Welcome to my senior project blog!
I’ve spent years hiking the trails around Portland, and some of favorites have always been in Forest Park. For my project, I wanted to focus on two broad goals: enjoying the outdoors and giving back to help other people enjoy them. I settled on trail running for the enjoying element of my project because I wanted to try something new that could also serve as a way to get in shape. I started running this fall when my sister suggested we run the Holiday Half (a half marathon). Running that frankly sucked and I felt like I was going to collapse at the end, but it was really satistfying to complete… and so I might be hooked on running now.
For the service side of my project, I chose to work with Hoyt Arboretum Friends, the non-profit organization that runs programs and fundraises for Hoyt Arboretum. I was having difficulty finding trail service work in Forest Park when I remembered that some past Catlin students have worked with Hoyt, and sure enough they were eager to work with me! My mentor is Becky Schreiber, who is the Deputy Director of Hoyt Arboretum Friends and runs the Operations & Volunteer Programs.
In selecting Hoyt for my service rather than a purely trail service organization, my plans and goals for this project have slightly shifted in a fun way. I am still doing trail service, working at least every Tuesday on Hoyt’s Tuesday Crew to remove invasive species on trails and even take out trees that they have decided should no longer remain in the park. This Tuesday we removed a cherry tree that had become a nuissance to the arboretum because it kept flowering (which is the cool part of having a cherry tree) and then causing new cherry trees to grow everywhere (which is the less cool part of having a cherry tree). It was a serious tree- you can see the Arboretum curator here chopping it down (or rather the third of it that was left by the time this picture was taken):
Aside from Tuesday Crew, I am also working on a project to improve accessibility on the trails at Hoyt and I get to work in the visitor center, telling people about how they can best experience the arboretum. With these opporunities in mind, I’ve settled on these four goals for my project (I ended up with more than three to highlight all my work at Hoyt + my runnning):
1. Build conservation skills through stewardship work with the Tuesday Crew. Gain hands-on experience in ecological restoration by identifying and removing common invasive species, as well as participating in a variety of habitat maintenance tasks. Develop a deeper understanding of plant ecology and the importance of tree conservation at Hoyt Arboretum.
2. Strengthen public engagement and communication skills through Visitor Center support. Assist park visitors by providing trail directions, walk recommendations, and general information about the Arboretum. Learn and operate the point-of-sale system and contribute to a welcoming experience for all visitors.
3. Contribute to improving trail accessibility through field data collection and assessment. Support an accessibility audit of Hoyt Arboretum’s 12-mile trail system by recording measurements (distance, slope, cross-slope), taking photographs, and using both digital and analog tools. Compile and organize this information for integration into the Arboretum’s website to enhance accessibility information for visitors.
4. Improve running stamina to the point that I can run (running the flats and downhills, walking uphills) the whole 31-mile Wildwood Trail. This Summer, I hiked the Wildwood trail in just under 9 hours. It was a fun and also crazy experience going so far in one day, so I want to try it again but faster. My stretch goal is to run the whole thing in under 7 hours, so better than a 12 minute 30 second pace, but anything faster than 8 hours I think is pretty good, since that hiking run (which was pretty speedy) took just under 9 hours.
I got off to a fun start with running this Monday after buying a running vest and some new running shorts. I ended up getting nearly 1,000 feet of elevation gain (I was wondering why it was so hard…), which makes running pretty challenging… you can see the results of that in this Strava:
That’s it for this week! More updates and photos to come next week.
This is really cool William!