Eckford honored for trails work

Local resident Patrick Eckford is the recipient of a 2014 Big Chainring Award. The Deschutes County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) selected him for the honor in recognition of his volunteer contributions to pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly environments in Deschutes County.

Started in 1996, the Big Chainring Awards are awarded annually to honor individuals, businesses, and public agencies that have made significant contributions in support of better bicycling and walking in Central Oregon. A chainring is the main pedal-driven gear ring that moves the bike chain to provide energy and propulsion to a bicycle. In a similar manner, Big Chainring Award recipients are seen as a driving force in the community.

Specifically, BPAC conferred the Peter Hanson Memorial Award on Eckford. Peter Hanson was a BPAC member who died of cancer in 2005. BPAC noted that Hanson's contributions were in such areas as trail building and environmental and outdoor community projects. The nature of Eckford's contributions to the community are clearly reminiscent of the standard set by Hanson, and BPAC took notice.

A BPAC news release following last week's award ceremony said, "Patrick has been an outstanding volunteer for promoting trail adoption in Sisters Country. He has dedicated many hours to planning and maintaining trails with the Sisters Trails Alliance (STA) and with other Sisters-area events."

Eckford's efforts with the STA in designing and teaching a standardized format for volunteers and assisting in producing and distributing STA related information were also key factors in his selection for the award. The citation went on to say that, "Eckford's tireless efforts show a successful celebration of bicycle and pedestrian culture in Sisters and throughout Central Oregon."

Gary Guttormsen, STA board member and trails committee chairman, has worked with Eckford over the past several years and refers to him as the "go-to guy" when it comes to trail projects.

"Patrick has gotten very involved with local trail issues, especially the building and maintenance of our STA trail system," said Guttormsen. "He also knows very well the economic benefit that our trail system brings to the Sisters area."

In addition to his work with the STA trail system, Guttormsen cited Eckford's work in clearing sections of the Pacific Crest Trail and other Forest Service trails in the area. Further, Guttormsen said, "He is a valuable spokesperson for STA in dealing with governmental agencies and the media. For these reasons, he was STA's first choice for the 2014 award."

This is the second such award recently received by Eckford, who was also recognized as STA's "Volunteer of the Year" for 2013.

Eckford seemed a bit overwhelmed by the all the attention.

"It's supposed to be a favorable quality to be humble," he said, "but I really am humbled, because there are so many people in front of me who should have been recognized."

Eckford seemed honored simply to have the chance to do the volunteer work he deems so important.

"For me, this has been a wonderful opportunity to give back," he said. "The more I got into it, the more I realized how much of what we enjoy depends on volunteers. I just have been really surprised by how much of what we take for granted depends on volunteer time.

"I'm a bit surprised and somewhat alarmed by the trend to move maintenance of our public assets to volunteers," he said. "If there is a continued shift by public agencies to depend on more and more volunteer work, it will be a big challenge to meet that demand and maintain a volunteer force."

Eckford also stepped into the role of a recruiter by encouraging others to join the volunteer effort.

"The more work I do, the more I see that, at STA, our volunteer group is kind of aging. I'm one of the younger ones at 63. We need people, all of us; we need more volunteers. There is a great personal satisfaction to volunteerism and developing a sense of ownership."