State denies Deschutes rule change for proposed Bend Parks footbridge

Oregon’s park management agency on Wednesday declined to approve a request from the Bend Park and Recreation District to change parts of a rule for the Upper Deschutes River State Scenic Waterway on Bend’s southern outskirts so a new footbridge can be built.

Instead, the State Parks and Recreation Commission agreed to a staff recommendation at its meeting in Portland decided to leave the current rule language unchanged.

They instead directed Oregon Parks and Recreation Department staff to convene a group to study the need for rule updates more thoroughly.

The park district request, made last year, would have amended an outright prohibition on crossings on roughly 3 1/2 miles of river immediately upstream from (south of) Bend, and inserted language allowing a bicycle/pedestrian bridge to support completion of the Deschutes River Trail.

Instead, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department will take a broader look at how the river near Bend has changed since being designated in 1988.

The study group will be able to suggest any rule amendments needed to continue protection of the scenic waterway and at the same time address current community and state needs for all kinds of outdoor recreation within the scenic waterway boundary.

If the group proposes rule changes, they will be run through the same public review process used for all state administrative rules.

Details — such as how to form the study group, and what its schedule will be — will be drafted in the coming weeks and posted on the OPRD website at http://oregon.gov/oprd/. People who want to be kept informed of these next steps can send an email to oprd.publiccomment@oregon.gov and refer to the Upper Deschutes Scenic Waterway Study Group.

Park District Executive Director Don Horton reacted to the move with this statement:

“We look forward to working with Oregon Recreation and Parks Department as they study the section of scenic waterway that lies within Bend’s Urban Growth Boundary to open this stretch of river to the citizens of Bend.

“The Deschutes River Trail is important to Bend’s growing recreation-based economy. Opening this section of river will not only allow for the community’s vision of a continuous trail from Tumalo State Park to Sunriver, it will allow this community treasures to be enjoyed by everyone. “

Horton also told NewsChannel 21 that the state’s broader approach “may open this stretch of river to recreation uses other than the bridge,”

For now kayaking is the only recreation use in the stretch of river, with its rapids and eddys. “We’ll see what else comes out of the process,” Horton wrote. “Hopefully, this stretch will one day be used for more than expert kayaking,” from hiking or running to bird-watching, biking, walking a dog, etc.