Why Forest Park's Trails Get Raked Every Fall, Starting at Springville Road

What keeps a Forest Park trail firm underfoot in January, when the slopes on either side are buried in wet bigleaf maple leaves? Someone raked it in November.

The Forest Park Conservancy runs a raking season each autumn. For Forest Heights, the nearest place to see it is the Springville Road Trailhead at 10820 NW Old Springville Rd. This fall the trailhead hosts two events. On Halloween morning it hosts the training that turns occasional volunteers into independent trail stewards. Two weeks later it is one of three sites for the Conservancy's Rake-A-Thon. Of the two, the Halloween training probably matters more to how the trails hold up this winter.

What leaves do to a trail

The Conservancy's own explanation is short. In its Rake-A-Thon listing for Springville, it says leaves left on the trails "hold water, hide tripping hazards, and create mud," and that raking them off each autumn keeps the trails in good shape through winter and keeps trail users safer.

Last year's listing went further. The Conservancy's 2025 Rake-A-Thon description said clearing leaves reduces erosion and helps water flow naturally, and that removing organic matter that holds moisture helps prevent damage during the wet and freezing months. A trail is a strip of packed soil built to shed rain. A layer of leaves soaks up that rain and keeps it on the surface, where boots and paws churn it into mud.

The timing follows from that. Raking only helps after the leaves are down and before the soil stays soaked, so the Conservancy schedules it in late October and November.

A record summer, and the group behind it

The raking season follows the summer brushing season, when volunteers cut back the growth that narrows trails in spring and summer. This year's brushing season set a record. In an August 2026 stewardship update, the Conservancy reported 29 volunteer events, 652 volunteer shifts and 51.17 miles brushed across Forest Park and Marquam Nature Park, its highest total for a single season.

The same update shows who did much of that work. Twenty-one Independent Volunteers brushed 21 of those miles, about two-fifths of the record. Hundreds of shifts at scheduled work parties produced the rest. Those 21 people, working on their own schedules, covered nearly as much ground as all of those shifts did.

The Independent Volunteer program is built for that kind of coverage. The Conservancy gives each Independent Volunteer at least one of 19 Forest Park trail routes to look after. Volunteers walk their routes, report changes and hazards, and can work with staff directly on maintenance. Their training covers invasive species, managing spring growth, clearing organic material in fall, water-management techniques and trail repair.

A one-day Rake-A-Thon clears a lot of trail in a single morning. The independent volunteers are the people who come back to the same route through the rest of the winter.

What the Halloween training at Springville involves

The Independent Volunteer raking training runs Saturday, October 31, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Springville Road Trailhead. It opens with a 30-minute overview of the program, including how to rake and maintain trail. The rest is about 2.5 hours of hands-on work on the trails.

It is not open to first-timers. The Conservancy requires participants to have attended at least two of its public volunteer events before the training. That makes the public work parties on the calendar below the way in.

The listing's logistics are practical:

• Terrain: up to three miles of hiking on uneven ground and up to 2.5 hours of physical work in the forest.
• Footwear: sturdy closed-toe tennis shoes or hiking boots with good traction are required. Long sleeves and layers for the weather are recommended.
• Bring: a water bottle, plus any allergy medication you might need. The Conservancy notes that many people find a small backpack useful.
• Provided: training, tools, snacks, coffee and work gloves.
• Site: parking is limited, carpooling is encouraged, and there is a portable restroom.

The fall calendar, through the week before Thanksgiving

Anyone who hasn't yet been to two public events still has time to get there before Springville's next big morning. The Conservancy's events calendar lists the following from October 24 through mid-November.

No Ivy Day on Saturday, October 24, is not about raking, but it is a public volunteer event, so it counts toward the two-event requirement. The November 7 Fire Lane 1 morning is a raking work party, a smaller version of the Rake-A-Thon, held a week before it. The mushroom hike at Germantown on November 6 is the one listing that involves no work at all.

How the Rake-A-Thon morning works

The Rake-A-Thon runs Saturday, November 14, from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers work at three sites at once: Springville Road Trailhead, Leif Erikson at Thurman, and the Marquam Nature Park Shelter. For Forest Heights, Springville is the closest of the three by a wide margin.

Each site has its own sign-up page with a single three-hour shift, and volunteers can join on their own or as a team. The Springville listing describes the task as raking fallen leaves off the trail. It requires long pants, long socks and sturdy shoes with good traction, and recommends long sleeves and layers for sun, wind or rain. As at the training, the Conservancy provides tools, gloves, snacks and coffee, parking is limited, and a portable restroom will be on site.

The training two weeks earlier is meant to leave some of the people who rake together on the 14th returning to the same routes through the winter.

What a rake can't fix this season

Some problems on the north end of the park are bigger than leaf litter. Portland Parks & Recreation's trail closures and delays page, updated September 28, 2026, lists two that matter for fall planning.

1. Wildwood Trail, mile 15.2. A bridge there is closed, and a stepped bypass routes hikers around it. For a long Wildwood outing, plan on that detour, which could matter on wet ground.
2. Ridge Trail parking area on NW Bridge Avenue. It is closed indefinitely, so that trailhead isn't available as a starting point for now.

Both notices date from late September. The city updates that page as conditions change, so check it again before heading out. Problems like these are handled by crews and agencies. Fall raking is the work open to anyone who has been to two public events.

Trail stewardship and home stewardship follow the same idea: small, well-timed maintenance prevents expensive repairs later. If the leaves are falling on your own Forest Heights property and you want to talk through which fall projects are worth doing before winter, or before a future sale, I'm glad to help. Shannon Janssen works with Westside homeowners on exactly that kind of planning. Let's Connect.