“Natural Play Area” vetted for Westmoreland Park

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 1, 2012

After the Westmoreland Park duck pond is removed in the upcoming months, a new amenity will be built — a “Nature Play Area”. THE BEE covered the unveiling of this unique play area in the April issue.

At an open-air open house in the park June 20, Rod Wojtanik, a member of the citizen advisory committee for the Westmoreland Park Nature Play Area, told more about the project.

“We are sharing the preferred Concept Design Alternative,” Wojtanik said. “When the duck pond is reconfigured back into a naturalistic stream channel — an Army Corps of Engineers project — we’ll renovate the play area.”

This area will utilize natural materials, such as sticks, logs, sand and water. “This kind of play area gives kids opportunities to build things,” Wojtanik continued. “It gives opportunities to interact with natural materials — and reconnect with nature in an urban environment.”

This concept has been offered instead of installing another swing set or slide for a reason, Wojtanik observed. “If you look across the Portland metropolitan area, kids have a lot of opportunities to swing, and slide, and play on the ball fields, and play basketball.

“They don’t have a lot of chances to interact with natural environments where they are actually encouraged to do so.”

This Natural Play Area will serve as a prototype for this region, he went on. “There’s a lot a restoration going on across the region. But people are really excited about letting kids play in the streams, and in the woods. This is a small attempt to make that a more realistic opportunity for those who live in the city.”

Construction is slated to begin next summer. For more information, go online to: HYPERLINK “http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfm?c=57822” www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfm?c=57822