What a day, and what great weather! Portland has been given a real treat with some early spring sunshine, which made the conditions perfect for some trail maintenance on the Elderberry Trail at Powell Butte Nature Park.
The dedicated volunteer team did a bit of work to maintain water drainage along the trail. Portland Parks & Recreation, along with partners like NWTA, has been methodically updating and improving the drainage in the entirety of the Park. On the Elderberry Trail, there was a cupped section of trail that resulted in water collecting on the trail. The crew added three rolling grade dips – three sections where dips were created in the trail with small grade reversals built up on the front end of the dips. These dips essentially create drains along the trail, where the water is given gentle sloped areas to run off of the trail instead of pooling on the trail. This minimizes erosion not only by preventing water from rushing along the trail and scouring the soil; but also because by keeping water off the trail, users will not inadvertently widen trail tread by walking around standing water and mud.
Right above the cupped section of the trail was an exposed geo-fabric from long-ago. The team removed the geo-fabric, and moved larger rocks beneath a smaller rock cap and added soil. Around 15 existing trail drains were also cleared of sediment, or organic materials such as leaves, evergreen needles and fir cones that collect over the winter season and don’t allow water to move off of the trail. The team accomplished a lot in a short amount of time!
NWTA routinely works with Portland Parks & Recreation on multi-use trails in the city. Join us for future opportunities! Huge thanks to Ahmed, Seamus, and the entire Parks trail team. Also, shoutout to Kent Davis, NWTA Board member and Powell Butte LST!