Even though some of the trees felled at North Albany County Park looked healthy, they weren’t. I learned this when I visited today with Adam Stebbins, Benton County’s natural resources coordinator.
Even though some of the trees felled at North Albany County Park looked healthy, they weren’t. I learned this when I visited today with Adam Stebbins, Benton County’s natural resources coordinator.
Benton County is nearly finished building a new trail through about 10 acres of woodlands at the southwest corner of Valley View Drive and Crocker Lane in North Albany.
Visitors at North Albany County Park may start seeing changes in the next few years based on a new master plan. Developed over the last couple of years with lots of outreach to and input from the people in surrounding neighborhoods, the plan goes to the Benton County Board of Commissioners for approval in December.
Benton County has completed a conceptual master plan for North Albany County Park, where more than a hundred “hazard trees” weakened by drought and bugs were removed last year. Friday’s windstorm felled a few more, laying them across a house near the entrance to the park.
As you can see and hear, the cleanup continues at North Albany County Park after the harvest of scores of ailing and dead Douglas firs. Meanwhile, Benton County is getting ready to unveil its concepts for updating the 22-acre park and dealing with the nearby 10-acre wooded parcel newly donated by the developer of the adjacent Albany Heights subdivision.
I can’t imagine anybody is happy about what’s been going on at North Albany County Park. But Benton County said those trees had to come down because they had fallen victim to a combination of poor soil, drought and bugs.
Mounds of chips won’t be wasted
On a ride up and down the hills of North Albany on Monday, I detoured into North Albany County Park to see how the cleanup was going after the recent logging there.
Tags: Adam Stebbins, Benton County parks, Dougas firs, North Albany County Park, Willamette Valley pine