Recently, we hired a new Trails Technician to help support our ongoing trail work needs in Forest Park. Coda (they/them) comes to us with years of experience in a conservation corps and they are ready to get out in the field to help support and maintain Forest Park’s trail system. We are thrilled to have Coda on board and we hope you are as well! To help get to know them, we sat down with Coda to learn a bit more about them.
What brought you to work here at the Forest Park Conservancy?
I recently moved to Portland from southwestern Colorado, where I’d been working as a crew leader for a conservation corps deep in the San Juan Mountains. After a few years of isolated mountain living, I welcomed the transition to a city that I’d heard good things about from friends who live here. I’m thrilled to have found work that keeps me outside, working on trails alongside the people who love them.
What will your work focus on while at the Forest Park Conservancy?
As a Trails Technician, the majority of my time will be spent maintaining the park’s trail system–mostly, this means finding ways to ensure the notorious rain of Portland doesn’t wash the trails away each winter, as well as keeping them tuned and pruned. To accomplish this I’ll be spending a lot of time working with volunteers here in the park, teaching and learning from them while improving upon this spectacular green space.
Before working at the Forest Park Conservancy, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve had?
In the fall of 2019, I had the opportunity to do maintenance and construction work on what was the oldest operating wooden fire lookout tower in the United States, the Mt. Harkness Fire Lookout Tower in Lassen National Volcanic Park. Each day we stole glimpses of Mt. Shasta as we hauled lumber and mortar by hand two miles up the mountainside from green forest into snowy tundra to build stairs, repair mortar cracks, and install new sills on the windows. It was a beautiful place to be, the inner walls of the tower were an otherworldly teal with 360-degree windows surrounding a pedestal surmounted by a fire-locating tool called an alidade. Unfortunately, the lookout tower burned in the Dixie Fire of 2021, but I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and appreciate it.
What is your favorite quote?
“Let be be the finale of seem. / The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.” – Wallace Stevens
What is your personal favorite place in Forest Park? Is there a part of Forest Park that you have heard about that you want to visit?
I’m still getting to know the trails, but I can’t wait to get out to the Ancient Forest Preserve, which is an area I’ve heard much about. I’d also like to give a shout-out to Marquam Nature Park, which has just recently come within the bailiwick of the conservancy as a result of a merger with the Friends of Marquam Nature Park. The trails are well-loved and, in some places, fairly steep. A great spot for bird-watching on a morning hike.