An Opportunity to Represent Oak Lodge on the Park District Advisory Committee

by Eric Shawn

I’m writing as a park district volunteer (15+ years) and current member of the NCPRD budget committee to encourage Rose Villa resident participation in the North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District (NCPRD).

NCPRD is governed by our county’s Board of County Commissioners.  With one of the lowest tax rates among Oregon park districts, this service district coordinates a coalition of intergovernmental agreements, not for profit organizations, watershed councils and wide-ranging citizen interest groups focused on our parks.  A few of the competing interests include walkers & dog walkers, picnickers, bikers, gamers, sports teams, environmentalists and swimmers.  Each interest group has a different critical mass of support with some overlap.

From 2005 to 2012 The Friends of North Clackamas Parks (FoNCP) was one of the park focused non-profit organizations actively engaged publicly and privately with local citizens, planners and engineers, planning commissions, district staff, the advisory board, County administrator and the Board of County commissioners.  FoNCP was an active participant at North Clackamas Park, Mt. Talbert Nature Park, RiverVilla Park, Three Creeks Natural Area, Kronberg Park and Stringfield Park, among other parks.  The North Clackamas Urban Watersheds Council formed in 2009 and has continued to be an active participant for the watersheds and natural areas.

The district is transitioning from the earlier District Advisory Board model to a new eleven member District Advisory Committee that includes one member representing community centers and two citizens for each of four unincorporated geographic areas (Oak Grove is sub-area 2).  The City of Milwaukie will continue to appoint two representatives for that City.

Grasp the opportunity to represent our Oak Lodge area on the NCPRD District Advisory Committee.  Whatever your interest, be sure to attend the April 29 virtual meeting – https://ncprd.com/district-advisory-committee and vote to nominate citizens who have applied to represent our area. Citizen participation makes a difference.