All signs point to another year of trail controversy

Yamhill County — where public park development has not been a high priority — has park projects drawing high public interest going into 2026. County leaders are planning to eliminate the expansive Yamhelas Westsider Trail from the county Transportation System Plan; commissioners have overturned the long-time deed restriction limiting use of Charles Metsker Park (west of McMinnville) to organized youth groups; and on a smaller scale, officials are contemplating what to do with tiny Crabtree Park west of Newberg.

The county’s website cites ownership of “17 developed and undeveloped park properties for a total of 253 acres … (ranking the county) 26th of 36 Oregon counties in terms of park acreage per county resident.” Rogers Landing on the Willamette River is the flagship recreation facility, and smaller parks sprinkled countywide provide diverse outdoor experiences.

The core challenge with parks, said Public Works Director Mark Lago, “is a persistent lack of funding — a barrier that has kept us from properly maintaining our parks, investing in necessary improvements, and expanding opportunities to serve our community today and for generations to come.”

For years, the proposed Yamhelas Trail project has dominated county government. Political campaigns waged by rural landowners and their supporters have elected county commissioners who, in turn, have put trail opponents into key county decision-making positions. Now, after years of controversy and millions of dollars spent, county commissioners will hold a Jan. 22 public hearing expected to be a prelude to their abandonment of the trail project.

Widespread, unconfirmed fears suggest that the county may try to sell off portions of the 15.25-mile section of right-of-way between McMinnville and Gaston to preclude any future trail development. In response, trail supporters are taking their case to the public.

Longtime supporters of the rural bicycle and hiking trail, politically reorganized, will soon collect signatures on a proposed ballot measure that would require a public vote on any effort to convey rural trail properties without retaining public access rights. Their original measure was disallowed by county Clerk Keri Hinton because it was “administrative,” not “legislative” in nature, as is required for Oregon ballot measures.

The trail support group this week posted, “We know there are powerful interests who would prefer that the future of the Yamhelas Westsider Trail never be placed in the hands of voters. We are committed … so this decision is ultimately made by the people of Yamhill County.”

On the flip side of park expansion, county officials are proposing multi-million-dollar development of rural Charles Metsker Park and its historic Rainbow Lake. The 20-acre parcel was donated to Yamhill County in 1962 by Willamette Valley Lumber Co. with a deed restriction limiting its use “to organized youth groups and county juvenile rehabilitation activities.”

A volunteer Friends of Charles Metsker Park raised tens of thousands of dollars to redevelop the park for outdoor school and other youth activities. Some believe that Charles Metsker extracted a promise of that deed restriction when he sold the property to WVLC. County officials are unaware of any such promise, which might have complicated the process of changing the restriction.

In 2007, the county and Weyerhaeuser — successor to WVLC — changed the restriction to “educational and research purposes for organized groups.” This year, that limitation was further generalized to “for public use and shall not be open to the public outside of the hours of 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.”

Officials say it will be easier to obtain grants for Metsker Park development with the park fully open to public use. There are no current plans for financial assistance from Weyerhaeuser, which maintains ownership of timberlands surrounding the park.

“The previous deed restriction was extremely problematic when attempting to seek funding resources,” said county Parks Manager Travis Pease, “because it prohibited public access to the property. Now, with this deed amendment allowing for public use, the county can pursue funding opportunities through grants with the state and other resources, including grant opportunities with Weyerhaeuser.”

Development of such a secluded public park could create different problems for the county. While waiting for resources to appear, that new full-public-access policy could turn a now-protected park area into an area of misuse and deterioration.

Meanwhile, the county has reclaimed responsibility for maintaining 1.5-acre Crabtree Park, and officials are unsure if the small facility merits significant development resources.

Of these three park issues, it clearly will be Yamhelas Westsider Trail that continues to draw the most spirited community response. Readers can expect to see continuing updates on this story well into 2026 and beyond.