(Photo © J. Maus)
Frank Selker, the man with the mountain bike plan for Forest Park, is just 20 people shy of his goal to get 100 new, mountain-bike loving Portlanders to join the Forest Park Conservancy (FPC).
When we checked in with Frank last month, he was halfway to his goal. Today, he emailed to tell us that he just got the latest membership numbers from January. “I believe we are up to 80 cyclists,” he wrote, “and close to $6,000 in contributions to the FPC.”
Back in December, Selker challenged the community to step up and join the FPC — a non-profit group that works closely with the Parks Bureau as stewards of the park — in an effort to make a statement that it was time to move forward with talks about opening up more space for bikes in the 5,000 acre park. Currently, there is just 1/3 of a mile of trail that is legal for bikes to ride on (bikes are allowed on all the park’s larger, fire access roads).
Selker said if 100 people joined the FPC, he would make a personal contribution of $500. Since then, Sellwood Cycle Repair has agreed to raffle off a brand new bike once the goal is reached.
Selker’s efforts have already been noticed by the Portland Parks Bureau and he’s looking forward to a meeting with Parks Commissioner Nick Fish in the coming weeks to discuss the issue.
To join the Forest Park Conservancy on behalf of this effort, simply become a member at the $35 level and put “cyclist” in the “in honor of” field.