Parks

Sams was the first Native American to lead the National Park Service.

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has asked the community what to do with the beloved but decaying ‘Muscle Tree’ at Yaquina Bay State Park.

Oregon Parks want input on priorities for a ten-year update to their statewide trails plan. This month, trail users can share their thoughts at a series of online focus groups.

The plight of the Mt. Adams Institute is just one of many examples of how sweeping federal cutbacks are rippling through nonprofit organizations that do everything from trail maintenance to multimillion dollar salmon restoration projects. 

Portland General Electric’s Harborton Reliability Project could remove about 400 mature trees to upgrade one transmission line and build a stretch of new line.

Saving programs that serve Portland kids has been a central theme in the first two public budget sessions, held in Southeast Portland’s District 3 and East Portland’s District 1 last week.

The agency says there were nearly 53.85 million estimated visits last year. That’s up 3% from the year before for coastal parks. Other parks had slightly fewer visits.

People cited physical barriers as the biggest hurdle when it came to visiting parks, according to an equity survey conducted by the Lane County Parks Department.

Brian Gibbs was an environmental educator at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa. His job was among those nixed by the Trump administration as it pushes to shrink federal spending.

The 268-acre park started as a filbert orchard in 1892, and is recognized as the first commercial filbert orchard in the United States. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.