BPRD working to maintain, protect Deschutes River

The Bend Park and Recreation District’ is working on better access to the Deschutes River, while preserving the waterway and its sometimes degraded banks at the same time.

The river has seen some negative impacts due to the continued surge in use of unofficial river access, and the Bend Park and Rec Board is trying to find a balance between preserving the river and allowing people to enjoy it.

This summer, the district conducted a survey to see just how people are using the river. It was done at 16 different parks, where 105 access points were observed.

Of those access points, 25 are designated for river access, while the other 80 were created by river users, the park board was told at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Sarah Bodo, a park planner with the park district, said the district will work to have a conversation with the community on how to best utilize the river moving forward.

“The park district wants to put a lot of thoughtful effort into this planning effort, and plan for the future,” Bodo said. “So Bend has seen a lot of growth both in its population and in its tourism, so a lot of people are using these access points, as well as creating their own. It’s really going to be important that whatever we do, prioritize for the future is something that can be maintained as well.”

The survey was the first step in the planning process for the park district, and now they hope to get community input on the future of the river.

Bodo said this will begin about a two-year process of fine-tuning what’s already in place along the river, to make sure access points are sustainable.

The park district also got an update Tuesday night about the new turf fields the Bend FC Timbers are building at Pine Nursery Park.

Construction on the new fields is underway, and the funding has mostly come from donations. it’s a project that’s been in the works since 2007.

The idea is not just to benefit the soccer players with Bend FC Timbers, but also to benefit the entire community, who can use the fields for several sports.

Tara Bilanski, executive director of Bend FC Timbers, said this investment will have a positive impact for the community.

“If you look at other fields like this across Oregon, Washington etc., those user groups, they are knocking on the door constantly,” Bilanski said. “We’ve already gotten phone calls of, ‘Hey, when can we get on the schedules?’

“So we know there’s a need out there, and we want to make sure that the community at large recognizes that these are not just soccer fields these will be open to use for rentals to other community members as well.”

Bilanski said the hope is to get this phase of the project completed by November. There’s a long-term goal of adding two more fields by 2025.

The board also discussed the future of Juniper Park, by the Juniper Swim and Fitness Center

The board approved moving forward with improvements to the area, including updating the bathroom and playground, and putting in a more accessible parking lot off Sixth Street. The project will cost around $2 million.

Jason Powell with Bend Park and Recreation said the improvements are much-needed for the area.

“There’s currently an entrance to the parking lot off of Sixth Street that will actually be expanded and improved,” Powell said. “So in addition to that entry being improved and parking being improved at that location, there will be a 10-foot-wide paved path that enters the park at that location.

“From there, it will actually lead northwest through to Hawthorne Avenue and Fifth Street. So that will allow better access to that portion of the park, but it also connects to the playground,” he added

Construction is slated to start by Sept. 16, with a completion date next spring.