Madrone wall update

[sketchfest]

Just read this from The Oregonian:

 

Fans of rock-climbing site try to scale the political wall

The former Hardscrabble Quarry was a popular spot, and conservationists ask Clackamas County to make it into a park

Thursday, December 09, 2004

CHRIS EHRLICH

Rock climbers and land preservationists want Clackamas County officials to protect and reopen to the public the Hardscrabble Quarry -- or Madrone Wall -- a 100-foot vertical cliff considered one of the best rock-climbing sites in the Portland area.

They have proposed creation of a county park at the scenic 44-acre site that overlooks the Clackamas River. The land, now zoned for rock and timber harvesting, is estimated to be worth about $10 million.

 

"Once it's gone, we can't get another one. It's irreplaceable -- there's only one," said Keith Daellenbach, 37, an avid rock climber and director of the nonprofit Madrone Wall Preservation Committee.

 

"It's a very rare and unusual civic treasure. These kind of places just don't exist in other places -- I know it."

 

The preservation committee, which, according to its president, Ian Caldwell, represents the whole Portland area's rock-climbing community, has been in talks with the county since 1998.

 

The group also has sent mailings to rock climbers throughout the region, initiated letter-writing campaigns to the commissioners and co-funded a study with the county in 2000 that determined it wouldn't be cost-effective for the county to quarry the site.

 

County commissioners and staff are expected to discuss options for the former quarry site that runs along Oregon 224 between Carver and Damascus at a study session early next year.

 

Portland area rock climbers scaled the site's cliff for years until 1997, when the county closed it to the public to absolve itself of legal liability for the property and to consider quarrying it.

 

The 2000 study concluded that legal liability may not be an obstacle to making the site a park.

 

"My vision would be for it to be a climbing wall until such time that we need the area for gravel mining, and I don't foresee that to be in the next 10 years or so," County Commissioner Larry Sowa said.

 

"I think other areas have operated under county auspices and liability is taken care of, so I think that could be done (at Hardscrabble)."

 

Sowa would like the county to make a final decision on the site's future in the spring or summer.

 

Popular climbing spot

 

Members of the regional rock-climbing community said they lost one of the most beloved cliffs in the Portland area when the county placed no-trespassing signs at the site in 1997.

 

"When it was open, it was easily, in the spring and the fall, the most popular climbing area in Portland," said Gary Rall, owner of Portland Rock Gym, an indoor rock-climbing facility people typically visit to train for outdoor climbs.

 

Based on his own market research, Rall estimates the number of rock climbers in the Portland area has grown from about 3,000 in 1997 to about 10,000 today.

 

"There's a limited supply of cliffs. We don't have that luxury of having another cliff made. It's a natural resource," he said.

 

The site includes a basalt cliff formed by ancient lava flows as well as more than 100 plant species, including old-growth Douglas firs and Pacific madrone, and blacktail deer, according to the preservation committee and a Portland State University ecology study that the committee funded.

 

Daellenbach contends that mining the site would cause an "environmental disaster." Quarrying, he said, would result in increases in traffic, noise, dust, wastewater flow into the Clackamas River, and habitat destruction.

 

"It's all in your perspective, I guess," said Dan Zinzer, the county's transportation engineering and parks manager.

 

Any commercial project at the site would have to be approved by various local, state and federal environmental agencies, Zinzer said. He said wildlife and habitats at the site would be disrupted if the site were a park.

 

Site's value considered

 

Sowa said the county must determine whether it can "forgo" the $10 million it could possibly earn by selling the land to a mining company. The county's annual parks operating budget, excluding Stone Creek Golf Club, is about $1.2 million for 17 parks, Zinzer said.

 

The county has spent a nominal amount of funds to maintain the abandoned site. If the site were a park, Zinzer said, the county would not have to make a "huge investment" to open and close gates, set up garbage cans and portable toilets, and maintain trails.

 

Zinzer said county officials should solicit and consider all public input on the site before making a decision on its future.

 

"This is coming to the forefront today based on what a lot of the rock-climbing groups are asking for," Zinzer said. "I haven't heard a lot of interest from anybody else."

 

Daellenbach, of Northeast Portland, said the site would be a perfect park for all Portland area residents. It is an excellent place for picnics, bird-watching, wildflowers and hiking, he said.

 

The site also could be used as a field classroom for students from grade school through college to learn about diverse ecosystems, wetlands and geology, Daellenbach said.

 

"It's an excellent resource for the community," Daellenbach said. "We need outlets for schools to go to, and if we have none, then we can't do that. We have opportunities to set aside land now for future generations."

 

Rall said the regional rock-climbing community alone is not a large enough constituency to protect the site or lobby the county.

 

"We're large enough to be noticed, but too small to stand up for ourselves, so we rely on common sense and commissioners and politicians," Rall said.

 

County hearings officer Larry Epstein -- a lawyer and contract employee appointed by the commissioners -- must approve any plans that would make the site a park.

 

Chris Ehrlich can be reached at ehrlichsports@yahoo.com.

Edited December 9, 2004 by sketchfest

[Doug_Hutchinson]

Keep up the good work Keith, Ian and Gary! Everyone else should pick up one of the shiny new "Save Madrone" shirts at your local climbing shop.

[barkernews]

Nice work! Anything we can do to help?

[billcoe]

 

 

Keiths stamina has been nothing short of Homeric. Looks like he's got the win this time (I know that's been said before). I'd bumped into Keith a few months back and he was talking like he finally might have it done, depending on ABC and D. I bow down in awe to the mans superhuman stamina for working to make this happen for over 18 years.

 

http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/285976-162537-madrone-walls-88590-clackamas-county-grant-to-construct-access-road-parking-lot

 

 

"...thanks to a $88,590 grant from the Clackamas County Tourism Development Commission and money gathered by several other partners, the Madrone Wall property, located along the Clackamas River Bluffs on Highway 224 at Southeast 197th in Damascus, will become a park, open to all."

[elaine]

Thanks, Bill, for posting the article!

Keith definitely wins the perseverance award!

 

This $88,590 grant from Clackamas County Tourism Development Commission will add to about approximately $70,000 in large anonymous donations, REI/AAC grants, and current funds in our piggybank from previous grants and donations should be enough to get started on construction in the late summer and fall of 2016.

 

I am assuming that the Oregon National Guard 1249 Innovative Readiness Team will be doing the work. (See previous posts here in the Access Forum if you were not aware). That is what we've been hoping for anyways.

 

Clackamas County have set an opening goal date of July 1, 2017, and probably to make sure that any successful eyries of peregrines have had a chance to fledge. I am thinking this is the main reason for the delay between construction being done by 12/2016 and opening 6 months later. Things that will be in the works and we may be calling upon climbers and other local experts to help develop management plans. We have accessed plans in recent years from Beacon Rock and Smith Rock.

 

Thanks for all of the support over the years everyone!

 

Kellie Rice

President, Madrone Wall Preservation Committee

savemadrone.org

https://www.facebook.com/madronewall