Connection, regionalism and a fish head – just another day in the park at Blue Lake.
A gathering of park enthusiasts, including Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., braved the temperamental April weather on Earth Day to celebrate the opening of a new trail at Blue Lake Regional Park.
While the crowd gathered for the ceremonial ribbon cutting, two huge bald eagles soared over the crowd and dropped a half-eaten fish head on the grassy field, missing the cluster of heads by 10 feet.
This chance occurrence was an opportunity for a group of Rosemary Anderson High School students from the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center who were in the park to get hands-on education for Earth Day.
The new Blue Lake Park Trail, while only a half-mile long, fills a gap in the larger 40-Mile Loop, a century-old vision of a loop of trails connecting regional parks.
Wearing a coral-and-black patterned bowtie and his trademark bicycle pin on his lapel, Blumenauer spoke about his enduring connection with Blue Lake Park, saying he had visited the park since he was a student at Centennial High School.
Blumenauer referred to the trail system as a regional priority and how projects like the 40-Mile Loop are connecting links that tie the community together.
Metro Councilor Shirley Craddick reiterated this idea of regional cooperation.
"We can't do it without looking at this as a region because no one jurisdiction can afford to do this on their own," Craddick said. "It takes the federal government, and regional government and all these local governments to make this happen."
The trail section cost $1.6 million to design, engineer, permit and construct. The money came from a nearly $5 million earmark through the Federal Highway Administration. This was facilitated by Blumenauer and matched by Metro through open spaces bond measures in 1995 and 2006.
This federal funding has already been used to develop and construct the Trolley Trail, the Gresham/Fairview Trail, the Sellwood Gap and the Waud Bluff Trail.
These trails have been in the works for over 20 years; they’re far younger than the Olmstead brothers’ 1903 vision for the 40-Mile Loop.
Mel Huie, a trails planner at Metro, described the decades of work that has gone into into building a regional trails system.
"In the late 80's, we spent four years putting together a regional trails master plan and green spaces master plan which was adopted by the Metro Council in July of 1992, which outlined a map of priority trails," Huie said. "It was a very participatory planning process our local trail partners, cities, counties and districts and trail advocate groups like the 40-Mile Loop Land Trust and the public. We had over 200 public meetings developing the trail."
When Metro staff met with Blumenauer a decade ago to discuss finishing the 40-Mile Loop, there was already a list of high-priority trails to work from, and a working relationship among advocates.
The trail also remedies safety concerns for biking along Marine Drive. Fairview City Councilor Dan Kreamier said that safety concerns had been limiting bicyclists near the park.
"Only experienced bicyclists will ride on the Marine Drive shoulder," Kreamier said. "With this anyone can ride along with their kids, or strollers or anything. It really expands the usefulness of it."
The completion of this section helps finish the pedestrian connection between Kelley Point Park and the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway Trail. The latter trail connects with the Pacific Crest Trail in Cascade Locks.
Huie was excited about the expansion of possibilities from this new trail.
"From here you could walk to Canada or Mexico. It would take a little bit of time, but it’s feasible," he said.