<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Volunteers spruce up Whipple Creek Regional Park

Committee putting to good use a source of money they discovered was available

By
Published:
4 Photos
Whipple Creek Park Restoration Committee President Anita Will's horse Russell nudges Treasurer Christine Kukula's dog Bebe, as the two committee members show off some of the finished trail work at the park on Nov.
Whipple Creek Park Restoration Committee President Anita Will's horse Russell nudges Treasurer Christine Kukula's dog Bebe, as the two committee members show off some of the finished trail work at the park on Nov. 18. Photo Gallery

Whipple Creek Regional Park: The 300-acre regional park, which includes 4.3 miles of multi-use trails, is located west of the Clark County Fairgrounds off Northwest 179th Avenue. A parking lot is located at 17202 N.W. 21st Ave. The park is open from 7 a.m. to dusk. Learn more at www.clark.wa.gov/publicworks/parks/whipplecreek.html.

The volunteer group meets on the third Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. at Mill Creek Pub and Restaurant, 1710 S.E. Ninth Ave., Battle Ground. They organize trail maintenance days throughout the year. For more information contact President Anita Will at whipplecreekproject@gmail.com, 360-687-4760, or visit whipplecreekparkrc.org.

When Anita Will saw what vandals had done to the remains of the historic stone grist mill at Whipple Creek Regional Park, her heart sank.

“I cried when I saw it,” said Will, president of the Whipple Creek Park Restoration Committee. “To see it vandalized and (spray) painted and torn apart, it was just really hard to see that. And very upsetting because it is part of our park and our history here.”

Whipple Creek Regional Park: The 300-acre regional park, which includes 4.3 miles of multi-use trails, is located west of the Clark County Fairgrounds off Northwest 179th Avenue. A parking lot is located at 17202 N.W. 21st Ave. The park is open from 7 a.m. to dusk. Learn more at <a href="http://www.clark.wa.gov/publicworks/parks/whipplecreek.html">www.clark.wa.gov/publicworks/parks/whipplecreek.html</a>.

Though the equestrian enthusiast has been a regular visitor since the early 1980s, Will said that over time parts of the trail system went to seed. Not only were vandals using the remains of the old mill in the park’s south side as a canvas for graffiti and other nefarious activities, but invasive blackberry bushes and other overgrowth were crowding in on paths while squishy ground made it difficult to trudge forward.

Her belief that the 300-acre heavily forested refuge west of the Clark County Fairgrounds could be much more welcoming to hikers, joggers, mountain bikers and horseback riders, led to the creation of the restoration committee about four years ago.

“You can’t keep using something and not give back. It just doesn’t work,” Will said. “This is our park.”

Before Will and the restoration committee began galvanizing efforts to improve the park a few years ago, some stretches of the 4.3 miles of trails that wind through the area were notorious for being a muddy mess thanks to poor drainage and soggy soil that had a tendency to suck off the shoes of visitors.

“It was getting to the point where there would be a foot of mud in certain areas. It wasn’t accessible in the winter time,” said Clark County Public Works Volunteer Program Coordinator Karen Llewellyn.

“We look at it as one mudhole at a time,” Will said. “It’s never really had an overhaul, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Thanks to the restoration committee’s work, as well as help from other volunteers and groups including local Boy Scouts of America members and the Washington Trails Association, portions of the park that were once off-limits during bad weather are now accessible year-round.

Since 2011, volunteers have given more than 5,300 hours of their time to the project, according to the county, which has little to no money budgeted to spend on regular park maintenance.

The volunteer group meets on the third Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. at Mill Creek Pub and Restaurant, 1710 S.E. Ninth Ave., Battle Ground. They organize trail maintenance days throughout the year. For more information contact President Anita Will at whipplecreekproject@gmail.com, 360-687-4760, or visit whipplecreekparkrc.org.

“The good news is you have the volunteers who are willing to make the effort,” Llewellyn said.

Big discovery

During monthly committee-led work parties in the past year, helpers hauled materials, cleared brush and toughened paths with rock and anti-erosion layering along parts of the South Ridge Loop and Grist Mill Loop trails.

The $25,225 spent on those projects came from the nonprofit Columbia Land Trust, which is in charge of overseeing $75,000 that was donated in 1997 by the Landerholm, Lansverk and Elmer families to be used for Whipple Creek park improvements. Those families once owned a combined 40 acres that are now part of the county park.

But the $75,000 sat unused until Will learned of its existence two years ago after finding a Columbian article from 1997 about the trust’s fund. She was thrilled to find that the entire amount was still available.

“There wasn’t any funding (for trail improvements) from what I was told,” Will said.

The land trust recently released another $27,000 to the Parks Foundation of Clark County to be given to the restoration committee so it can continue work. Next year, $17,000 is planned to be used to complete the north section of South Ridge Loop Trail, and $10,000 has been set aside to start the process of figuring out a plan to restore the dilapidated stone mill that is now a target for vandals.

“With the funding that’s come in, I feel we really have been able to move forward much more quickly than initially expected,” Llewellyn said. “You don’t see that a lot.”

Committee Treasurer Christine Kukula, an avid runner who regularly visits the park with her Australian cattle dog Bebe, said she and others who have invested so much time to help restoring the park have strong connections with it. A breast cancer survivor, Kukula said the park and its sprawling beauty has been a “godsend” to her in her recovery.

She said the recent improvements to the trail system have done wonders. What were once tricky routes to travel because of the overly soft ground are now much easier — and enjoyable — for Kukula and Bebe to navigate.

“Now I can go easy for an hour,” she said. “No mud, solid trails.”

For Will, the natural beauty of the park is something she wants everyone to be able to experience, not just those with mud-proof boots.

“You can go in there and you can forget you’re close to home,” she said. “It’s like you’re way out in the mountains somewhere. It’s a real getaway. There’s something about being around trees that really rejuvenates people.”

Loading...