Woodland Lake Park: Funds May be Available To Buy Remainder of Park
New Challenges For Community To Provide Maintenance
A source of funds has possibly become available to buy the remainder of the Woodland Lake Park Tract from the U.S. Forest Service. This will add to the 107 acres purchased by the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside two years ago.
The new acreage, combined with Big Springs, the original 107 acres, the Nature Center and Mountain Meadows park will give the community a full square mile of nature and recreation space, virtually unprecedented in Arizona.
The park expansion has been a major goal of the town since its founding and even before when Lakeside and Pinetop were unincorporated portions of Navajo County. The offer to purchase the additional property is incredibly generous and will make Pinetop-Lakeside an even more unique place to live and visit.
There are some challenges that come with accepting the gift. Save Our Park will be working with the Town to raise an endowment of $2 million. Earnings from the fund will be used to help with maintenance of the park. It’s a challenge, but as a community we have done tougher things.
Save Our Park is creating groups to work on:
- fire safety
- appropriate recreational uses of vacant land
- federal government relations
- grants
- fundraising
- publicity/community relations
- bike park
- adequate water supply for the lake
If you would like to work on any of these issues, contact Eric Kramer at 201 230-3457.
Our work groups will be meeting at 2 p.m. at Pinetop-Lakeside Town Hall on Monday, Jan. 22 to dig into the things we need to do to help complete the expansion of the park. Please join us. It will be fun.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Why can’t we just leave the areas outside the developed park as they are?
Q. Why can’t we just leave the areas outside the developed park as they are?
A. Other than the 107 acres of the developed park purchased for the Town, the adjacent 400 acres are owned by the U.S. Forest Service. The land is an “in-holding” surrounded by residential areas and separated from the rest of the National Forest. The National Forest has a policy of getting rid of small isolated parcels so this land could be sold to developers and lost to the community.
About Us
Save Our Park is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to helping the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside purchase, improve and protect Woodland Lake Park.
The group is run by a board of directors of concerned citizens, who meet monthly at Town Hall in Pinetop-Lakeside, usually at 2 p.m. on the second Monday of the month.
Woodland Lake Park History
• Mid 1880s: A few pioneers settled in the communities of Lakeside, Pinetop and Woodland.
• 1897: Members of the Hansen family filed for water rights and began to construct a dam to create Woodland Lake.
• 1908: Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests were established. The Forest Service excluded meadows, farmland and the tiny villages.
• Early 1900s: The construction of Highway 260, Woodland Road and Woodland Lake Road formed a triangle that, along with the growing settlements, separated about 550 acres of timber from the rest of the National Forest.
Walnut Creek (Pictured Above)
The Walnut Creek riparian area is a strikingly beautiful and lush canyon that runs from the dam at Woodland Lake northwest towards the Big Springs Environmental Study Area.
Including the canyon and the property to the east will add approximately 200 acres to the park.
As the original park has become more developed, the next addition will remain more primitive, allowing visitors to enjoy the calm of Nature and wildlife along with rare plants and birds.
The area along the creek will become a nature preserve, closed to everything but hikers and mountain bikes.
For More Information
Contact Eric Kramer, Save Our Park President
201 230-3457
To Donate
PO Box 2375
Lakeside, AZ 85929
Big Springs Work Day a Great Success