As Stewards of Fairhaven Park, people in the community have been asking us for directional trail signs to be installed. This will help them navigate through the trails in Fairhaven Park and connect with the Interurban and Chuckanut Drive on either side. We are willing partners to tackle this problem together for the public benefit. You may donate to our charity to help us complete this project.
We are working with the City of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department to use the city sign standards so it is consistent throughout the park system. This is also a good first step in helping to identify which trails should be used and others discouraged (and eventually abandoned) in the forest.
The signs would show the best routes to connect the access points to the park as destinations, listed A-I with yellow dots and and the destinations shown 1-5 in brown.
Access Points/Destinations
- Fairhaven Park
- 18th Street
- Interurban / Hoag’s Pond
- Chuckanut Drive @ Viewcrest Drive
- Chuckanut Drive @ 16th Street
Example Sign (with 3 choices)
← Interurban Trail/Hoag’s Pond .8 mi
→ Chuckanut Drive / 16th Street .5 mi.
→ Fairhaven Park .2 mi.
Mt. Baker Group Sierra Club has graciously offered to help support our project with a contribution of $1,000 to kick off the fundraising campaign.
You may donate to our charity to help us complete this project.
As Executive Director of Recreation Northwest, Todd Elsworth promotes outdoor recreation and brings community together to enjoy, preserve and improve the places where we play. His decades of extensive event production, marketing and writing experience propel this passion. You might bump into him and his daughter Violet while they’re biking, hiking, paddling or skiing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
While it is accessible from a secondary trail, the 22nd Street access should also be signed.
We also need to find a way of accommodating off leash in at least some of the wooded park (as in Arroyo Park, some of Lake Padden Park, secondary trails of Sehome Hill Arboretum, part of Whatcom Falls Park, Little Squalicum Park, etc). Currently about 90% of current dog walkers, major utilizers of the wooded areas of Fairhaven Park, already walk their dogs off leash without incident despite reservations of some commissioners of the Chuckanut Community Forest Park District.
Thanks Kirk. I’ll pass this message on to our parks department.
Todd