Dan Groebner

Aerial view by Dan Groebner/Vulture View Videography

What’s up at Woodland Lake, other than the water levels!? The lake is full and the paved path is smooth and wide. Maybe you noticed all of the recent improvements at Woodland Lake Park?  

The developed portion of the park, about 108 acres, with the softball fields, playground, and tennis courts was recently secured by the Peter and Nancy Salter Family Foundation, Inc. with the generosity of many other local supporters who have been raising funds to purchase the park from the Forest Service for years. This part of the park was then promptly donated to the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside for the enjoyment of the community.  

The Town didn’t waste any time in polishing the jewel of this area’s park system by upgrading the trail around the lake, adding a challenging disc golf course, deepening the lake when it had to be drained to fix the outlet valve, and installing new playground rides and equipment. And this is just the start of their plans.

Since the heavily wooded park is surrounded by urban developments, the forested portion has to be managed with a Firewise approach, including mistletoe and bark beetle disease management which can kill thousands of trees making them vulnerable to catastrophic wildlife. Sometimes this is best done with prescribed fire, but other times mechanized methods with heavy equipment are required to get the job done. Young “dog-hair” thickets of pine and oak can be minimized and spaced out to prevent the easy spread of wildfires.

Even with the securing of the southeastern part of Woodland Park into Town ownership, there was concern about the remaining 400+ acres, including the unique riparian corridor of Walnut Creek. Save Our Park, the non-profit organization formed in 2007 to raise funds to purchase the portion of the park that was just donated to the Town by the Salter Family Foundation, shifted gears to raise funds to purchase more of the original park still in Forest Service ownership, including Walnut Creek.

Outdoor enthusiasts in the area could again be the benefactors of some generous donors who have offered to make a legacy purchase of the remaining portion of the park and donate it to the Town for the long term benefit of all. The potential donors are in discussion with the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside over terms of the donation but it will probably not include portions of the Big Spring Area due to its important cultural values.

Sounds like another great deal for the community right? Millions of dollars worth of prime greenspace with recreational developments and trails running through it just given to the town, free of charge? It is, unless you are charged with maintaining all this property and ensuring the safety of its users since you now have full legal liability! Although the Town has an additional tax of 3% at restaurants and hotels to be used for area recreational expenses, the large addition of this sized park was not factored into budget estimates.

This presents the challenge of garnering community support to create an endowment fund that can use interest payments to pay for the maintenance of the park. In addition to the periodic forest management activities, additional expenses to the Town could include more public safety patrols, improvements to reduce legal liabilities and increase access for the disabled, and other staff workload issues associated with more activities and responsibilities.  

Along these lines, Save Our Park and other Woodland Park supporters, have started discussions on possible ways to raise the funds for maintenance purposes and potential uses of the newly acquired acreage. Preliminary discussions have included ideas such as a bike park, campground, pedway, and other recreational opportunities.

The bike park would be located on the west edge of the park near Mountain Meadows Recreation Area to make use of existing parking and access. The facility could resemble something like the Fort Tuthill Bike Park, put together by the Flagstaff Biking Organization and Coconino Parks and Recreation. These new bike parks include flow trails to enjoy long carving turns, pump tracks where you roller-coaster the course with minimal pedaling, drop zones for the brave, and various skills features for folks with good health insurance coverage (since a waiver form will probably have to be signed in blood!).

A potential method to raise revenue to pay for maintenance might be to establish a small campground around the edge of the park, aimed at the tent and small camper-type clientele since these types of accommodations are in short supply in the nearby area. The campground could encourage more visitors to use the bike park and even Woodland Park in general due to its proximity and affordable offerings.

Other topics involved with managing this unique opportunity is maintaining water levels as high as possible in Woodland Lake Park and helping the Forest Service maintain the Big Spring Environmental Study area on the west side of the park. Big Springs is also currently being used under a special use permit by the Blue Ridge School District as an outdoor environmental classroom and includes newly replaced interpretive signs along the trail and other modest improvements made during a recent work day. 

Informal additional workgroups could include discussions of fund-raising, fire and public safety, bike park, publicity, and government coordination.

Anybody wanting to learn more and possibly lend a helping hand can check out the Save Our Park website to get the latest information at “WoodlandLakePark.org”. You can also contact Save Our Park President, Eric Kramer, at erickramer102@gmail.com.

Results will be considered by the Town Council and management, amongst other public input, before they decide on final management activities if the sale and donation goes through as planned. So get engaged now if you want your ideas considered or you want to lend a hand to a very worthwhile project.