Goodman Creek Trail Volunteer Event

On April 23rd, in celebration of Earth Day, Northwest Youth Corps and REI sponsored a trail work party to restore portions of the popular Goodman Creek trail. In Total, 36 people spent close to 150 person hours maintaining culverts, installing two french drains and laying more than 8 cubic yards of gravel. The USFS provided materials and sent an expert sawyer up the trail to clear downed trees blocking the trail.  AmeriCorps team leaders from the OutDoor High School provided supervision.  Three local trail advocacy groups participated in the event -- Disciples of Dirt (mountain bikers), Obsidians (hikers), and Backcountry Horseman of America (equestrians). A grant awarded to ODS by REI initiated the cooperative effort.  $3,000 was awarded to fund ODS work crews to construct a turnpike on the Goodman Creek Trail and do basic tread maintenance; work that was accomplished last fall.

Volunteers = 24 people
NYC staff = 10 people
REI = 2 people
Total = 36 people

By the end of the day, a total of 144 hours were devoted to the Goodman Creek Trail (not including scoping, drive time and clean up).

Project accomplishments:
2 French drains installed
2 culverts removed
1 culvert installed
1 culvert maintained
Approx. 8 yards of gravel hauled and spread over about 300 feet.
Approx. 100 feet of drainage ditches

Here are a few comments e-mailed to us after the work day:

“If you've been following the news lately you may have noticed a number of articles about declining Forest Service recreation/trails budgets. Next year is expected to be down 10-25% from this year which is the lowest it's been in 15 years. Bottom line is that we will continue to rely more and more heavily on volunteer help to keep facilities available to the public. The Mt. Biking community has been excellent at stepping up to help. The trail network associated with the Goodman Ck. trail head is one of our most popular Mt. bike destinations. Given it's relatively low elevation it's available year around. That mean's it's pretty susceptible to wet condition degradation. The more we can focus some user support to this trail the better our chance to keep it available without significant user restrictions. We would like to thank you for all of your efforts with last weekend and over the years.' Thanks.
-- Jim W. -- Recreation, Heritage, Lands & Minerals Staff, Middle Fork Ranger District - Willamette National Forest

'I had fun on Saturday working with y'all. It was great to meet some of the Obsidians, and to work with the NYC and AmeriCorps. I did AmeriCorps in 1995, we were the first session, and it was cool to talk to the Americorps kids yesterday and see the program is still alive, helping kids pay for college and give back to their communities at the same time. I'm looking forward to hitting Goodman Creek this summer and admiring the trailwork.'
-- Matt D. (Disciples of Dirt)

'...laughed, got really friggen muddy/ wet(hey is this Oregon?)met some great people who love the trails as much as we all do, and had a great time! I sure want to do some more of that! One of the best 'non-bike' experiences I've had!  Thanks to REI, Ryan O. NYC, OBSIDIANS, EQUESTRIANS, and any other groups, individuals who came out and made it a great day! (A total of some 36 people?) Cheers.'
-- Lee

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