Through it all, our community remained connected

In the face of a pandemic, unprecedented wildfires and an offseason ice storm, the North Clackamas community found ways to maintain its vibrancy and collective spirit. We've been honored to join our resilient neighbors to continue our mission of enriching community vitality and promoting healthy living through parks and recreation. As we enter 2022 and look back on 2021, we’ve never been more committed to serving our community by maintaining, nurturing and providing increasingly vital connections to nature, recreation and one another.

Parks, Trails &
Natural Areas

NCPRD staff is committed to providing residents with access to beautiful parks and natural areas—a responsibility that has only deepened during the ongoing surge in park and trail use. We know that these greenspaces are crucial to our collective and individual mental and physical health, and our team is honored to continue fulfilling such a vital need for our community.

Elk Rock Island Restoration

Following the historic wildfire on Elk Rock Island in 2020, NCPRD partnered with the City of Milwaukie to restore damage to just under two acres of land on the island. Our efforts to repair the fire-damaged site included restoring sensitive habitat and mitigating hazards. Elk Rock Island opened for the community to enjoy once more in March 2021.

North Clackamas
Aquatic Park

While the Aquatic Park remained closed for much of the year due to COVID-19, we used this time to enhance the facility with deep cleanings and new interior paint and signage. During closure, staff also identified opportunities for budget savings, including draining the pool and getting creative with utilities. The Aquatic Park partially reopened with a fresh new look and increased safety protocols, getting patrons back in the water for aquatic health and safety programs.

Recreation
& Sports

NCPRD welcomed back residents of all ages with a variety of recreation programs designed to promote healthy and active lifestyles, including dance, art, fitness and wellness programs.

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Additionally, our staff created production studios and trained instructors on new video technology to make sure we could deliver the same high-quality programs in a virtual format, providing residents with opportunities to remain active and connected at home.

Milwaukie Center

The Milwaukie Center remained closed through most of 2020–2021 due to the pandemic, but the Center continued providing essential social services including its Meals on Wheels program, delivering vital nutrition and human connection to the community’s older residents and homebound adults with disabilities.

Volunteers

NCPRD’s volunteers lend their time and skills to support and nurture our community. Their commitment is fundamental to powering a variety of NCPRD programs and services, including Meals on Wheels, park and natural area enhancement, and sports programming.

Special Events

With the pandemic preventing in-person gatherings, NCPRD staff was determined to find creative ways to safely provide fun, enriching and community-building events for families. To make this possible, we adapted many of our popular events, including Winter Celebrations and Famous Thanksgiving Dinner, with grab-and-go kits, drive-thru celebrations and virtual event programming. When certain events were canceled altogether, including Movies and Concerts in the Park, we introduced new events and activities to safely meet the needs of the community.

In October 2020, NCPRD officially opened the new park and trail at Boardman Wetlands for all to enjoy. This 5.8-acre park, developed in partnership with Oak Lodge Water Services District, provides recreational activities for all ages, opportunities to connect with nature, and access to observe the diverse ecology of wetland habitats.
 

Though a grand opening event has been put on hold, NCPRD found other ways to invite neighbors to enjoy their newest park by offering a virtual park tour, scavenger hunt and coloring sheet.

With the final schematic design for Milwaukie Bay Park now completed, the focus of the project has shifted to securing funds and agreements needed for construction, and on bringing on a Construction Manager to work with the design team during the 2021–2022 preconstruction phase. To help bridge the gap in funding, the City of Milwaukie is contributing $1 million toward the project, while NCPRD has secured $750,000 through the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Local Government Grant Program, and $1.047 million through the National Parks Service’s Land and Water Conservation Fund.

After incorporating the perspectives and opinions of more than 1,000 residents, NCPRD has completed the master plan to redevelop the Concord Property. NCPRD acquired the property, which has been at the heart of the Oak Grove community for more than a century, to preserve the former school building for future generations. Now, the new master plan paves the way for opportunities to provide expanded and improved recreation, park and community services. Efforts are ongoing to bring this vision to fruition.

Thank You

Thank you for all of your support as we’ve navigated through 2020–2021 and thank you for making NCPRD such a strong and essential part of our community. For more information on all that NCPRD has to offer, visit NCPRD.com. 

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