more cynical for me than to announce a breakthrough today that I know will be stalled in litigation tomorrow."

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League President Andy Clarke.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Reactions are starting to come in from this morning's big announcement by City Commissioner Nick Fish that there are no plans to improve singletrack bicycling opportunities in Forest Park. The President of the League of American Bicyclists, Andy Clarke, has expressed his disappointment in the decision. Here's a statement from Clarke: (more...)

Riding in Forest Park.
(Photo © J. Maus)

As we hinted at yesterday, City Commissioner Nick Fish and Portland Parks and Recreation Director Zari Santner have released their much-anticipated set of actions they'll take to address off-road cycling in Forest Park.

The decision includes no new or improved access to existing singletrack trails and no commitment to build new ones.

In their announcement today, Commissioner Fish and Director Santner wrote, "Further restoration and maintenance work is needed in the park before recreational use can be expanded." With that being said, they have committed to move forward with the following within the next year: (more...)

Director of Portland Parks Zari Santner.

City Commissioner Nick Fish. (Photos © J. Maus)

Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish and the Director of Portland Parks Zari Santner are due to release their recommendations on bicycling in Forest Park sometime in the next week or so. The announcement will come 19 months after the issue of how to improve bicycling in the 5,000 acre park was first put on Fish's radar. The journey to this point has been messy and difficult for people on all sides of the issue. In the interest of bringing you up to speed on the issue, here's my recap and thoughts about how we got to where we are today... (more...)

Bicycling in Forest Park.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Portland Parks & Recreation has released results of their 2010 Forest Park Recreation Survey (PDF download). With the fate of bicycling improvements in the 5,000 acre urban park hanging in the balance, I thought I'd take a look at how two-wheeled recreation fared.
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Committee member Les Blaize at a recent
open house.
(Photo © J. Maus)

After nine months of meetings, the 15-member Forest Park Single Track Cycling Advisory Committee will present their recommendations to Parks Commissioner Nick Fish and Parks Director Zari Santner tonight.

According to a statement put out by Portland Parks & Recreation, the report, "will represent the diversity of perspectives of the committee members, and they will each have the opportunity to share their opinions about the recommendations and the report directly with Commissioner Fish and Director Santner." (more...)

Cover of Forest Park: A Call to Action.

A recent report on the health of Forest Park published by the City Club of Portland has a noted off-road biking advocate crying foul. Frank Selker, the man who launched an effort to improve biking opportunities in the park back in December 2008 and who sits on the City of Portland's Forest Park Single Track Cycling Committee says the report contains false, potentially libelous statements and he wants City Club to make several edits before it is officially adopted tomorrow.

The 65-page report, Forest Park: A Call to Action is an in-depth look at all the issues surrounding the park, outlining the urgent need to devote more resources to its care and management. The report touches on mountain biking in several sections and recommends that no new bike access is granted until several studies can be done on the park. (For more analysis of the report, see our story published on May 24th.) (more...)

Cover of City Club's Forest Park:
A Call to Action.
-Download PDF here-

Deciding how to move forward with improved and expanded biking opportunities in Forest Park got a lot more complicated last week.

On Thursday, the City Club of Portland released a 65-page report on Forest Park that, among other things, states unequivocally that there should be no additional bike trails or access of any kind until various studies are completed. But just a few days before that, the results of a Portland Parks survey on biking in Forest Park found that a majority of respondents favored more bike access (on new and existing trails) and funding for more trails was rated the #1 priority among a list of "management actions" while completing studies ranked at the very bottom of the list.

How Parks Commissioner Nick Fish and Parks Director Zari Santner interpret the scope of these studies and how they balance the City Club report with the survey findings, will be key to the future of biking in Forest Park. (more...)

Enjoying the 1/3 mile of single track in Forest Park.
(Photo © J. Maus)

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Parks staffer Dan Moeller on
the illegal trail back in February.
(Photo © J. Maus)

A work party scheduled for tomorrow will work to decommission a rogue bike trail that was discovered in Forest Park back in February.

The event has been jointly organized by Portland Parks & Recreation and the Northwest Trail Alliance. Volunteers will restore the natural habitat around the trail in hopes of minimizing future damage due to erosion or the introduction of invasive species. On the trail itself, crews will cover up the surface with brush, take down jumps and stream crossings, and remove a cribbing wall that had been constructed. (more...)

The .75 mile Tolinda Trail, shown here
in orange, would be opened to bike access.
(Download full map PDF here)

Portland Parks and Recreation has just published their Forest Park Singletrack Cycling online comment form. The form includes the list of 12 proposed actions to improve and expand bike access in the park and a list of management actions that focus around methods of enforcement. Along with the form, a map labeled with the proposed actions is also now available online (PDF).

The management actions are included because, "the committee felt strongly that any increase in activity would need to be also supported by an increase in resources, enforcement, and commitment to the park."

This comment form will be available for only two weeks, so make sure you weigh in soon. You must register on the City's website (which is very easy and fast) before you can view and fill out the form.
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People packed the Forest Park open house
last night in Northwest Portland.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Judging by the huge crowds that packed into the Holiday Inn in Northwest Portland last night, it's obvious that bike access in Forest Park is an issue many people care about.

People from all user groups lined up many rows deep to view maps and a list of proposed actions to improve and expand bike access in the park. They also placed colored dots on a list of "management actions" to help the City assess the relative importance of each one listed (I'll post a separate story once all the materials from the open house are available in electronic form).
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Tonight's open house will look at
several options for improved bike
access in Forest Park.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Tonight is the long-awaited open house to view bike trail access options recommended by the Forest Park Single Track Cycling Committee. At the event, you'll have the opportunity to learn about all the options on the table, ask questions of committee members, and then offer your feedback to Portland Parks staff.

Three trail options will be presented at the open house. Details and accompanying trail maps of the options have not been fully released, but thanks to committee meeting notes and information provided by one of the committee members, we've got a good sense of what is included in each one.
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If you want to see more of this
in Forest Park, come to the open
house on Tuesday.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Portland Parks & Recreation will host an open house on Tuesday (April 20th) to hear feedback on how to improve access to single track mountain bike trails in Forest Park. The event comes after eight months of meetings by the Forest Park Single Track Cycling Advisory Committee, which was formed in response to public demand for expanded riding options in the park.

Open house attendees will be asking questions of the committee members and provide input on their trail access and park management recommendations. Local mountain bike advocacy group, The Northwest Trail Alliance is calling the open house "a unique opportunity to show your support for more single track bike trails in Forest Park!"
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At the committee meeting last night.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Commissioner Nick Fish's promise to improve and expand access for bicycles in Forest Park might be harder to keep than he expected.

With emotions still raw over the construction of an unauthorized trail in a sensitive habitat area of the park, tonight's meeting of the Forest Park Single Track Cycling Committee was expected to be heated and emotional. It did not disappoint. There were pleas from Portland Parks Director Zari Santner, a walkout due to anger by two bike advocates, diatribes against the illegal trail, calls (from both sides of the debate) to shut the process down and reconvene the committee, and new information that has vast implications for the future of single track riding in the park. (more...)