10 Spring 2016 Applegater
Cantrall Buckley Park
NEWS
Help create the
community mosaic mural
BY JEREMY CRISWELL
Thank you to all who participated in
the community mural input days during
the summer and early fall, when we asked
just what kind of mural you would like to
see in your park. We received wonderful
ideas and inspiration from well over 100
people and have come up with a terrific
mural concept.
Common themes included
Applegate Valley trees, river, and native
plants, along with fish, turtles, flowers,
butterflies, and local rocks. All of
these have been incorporated into the
concept—a mosaic mural that honors
the environment in which we live. A
sketch of the final concept will soon be
displayed around the community. The
mural itself will be 26 feet long by 7 feet
tall and will cover the exterior wall of
the Cantrall Buckley Park restroom next
to the new playground. The restroom is
scheduled for renovation this fall.
So what’s next, you ask? Well,
as this is a community project, it seems
only fair to let the community take
part—by creating some of the ceramic
tiles that will make up the mural. We
have already made plans for week-long
tile-making workshops at Ruch and
Applegate Schools in April, and are in
talks with Woodland Charter School
and our local homeschool group to do
the same. In these workshops, kids will
have the opportunity to make ceramic
fish, flowers, native plants, and bug tiles
that will become part of the mural.
Beyond involving the local schools,
I will be holding community tile-making
days at my studio in Ruch. These will
be fun afternoon and evening events
where small groups will be invited to
draw and paint in clay, while enjoying
friends, music, and good times. Gather
up to eight folks with whom you would
like to share a few hours of fun, then
call or email me to set a date for your
own workshop. Consider a girls’ or
guys’ evening out, bring your book club,
garden club or art group! Maybe even a
birthday event or wine tasting! There are
dates available in March and April.
Come be part of this
wonderful project and help bring
the vision of the community to life. And
if you’d like to donate to this wonderful
project, please use the donation box at
the Ruch Country Store or send a check
to Park Mural Project, PO Box 3107,
Applegate, OR 97530. Thank you!
Jeremy Criswell
541-899-9024
jerr37@jeffnet.org
Riverside trails at
Cantrall Buckley Park
Access to the beautiful Applegate
River is available year-round in your
community at Cantrall Buckley Park.
Most Applegate Valley residents do not
live on the river or have a friend with
riverfront property who is willing to let
them recreate there. My wife and I live on
a south-facing slope high above the river,
so that free-flowing water is an attraction
any time of the year and especially when
summer takes hold.
In the past two years the Applegate
Trails Association (ATA) has reopened
two riverside loop trails at the park. The
half-mile Upper River Trail is my favorite
because of the view from the big boulders
lining the edge of the river. The half-mile
Lower River Trail has a whole different
feel with lots of shade along the river,
occasional short paths to the water, and,
should you take it, a short but difficult
loop trail back with a fantastic view of
the valley as your reward. Both trails are
well marked.
Park cleanup April 23
Want to get Cantrall Buckley Park
ready for opening on May 1? Come
on out to the park on Saturday, April
23! We’ll meet at the new playground.
You can see all the new stuff that’s been
added and help pick up trash and dead
limbs. Receptacles and refreshments
provided. We’ll work from 9 to 11 am
or thereabouts.
Upper River Trail at Cantrall Buckley Park.
Photo: Annette Trujillo.
Weather permitting, ATA
will give these trails a shot of
maintenance, perhaps with your help,
on Saturday, April 23. Volunteers will
gather at the park from 8:45 am to 1 pm.
ATA will provide lunch and some tools.
Bring gloves and your favorite digging
tool or power trimmer/brush-cutter.
In partnership with the Cantrall
Buckley Park Committee, ATA is
working on the design and installation of
new kiosks in the park and informational
pedestals along the trails. A new map will
soon be at strategic locations throughout
the park. Once again, ATA says thanks
to our map-maker, Annette Parsons, to
our volunteers in general, and to a GPS.
ATA invites you to visit the park
often. Flowing water is a powerful force.
Stand by the river and give it a little time
to let your stress flow right downstream.
Amble along the river. It is amazing
how restorative it can be. You might try
this before you make that next medical
appointment.
David Calahan
Chair, Applegate Trails Association
david@applegatetrails.org
Signing of the March 1997 Participating Agreement. Seated, from left to right: Jackson County
Commissioners Ric Holt, Sue Kupillas, and Jack Walker. Standing: (unknown), Terry Mitchell,
Dick Goble, Jack Shipley, (unknown), (unknown), Terry Black, Tom Fiske, and Tom Brovarney.
Contact gater@applegater.org if you recognize the “unknowns.”
History: Saving Cantrall Buckley Park
The story of Cantrall Buckley Park’s
salvation begins in the spring of 1996.
By then, declining timber revenues had
put Jackson County parks in financial
jeopardy. After 15 years of decreasing
revenues, Jackson County finally closed
several parks, including Cantrall Buckley.
This closure sent a shock wave
through the Applegate Valley. Cantrall
Buckley Park was beloved by people
from all over the region. It was, after all,
one of the few places where folks could
access the Applegate River. Generations
of settlers and farm families had used
the old “Cantrall swimming hole.”
Thousands of people from all over the
Rogue Valley had enjoyed the park for
picnicking, camping, swimming, fly-
fishing, boating, and hiking.
In this crisis, Jack Shipley
broached an idea. Why couldn’t the
residents of Applegate Valley run the
park? At the time, Jack had retired as
director of public works field services for
the City of Grants Pass and now served
as chair of the Applegate Partnership and
Watershed Council (APWC). He had a
good sense of how to run a park and how
this vibrant community could help.
He talked things over with Su
Rolle of the US Forest Service (USFS),
who was then the coordinator for the
Applegate Adaptive Management Area.
Su liked the idea and asked Terry Black to
give Jack a hand. Terry was community
planner at the Star Ranger Station on
Upper Applegate Road.
So, with tremendous energy and
passion, Jack and Terry organized the
effort to save this precious site. Many
people were thrilled with the idea of
a community-run park and offered to
help. The Cantrall Buckley Park Ad
Hoc Committee, representing several
community organizations, local service
clubs, valley businesses, and staff from
the Bureau of Land Management
and USFS (Star Ranger Station), was
formed. The committee wrote a letter
to Paul Korbulic, program manager
for Jackson County Parks, offering to
assume responsibility for irrigating the
park through the summer while more
options to keep the park open were being
explored. Paul saw this as the beginning
of solving the county’s problem and
agreed to the proposal.
Over the next year the committee
worked in the now-closed park, trimming
grass, picking up trash and downed
wood, and irrigating trees and shrubs.
That winter the flood of 1997 hit the
valley hard, increasing the clean-up work.
Tuffy Decker donated heavy equipment
and his expertise. The Applegate Lions
Club repaired the picnic tables. The
Applegate Grange and other neighbors
helped with cleanup. Federal flood relief
grants eased the financial strain.
In the meantime, Jack, Terry, and
Paul worked on a unique legal agreement
to keep the park open. The resulting
Participating Agreement, signed by
the Jackson County Commissioners
at a March 17, 1997, ceremony at
the park (see the fuzzy old Applegator
photo above), codified a collaborative
relationship between the county and
the citizens. Cantrall Buckley Park, now
a county park in name only, would be
run entirely by volunteers with a budget,
a marketing plan, and an operating
schedule. The Jacksonville-Applegate
Rotary Club worked with Dave Clayton
to sponsor several fundraising concerts,
which made thousands of dollars. The
Ad Hoc Committee opened a bank
account. Terry Mitchell was hired as the
on-site superintendent, and by the spring
of 1997, the park was back in business.
This was the first time any public park in
Oregon was to be managed entirely by
the community it served.
Initially the Ad Hoc Committee
operated under the umbrella of APWC.
But because park management did not
fit within the charter of APWC, the
committee formed a new nonprofit
organization, the Applegate Valley
Community Center. In 1998, this group
morphed into the Greater Applegate
Community Development Corporation
(GACDC). Although it has been
modified over time, the agreement is
still in place, and the volunteer Park
Committee is alive and well.
The list of citizens who helped
keep our park open is a long one. Many
local businesses and organizations lent
their time, equipment, and expertise.
There are, however, several key individuals
without whom this effort would not have
been successful, who truly put spade to
dirt to make it happen. We all owe them
a debt of gratitude for the time and effort
they devoted to save our park.
If you have more information or
want to know more, give me a ring.
Tom Carstens • 541-846-1025
Key individuals who helped keep
Cantrall Buckley Park open
Terry Black, Bud Childers, Dave Clayton,
Chuck Dahl, Tuffy Decker, Tom Fiske, Ed
Frutchey, Dick Goble, Pat Gordon, Jerry
Hyde, Larry Hyde, Ellen Levine, Hal
Macy, Vivian McAleavey, Dale McFall,
John McKelligott, Terry Mitchell, Abbey
Rodgers, Phil Schwimmer, Jack Shipley,
Thalia Truesdell, and Greeley Wells.
Many of these folks are still here. If
you see them, give ’em a pat on the back.