• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Recreation Northwest

We promote outdoor recreation and bring people together to enjoy, preserve and improve the places where we play

  • About Us
    • Our Crew
    • Finances
    • Fiscal Support
    • In the Press
    • Contact Us
    • Our History
  • Experiences
    • Calendar
    • Custom Experiences
    • What To Bring
    • Where to Meet
    • Beer Me
    • Local Lodging
  • Fairhaven Park
    • Trail & Boardwalk Project
      • Design & Build
      • Mitigation & Monitoring
      • Recognition Rock Bench
      • Public Park Bench
      • Garden Gate
    • Native Plant Garden
    • Outdoor Classroom
    • Hundred Acre Wood
  • Parkscriptions
    • Parkscriptions Pilot Program
    • Parkscriptions Programming
  • Advocacy
  • Blog
  • Donate

Trail & Boardwalk Project

Background 

Recreation Northwest became Park Stewards for Fairhaven Park in 2014. We chose this particular park due to the impact we had with the trail run leg of the Bellingham Traverse, our signature event at the time. We were quickly propelled into taking on a long-term project for the health of the forest and the benefit of our community. 

The Problem

This was the situation we faced…MUD! 

Fairhavenparkmuddy

Overview 

Working in partnership with Bellingham Parks staff and our community, we chose to focus on a trail relocation project- working towards connecting Fairhaven Park with the “Hundred Acre Wood”. The trails needed to be improved for easier access for all types of users—and even more importantly, for the health of the forest. We broke the project into Two phases. Our goal was simple: Get out of the mud!

2022 Fairhaven Park Trail & Boardwalk
Phase One (2015) We built the trail to connect Fairhaven Park and 18th Street by rerouting a high-traveled access trail out of the wetland to higher ground. The trail was developed according to standard City specifications.
We completed Phase 1 in 2015.  

Phase Two (2016-2017) The purpose of Phase TWO – Fairhaven Park Trail & Wetland Boardwalk project was to limit impact on the fragile habitat and improve public access to connect Phase 1 with the network of trails in the “Hundred Acre Wood”  to the south that was accessed via a trail that crossed the wetland and became a 25-foot-wide swath of mud.The project allows enjoyable access for people as well as protecting this important habitat for wildlife and the ecology of the forest. The project avoided further impacts to the wetland and our mitigation efforts repaired damage from the social trails in place at the time.  
We plan to complete Phase 2 in 2022.

Community Need

In 2014, The City of Bellingham did not have sufficient funds at the time,  in their short or long term budgets to address the environmental destruction that was occurring as these public trails were becoming increasingly popular. In order to systematically review the priorities for which trails need to be maintained, a master plan for the newly acquired property was required. This process was a long way off, back in the day. But now, this process is finally underway. See Chuckanut Community Forest Master Plan on Engage Bellingham. 

Thank you to 93 community donors and 19 local businesses, foundations, and other organizations for helping us meet the fundraising needs for this project. Thank you for all the volunteers that we’ve had over the years 

We are proud to have taken on this project and plan to use it as a demonstration for future projects to show that good work can be done with a collaborative, inclusive, and fun approach. We believe that this demonstrates our commitment to community building and our ability to be innovative and get things done. 

The Solution 

Project Team

Recreation Northwest
Bellingham Parks 
NW Trails
Welch Ecological Services
Wilson Engineering
LeHatt Engineering
Herrera Environmental Consulting
Materials, Testing & Consulting, Inc.

Timeline Overview (2014-2022) 

2014  Adopted Fairhaven Park as Stewardship project
2015  Phase ONE – Fairhaven Park – 18th Street Connector Trail
2016  Phase TWO Planning – Fairhaven Park Trail & Wetland Boardwalk
2017  Volunteers remove Invasive Blackberries and install Native Plants
            Phase TWO- Fairhaven Park Trail & Wetland Boardwalk installed. 
2018  First year of Mitigation Reporting = success for survival of native plants and continuous invasive species removal. 
2019  Recognition Rock Bench to honor project sponsors, supporters, and volunteers. 
2020 Native Plant Garden Bench & Garden Gate 
2021  New open Garden spaces – Wild Whatcom, Phillips 66, and public volunteers. 
2022  5 year Mitigation Reporting requirements complete EOY. Project complete.

Next: See Outdoor Classroom

 

 

 

 

Share with:

Footer

Contact Us

Mailing Address:
Recreation Northwest
PO Box 2771
Bellingham, WA 98227

Recreation Northwest

Sign up to stay connected via our email, The Confluence

Recreation Northwest is a 501(c)3 charity. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. Our non-profit federal tax-exempt number is 46-1774882.

site by highwaters