Once dominated by large ponderosa pines, removed over the past couple of years due to beetle damage, Sorosis Park in The Dalles is now dominated by oak trees. Improved irrigation is currently the top priority at the park, and once repairs are made new trees and other plantings will be considered, say park officials.
An image posted on the Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation website, nwprd.org, details potential locations for new trees and other proposed elements for the park’s rehabilitation.
Once dominated by large ponderosa pines, removed over the past couple of years due to beetle damage, Sorosis Park in The Dalles is now dominated by oak trees. Improved irrigation is currently the top priority at the park, and once repairs are made new trees and other plantings will be considered, say park officials.
Alana Lackner photo
Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District (NWPRD) has released a proposed plan for the replanting and rehabilitation of Sorosis Park in The Dalles.
According to NWPRD Director Scott Baker, the department initiated a lot of community outreach to determine what was most important to focus on in the park’s rehabilitation.
“We did just a tremendous amount of community outreach to hear what people would like to see in their revitalized, rehabilitated Sorosis Park, and then we took all of that input, and then created that design that incorporates those things,” Baker said. “Of course, it will need to be phased, and we simply don’t have the resources to do everything that people want all at once. But what we did hear loud and clear was that the planting and irrigation were the number one priority. And that’s what we’re working on now.”
Baker said that efforts are currently underway to hire a topographical surveyor so they can design an irrigation plan. Once the design is complete, they will put it out to bid, hopefully this spring. Ideally, they’ll get a good bid from a contractor and be able to proceed, he said.
“My fingers are crossed that we’ll be able to hire somebody, a well-qualified company, to do that work this summer and fall,” he said.
An image posted on the Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation website, nwprd.org, details potential locations for new trees and other proposed elements for the park’s rehabilitation.
Contributed photo
Rachel Carter, a member of the NWPRD board, said the biggest emphasis currently is irrigation, followed by replanting trees.
“Irrigation has always been an issue over there (at Sorosis Park),” she said. “It’s an old, really old irrigation system. So there’s been broken pipes, and it’s just been an issue.”
Carter said they would love to tackle other projects, and hopefully will at some point, but they’ll likely need to secure additional funds first.
According to Baker, just the irrigation and planting will be more than $700,000. Ideally, they would like to have $1 million for the first phase. So far, they have $600,000.
“(The City of The Dalles) have pledged $400,000 towards the Sorosis rehabilitation, and we have $200,000 in our account towards that effort,” Baker said.
Baker continued to say that NWPRD has asked Wasco County to contribute $400,000 to the project as well, but the county has yet to decide whether or not to do so.
“(Four hundred thousand dollars) is a small portion of the $5 million that they received from the feds for infrastructure projects,” Baker said. “We’re eligible for the county to share that money with us. This project is eligible, but they have not yet decided what, if any, they would like to share with the community’s park development.”
After they know how much they’ll receive from Wasco County, Baker said they’ll focus on fundraising. As it stands, those who wish to donate to the project can do so at donorbox.org/sorosis-park-stump-grinding. As of now, the project has nearly $2,000 of a $12,000 goal on donorbox.
To learn more about the Sorosis Park rehabilitation, those interested can visit nwprd.org.
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