Rilee Park cleanup connects community

Friends of Chehalem Trails photo##Friends of Chehalem Trails president Matt Dolphin, center, talks with some of the 50 volunteer who showed up Aug. 16 to help restore trails at Bob and Crystal Rilee Park, west of Newberg on Parrett Mountain.

Friends of Chehalem Trails photo##Area student-athletes from the south Portland National Interscholastic Cycling Association team clear overgrowth brush from the trail during the event. The team coach and director said they hope cycling will be allowed there again in the future — bicycle usage was restricted in 2023. Regardless, the kids enjoyed helping the community and parks system maintain the trails.

Community members assembled at Newberg’s Bob and Crystal Rilee Park on Aug. 16 to remove overgrowth along the trail. While the end goal of the event was to maintain the green space, the community relationships forged and the life lessons taught were added benefits.

“I think that’s an important part of what we do,” said Matt Dolphin, president of Friends of Chehalem Trails, the nonprofit organization that organized the cleanup. “Continuing to get people out on the trails, encouraging people to meet and walk together, hike together, bike together, even ride their horses together, out on trails so that we can introduce more people to the awesome recreation opportunities we have in the community.”

The event hosted roughly 50 people who cleared blackberry bushes and other brush from a mile-long section of the trail. Equipment was provided by the Chehelam Parks and Recreation District, the agency that governs the park, and several local outdoor recreation groups volunteered as well.

Rilee Park is a 327-acre space originally belonging to Samuel Parrett, an Oregon homesteader during the mid-1800s. Following the death of Parrett’s last living relative, a foundation was created in 2007 to donate the land to be used as a history museum and equestrian park. The CPRD acquired the land in 2014 after an embezzlement scandal involving the foundation’s former executive director, making it the CPRD’s largest park.

“It’s just a really beautiful, beautiful, stellar park,” said Kat Ricker, CPRD public information director. “It has amazing views of Mount Hood and other of the peaks in our area on clear days. It’s a very immersive nature walk experience.”

Local equestrian and cycling groups volunteered to make the trail safer and functional for all types of park users. In its current form, the master plan for Rilee Park allows only hikers and horseback riders to use the property, with bike usage having been cut in 2023.

“The (Rilee Park) trails are probably some of the best trails that we have in our nearby vicinity to get to,” said Doug Cousineau, director of south Portland’s National Interscholastic Cycling Association team. “It’s close for a lot of people to come after school, whereas if we go out to Mount Hood or down to Silver Falls State Park or over to the coastal range, we’re talking an hour to an hour and a half drive.”

Nevertheless, Cousineau’s middle and high school students helped clean up the trail as a part of the group’s community service focus. Despite the hot weather, Cousineau said his students enjoyed the event and hoped they left with a better understanding of responsible land stewardship.

“We still wanted to help the community and help the parks maintain these trails so that they would be available for any users, all users,” he said. “In our hopes one day is that the park system can find us some trails there, but we wanted to be good stewards and continue to work with them for any betterment of the park system.”

For the future of Rilee Park, more improvement projects seem to be on the horizon. While winter may slow some operations, Friends of Chehalem Trails are looking into possible tree planting opportunities within the park, according to Dolphin, and the CPRD plans to improve signage in the area, said Ricker.

“When we get out in nature, and we’re more connected with nature, we’re more likely to take care of it,” said Dolphin. “And so that’s important for future generations, that we’re taking care of the planet.… That connection to history, the connection to nature, the connection to health and mental health and just community to each other, is really important.”