OLCV Candidate Questionnaire for BMPRD Board Election May 2005

Ted Schoenborn, Candidate, Position 4

541-385-5224

What do you see as the most pressing environmental issues faced by the Park and Recreation District and its Board?

I see my role on the Board of BMPRD as protecting and rewarding the continuation of sophisticated environmental stewardship through environmentally sustainable resource management practices such as:

• Rehabilitating riparian areas along the Deschutes River, in cooperation with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council
• Promoting the health of the urban forest through partnership with the City of Bend in the Tree City USA program. Over 2000 seedlings have been planted in the Shevlin burn area annually for the last five years.
• Managing fire fuels and improving habitat by prescribed fire and mechanical thinning in Shevlin Park through a forestry management plan.
• Recycling all organic matter generated by park maintenance and other activities. This has significantly reduced the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides through the composting program.
• Purchasing thirty percent of all electric power from renewable energy sources using Pacific Power's Blue Sky Program.

In addition to the ongoing practices of the excellent BMPRD staff, I have led efforts to validate the practice of banking our excess water rights for in stream flow until such time as they are necessary to maintain our parks and fields. I have also successfully encouraged the Board to acquire water rights as they become available from others.

How would you like to see the Bend Pine Nursery designed?  What is you opinion of the draft concept plan?

The Pine Nursery is ideally suited for field development because of its existing topography. There will also be a large passive recreation area on the lava ridge in the southwest corner of the property.

At a recent work session the Board agreed with a decision model proposed by staff to allocate field time an development needs by the following formula:

• 100% of available time on all fields for a particular sport will be divided in the following way:
• Sixty percent of the time used by BMPRD recreation programs;
• 40 % for other uses such as competitive teams and School District needs. (The school district would have first priority just as BMPRD has first priority on the supplemental use of their fields.)

I like the draft plan as a starting point. The overall design of the Pine Nursery will no doubt be modified as the new Comprehensive Plan for the Park District is completed this year and as time passing modifies the projected community needs for fields and other recreation facilities.

What are you hearing from people in the community about how the District is doing at meeting their needs for open space trails, sports fields, recreation programs, and other areas?  Which area or areas will you emphasize on the Board?  Where will you take a leadership role?

As a Board member the last two years I have had relatively few complaints about the District in General. I attribute that to the excellent work done by the professional staff of the District. I see my responsibility as a Board member to support the overall development of the District programs.

As a matter of personal interest I am interested in increasing natural history interpretation on our trial system. I have spoken with the local chapters of the Audubon Society and the Native Plant Society and they are eager to help in this effort.

What are your thoughts about Verizon's offer to pay to have an antenna on
District Property?

I support the idea in general. There is already a tower on the site and the $24,000 annually would be used for scholarships for our recreation programs. This would currently cover about 50% of the need for scholarships.

How do you feel the District is doing in terms of progress on the Deschutes River Trail?  What are the biggest challenges to completing this project?

I am excited about the possibility of completing the Deschutes river Trail during the next four years (my next term of office). With the completion of the trail access under the rebuilt Newport Avenue Bridge, the last significant barrier will be eliminated.

The challenges are real but the outlook is very positive. Property owners on both sides of the bridge have been in discussion with BMPRD staff and seem to be cooperative in providing easements to complete the trail connections. In addition, about 3.6 acres of the Lilleoren property at the first street rapids will be acquired within the next year effectively completing the entire trail.

The Deschutes River is a major recreation resource in our community. A new non-profit group Paddlers of Central Oregon (POCO) has been formed to advocate the development of a whitewater park within the City of Bend. This would be one element of the Bend Riverway Trail that would provide kayak and canoe access to the River along the bulk of the land based River Trail in Bend. POCO has begun raising money to support this development and BMPRD has added it to its categories for planning. Based on our experience in the summer of 2004 and the experience in other cities such as Reno, Nevada, I believe that this would be extremely successful if the financing can be found.