In the past two decades, Bend’s Pilot Butte State Scenic Viewpoint has become more than a landmark on the outskirts of town to view the Cascade Mountain Range.

It has become a popular recreation site and public gathering space in the middle of a growing neighborhood.

Despite its changing role in the city, the management plan for the butte has not been updated since 1995, when Bend’s population was about 30,000.

But after a year of gathering public comment and working with local stakeholders, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department last week unveiled a draft of its new master plan.

Public comments on the draft plan will be accepted for the next 30 days before it is sent to the department’s parks and recreation commission for final approval.

Rachel Hill, a park planner for the state parks department who is tasked with overseeing the new master plan, said a challenge with Pilot Butte is the balance between protecting the natural landscape while offering recreational opportunities.

“The goal is to balance those two,” Hill said. “Improve and focus upon the areas that can serve the public in an urban park … as well as preserve the beauty of this natural space in the city.”

Highlights of the draft plan include new access points to the butte, a new trail at the summit and an addition to the base trail that connects to nearby schools.

The plan calls for a new trailhead entrance at Lafayette Avenue on the west side of the butte and a formal access point at Derek Drive east of the butte.

From the Lafayette entrance, the base trail would extend toward Juniper Elementary School.

Another new trailhead would be created at Greenwood Avenue and Summit Road. It would access a new trail that would connect with Pilot Butte Middle School.

At the summit, the vista trail would be a short loop for people of all recreational abilities. Parking spots at the summit would be marked, according to the draft plan.

A common concern from the public was the overuse of the trails and the creation of “social trails,” unofficial trails that hikers create by walking off the established routes, Hill said.

In the master plan, the social trails would be closed and replanted while the established trails would be better maintained and marked.

“We want to make sure we give people legitimate, well- constructed trails,” Hill said. “If we can make those trails better, it will help us decommission the other ones.”

The state parks department shared its draft plan at a public meeting Thursday in Bend.

Retired Bend couple Phil and Anne Kirk came to the meeting to learn about the plan and share concerns they have with the upkeep of the roads and trails on the butte.

Phil Kirk said he would like to see painted lines on the road up to the butte, to help the two-way traffic stay in their lanes around the curves in the road.

“There are so many close calls with traffic going both ways,” Kirk said.

Bend resident Scott Robinson, who works at REI in the Old Mill District, said he regularly enjoys hiking Pilot Butte and considers it to have the best trails within the city. He was happy to see the master plan include marked parking at the summit, but he wonders if there is a way to limit the number of cars that go up at one time.

“When there is a lot of traffic up top, there are people parking all the way down the summit trail,” Robinson said.

Robinson hopes the new plan will help preserve the unpaved trail system.

“You have miles of trail you can pursue without doubling back on yourself,” he said, “which I think is super unique and worth preserving.”

The draft plan includes another common request from the public: reconstruction of the exercise area and trailhead that were destroyed after the 2018 Fourth of July fire that burned about 10 acres around the base of the butte.

Bend resident Alan Joseph Stout started the Fourth of July fire, which caused U.S. Highway 20 to close, prompted evacuations of nearby apartments and shut down power. The fire scorched dozens of junipers along with the exercise area and informational kiosk at the east-side trailhead.

“This was by far one of the most talked about and loved pieces of Pilot Butte, and it burned in the fire,” Hill said. “The trailhead and the exercise area were a gathering space for people. It really served a lot of purposes, and it needs to be replaced.”

Through the public input process, the state parks department discovered the butte has special meaning to locals in Bend.

“What we realized is Pilot Butte is a locally loved park,” Hill said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com