Sean C. Morgan
01/23/12
Advocates working to improve community’s health and connections
The tree-lined South Hills Trail takes walkers from Sankey Park around the south edge of town to the west city limits, and the Sweet Home Community Trails Committee is continuing to improve the pathway.
The trail follows the abandoned Dollar Railroad line, which used to run from the spur behind McDonald’s to the Dollar Camp on the Upper Calapooia. Most of the property is owned by the City of Sweet Home from Sankey Park to just west of town. It is interrupted by a few pieces of private property, one on Elm Street and in the Canyon Creek development at the south end of 10th. West of Sweet Home, it is owned by private citizens.
The South Hills Trail, long known colloquially as “the railroads” by local joggers and walkers, is one of several projects the committee has been involved with. It also helped restore the Foster Lake Trail and now maintains it.
The committee has a variety of events lined up or in the planning stages this year.
City Councilor Scott McKee Jr. started the committee four years ago.
“I am an avid hiker,” McKee said. “I love the outdoors. It’s a place I enjoy being.”
He started the committee as a way to help people who enjoy walking and hiking to make connections and enjoy something that’s both free and healthy, encouraging social interaction and another resource for people with that interest.
The committee is informal, he said. Right now it has seven members, including McKee, Andrew Allen, Brian Hoffman, Jon Meier, Lance and Stefanie Gatchell and Kenneth Bronson. It has a Facebook list of 71 and an email list of more than 100.
“What’s really cool is it’s kind of fluid,” he said. “People participate when they can.”
McKee said the effort has an economic benefit.
“It increases the quality of life,” he said. “It makes it a more desirable place to live. It really brings people to the area.”
The Build Lebanon Trails group inspired the development of the Sweet Home Trails Committee, he said. He was a member of a series of Ford Leadership training sessions in Sweet Home, and he used the skills he learned there to get his committee going.
Three years ago, the City Council gave the committee $1,000, he said. The committee used extensive volunteer time, along with help from city parks employees and the county inmate work crew, to stretch those dollars in a variety of projects.
“We brought in as many partners as we could,” McKee said. The committee installed signs along the South Hills Trail where it intersects with streets and at the end of the trail just west of Sweet Home. Its efforts also included stairs up a muddy slope at Sankey Park, replacement of a handrail there and two new benches along the trail. It collected a dump truck load of debris from the trail.
“We’re working on getting it put into the city parks master plan as a park,” McKee said, and the committee is working on graveling a path along 16th Avenue from Sankey Park to Elm Street to get around a home that was constructed after the rail line was shut down in the mid 1960s.
“We really accomplished a lot of projects,” he said. After that, the committee reorganized with new members who had a variety of related skills and experience and connections with government agencies.
Then another group from the Ford Leadership training program approached the Trails Committee about restoring the Foster Lake Trail.
That trail, which runs along the north side of Foster Lake, a pet project of the late Keith Gabriel, had fallen into disrepair. The bridges were deteriorating, and the path was overgrown.
The committee and Ford Leadership group got together and started working on it two years ago, McKee said. They cleaned up the trail and repaired the bridges.
Now the committee uses work parties to keep up the trails, he said.
“We’ve been doing this ever since,” he said. “In the last year or two, we’ve focused more on strengthening ourselves as an organization. We’re trying to raise awareness and get people involved. We live in Oregon. Don’t let the rain keep you inside. We’re moving into holding more events and expanding the trails.”
The committee has worked with other organizations, like the Santiam Spokes, manning break stations in the Sweet Home area during rides. Its members are also keeping an eye on the proposed Community Forest project and wants to be involved in planning and developing a trail from Sweet Home to the Old Santiam Wagon Road as well as creating a water trail along the South Santiam River.
It has stayed involved in regional trails meetings with Albany and Lebanon groups.
The committee is participating in the Steelhead Fitness Lose For Life weight-loss contest, sponsoring one of the weeks to help encourage healthy living. It’s also planning various walks and other events.
“We’re going to grow the amount of events,” McKee said.
The committee will host its next work party on the Foster Lake Trail at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26. Participants should meet at Gedney Creek Boat Ramp. Trash bags and grabbers are provided.
On Feb. 23, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. it will hold an urban trail walk and trash pickup event led by Allen. The walk will include urban trails, including sidewalks and possibly the South Hills Trail. Participants should meet at Sankey Park.
On March 26, Lance Gatchell will lead a trip to hunt edible mushrooms. The trip starts at 10 a.m. Participants should meet at the Sweet Home Ranger Station, 4431 Hwy. 20. They may have to drive five to 20 miles, depending on weather.
On April 20, a work party is planned for 10 a.m. for either Foster Lake or South Hills trails. Details will be e-mailed later.
The committee plans to staff an aid station during a tentatively planned half-marathon race on May 25.
The organization falls under the umbrella of the Sweet Home Community Fund, which handles the committee’s money, McKee said.
“We’ve exhausted a lot of our resources without asking for much,” MCKee said. “We’re going into more fund-raising activities. All proceeds will go toward these efforts.”
For more information about the Sweet Home Trails Committee, call McKee at (541) 409-6191, email [email protected] or find it on Facebook as Sweet Home Community Trails.