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The Portland City Council used $6 million collected from utility ratepayers to help buy 146 forested acres in Southwest Portland, now known as River View Natural Area. City officials issued notice Monday that the land is off-limits to mountain bikers starting March 16.

(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

Note: This story has been updated to correct the amount of mountain biking trail in Forest Park.



Charlie Sponsel bristled when he heard the news that March 16, he'll be kicked out of the mountain biking grounds he helped build.

Sponsel, a 26-year-old professional mountain biker, began practicing at the River View Cemetery Association's undeveloped 146-acre property in Southwest Portland years before the city bought the land and renamed it River View Natural Area.

"I'm there three to four times a week," Sponsel said. "The quality of trail in River View far exceeds anything else within an hour's drive away."

He and other Portland area mountain biking advocates had hoped city officials would preserve their access once the land became a park. On Monday, city commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish notified them in a letter, "mountain bikers will no longer be allowed," due to environmental concerns.

Fritz followed with a second on the River View web page clarifying the closure doesn't mean mountain bikers will never be allowed there, "just not now."

Instead, Fritz and Fish said, they would seek $350,000 in the city parks department's 2015-16 budget to fund a citywide off-road cycling plan.

"A comprehensive bicycling plan will identify the most appropriate biking opportunities within our City park system, while protecting the conservation values of our natural areas and the enjoyment and safety of all park users," Fritz and Fish wrote.

Mountain bikers say the decision eliminates one of their few options in a city whose bike-friendly reputation doesn't always extend to the off-road crowd. They're frustrated Fritz and Fish made the decision without a public process.

"They took great pains to bring the public in" to the planning process for River View, said Sponsel, who sits on the city's advisory committee for the property. "Then they seem to have thrown the process completely out the window."

Portland's mountain biking community has been clamoring for more access for years. An attempt to add more trails to Forest Park several years ago failed amid backlash from neighborhood associations and environmental groups.

Aside from several miles of trails at River View, Portland's mountain biking infrastructure is limited to nearly 30 miles of shared trails but less than a mile of single-track in Forest Park, along with a few miles at Powell Butte and Mt. Tabor in Southeast Portland. For longer and better trails, bicyclists must leave town, traveling to private land near Scappoose or to Sandy Ridge, A Bureau of Land Management property 40 miles east of Portland.

By contrast, Seattle has a designated city mountain biking park. Bellingham's bike trail network is also expansive.

City officials acknowledge their decision puts the squeeze on mountain bikers, but they contend keeping the trails open creates environmental hazards that could put the entire property in jeopardy.

River View was one of multiple city projects called into question in a 2011 lawsuit alleging the city improperly used utility ratepayer money on items that didn't qualify for the funds. A judge ruled the property's ecological importance makes it an appropriate purchase.

City attorneys warned Bureau of Environmental Services leaders that allowing "active recreation" like mountain biking at River View could jeopardize that ruling, said Jim Blackwood, Fish's policy director.

"If we allow mountain biking, the judge could change his mind," Blackwood said.

Hiking would still be allowed under the latest plan, Blackwood said, because city scientists have fewer concerns about hikers' potential to damage habitat in River View. Multiple streams run through the property, providing cold-water refuge for salmon.

"Scientists see the existing bike trails in there that go right through the streams and the watershed, and they say that's more invasive than passive recreation," he said.

Bikers take issue with that characterization. They defend their hobby as no more harmful to wildlife than off-leash dogs and errant hikers who stray from designated trails - a stance backed up by River View's technical advisory committee. The committee ranked dogs as the primary threat to the park's habitat, with off-trail bikers and hikers tying for second.

Mark Ross, a spokesman for the parks bureau, said River View's public advisory committee has been discussing whether dogs should continue to be allowed on the property.

By alienating mountain bikers, city officials lose a community of allies with a vested interest in maintaining the trails, said Barry O'Connor, manager of Fat Tire Farms mountain bike shop.

"When it comes down to it, mountain bikers are looking for the exact same thing walkers, runners and equestrians are looking for," O'Connor said. "They're looking to get out in the woods and have a peaceful time."

Fritz acknowledged Portland has a dearth of mountain biking opportunities given the size of its biking community, but said it's just one of a host of deficiencies to be addressed within the parks system. Finding alternative turf for mountain bikers hinges upon a Portland City Council vote to approve the Portland Parks Bureau's request for money to conduct their off-road cycling plan.

"If the advocates want more mountain biking opportunities, the right place to put their energy is in advocating for that budget ask," Fritz said.

Blackwood said Gateway Green, a 25- acre former Multnomah County jail site the city acquired last year with biking in mind, could be an option.

--Kelly House