By Les Gehrett
Albany Democrat-Herald
June 24, 2004

FOSTER - The trail system is starting to take shape at River Bend County Park, thanks to a pair of youth work crews.

A 10-member team began clearing trails at the park last week, and a second crew is continuing the effort this week.

Both came from the Eugene-based Northwest Youth Corps.

'The work they've done up there was just excellent,' said Richard Frick, operations supervisor for the Linn County Parks and Recreation Department. 'They've moved twice as fast as I thought they would on this project.'

They are working at River Bend, a new park that Linn County hopes to open next year. It is off Highway 20 about five miles east of Sweet Home, on the South Santiam River.

The county plans to build about 90 camping spaces along with two large day-use areas at the 75-acre site.

The young people are clearing the ground for the trails, moving everything from weeds to logs.

'They are turning what you can hardly walk through into a five-foot-wide trail,' Frick said.

Once the paths are cleared, the county will check the grades and lay rock. The county has said it hopes to make the park as accessible as possible, and the trails may later be paved.

Program Manager Joe Waksmundski, 30, said people are often surprised by how much work the youth crews complete.

'The teenagers end up coming together and accomplishing a lot more than they think they can,' he said.

Northwest Youth Corps is a program that enrolls young people for the experience of working outdoors. Linn County has given it grants for the past couple of years that allow county residents to join the program at little or no cost.

This year, the county expanded its grant, allocating $106,000 to the Northwest Youth Corps to pay for a total of 60 slots for Linn County youth. The county funding comes from a portion of its federal forest payments and not from the general fund.

Several spaces are still available, said Ethan Nelson, program director for Northwest Youth Corps.

Team members work for five weeks on a variety of projects, and Nelson said the good results at River Bend are typical.

'The biggest thing for us is we set really, really high standards for everyone involved. Kids can't idly be in the program,' Nelson said. 'The other thing is, the types of projects they are involved in, they feel an ownership in it and want to make a lot of progress.'

This is the last week the teams will be at River Bend. Over the next several weeks, Northwest Youth Corps teams will do work in the area burned by last summer's B&B fire. They also will help out on projects in the Middle Santiam Wilderness and at Detroit Lake.

For more information on the Northwest Youth Corps or to apply for one of the remaining positions, call (541) 349-5055.