Marion County has added six-plus acres of forested property to Scotts Mills County Park, an addition that will greatly expand the options for park users.
The 6.03 acres of heavily timbered property cost the county $450,000, with $360,000 coming via the county’s sale of Auburn Park to the Salem-Keizer School District and $90,000 from Terry Caster, who died on April 20 at the age of 78 just a short time after agreeing to the donation.
Caster was a life-long Oregonian whose family moved from Tigard to a Scotts Mills timber farm in 1948, when he was three. Caster attended grade school in Scotts Mills and was a 1964 Silverton High graduate. He worked in real estate and was heavily involved in organizations such as the Silverton Rotary Club, the Silverton Chamber of Commerce and the Silverton Hospital Foundation.
The property lies at the southern boundary of the park’s original 10.64 acres, said Tom Kissinger, parks planner for Marion County.
“The previous use of the property was as forest deferral/timber,” Kissinger told Our Town. “Minimal development is planned for the new property, but it will give the public access to forested land that is now within the park boundary.”
There are some existing paths in the property, Kissinger said, with the county planning to “enhance/connect them all into a nice little loop trail.”
About the only thing county officials had to do to ready the property for park use is take down the “no trespassing” signs at the park boundary, Kissinger said.
Adding the acreage will offer park users a hiking/ forest option to a facility that mainly attracts visitors looking to picnic and engage in water recreation in Butte Creek, which serves as the eastern boundary of the park.
– James Day
