Image: Forest park volunteers rerouting wildwood trail P2841

Description: Forest Park of Portland, Oregon attracts thousands of volunteer hours each year. Here a volunteer crew reroutes a steep portion of the major trail through Forest Park, the Wildwood Trail, to a more moderate grade which is less prone to runoff water and erosion. Ferns from the new route were moved to the abandoned path to help it stabilize as well as discourage human usage. The new tread is pitched laterally 2% to 3% to minimize standing water. The topsoil was particularly thick here, averaging 12 to 15 cm (5 to 6 inches) in depth. It was removed (and spread around nearby trees) to provide a stable, all-weather tread which also will discourage vegetation growth in the path. The Forest Park Conservancy organizes two days of Stewardship which attract 200 volunteers each day for 5 work hours per person. For ten other months, anywhere from 5 to 25 people volunteer on the third Saturday of the month, plus there are opportunities each Thursday. Americorps has several part time employees working in the park throughout the summer. The Portland Parks Department provides tools and materials. Several local businesses donate food and beverages and local sportswear companies provide merchandise gifts to reward participating volunteers.
Title: Forest park volunteers rerouting wildwood trail P2841
Credit: Own work
Author: EncMstr
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
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