1st Thursday Monthly Work Party – May 7th

Help us help the trails for our regular 1st Thursday Work Party on May 7th, 2026, from 9AM to Noon at Dickinson Park (10555 SW 55th Ave, Portland OR 97219). This month we are working on SW Trail #5 at the South end of Dickinson Park. We will be reforming and cleaning some trail drains, armor the trail surface, get out some weeds. Possibly we will work also up by the playground on the new trail placed earlier in the year.  This is the normal Spring work getting trails in shape for lots of walkers and hikers as the weather warms up. Our partners and leaders for these work parties are Portland Parks and Recreation Natural Area Stewardship.

We will meet near the playground on SW 55th, parking is limited so park at a diagonal in that small area. The big white Portland Parks truck will mark our gathering spot.

If you plan to join in the fun, give me a heads up on email, (reply to this one) or text (503-753-8186) with your name and “I Will Be There”), I can then pass a head count to our Parks leaders. It is also OK to just show up on the workday. Please be at least 15 minutes early (8:45AM) to our work parties to get signed in and be ready to go.

We will be using lots of time-honored trail tools, the Grubber, McLeod, Pulaski, and wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, pruners, saws, and more. Tool use and safety will be covered as we start the work party. These are fun community events, and we need volunteers in 2026, please join us, everyone is welcome and no experience is necessary.  Youth participants must be at least 14 years old without a guardian and at least 10 years old with a guardian.

As always, our work is guided by the Portland Parks Natural Area Stewardship folks. Parks will bring all the tools, gloves, and materials we need, and also, possibly, coffee, snacks and water. On these work parties it is not necessary to stay for the whole event, and you can work at whatever level your skill and energy allow. It is just great to meet the neighbors and get in a little trail work exercise.

When you join us, please wear work clothing, sturdy closed toe shoes, long pants, long sleeved shirts. It is the Pacific Northwest who knows what weather we will get but several layers are always a good idea. If you like, bring your own water and snacks. We may walk up to a 1/2 mile out and back to our work location, but usually it is much less.