North Mountain Park, located next to Bear Creek in beautiful Ashland Oregon, encompasses a Nature Center, Demonstration Gardens, playing fields and several acres of wildlife-friendly open space and trails. The mission of the Nature Center, which is part of the Ashland Parks & Recreation Department, is "to promote greater community awareness, understanding and enjoyment of the local natural environment, and to foster stewardship through educational programs and activities." While the majority of programs and activities described on this website take place at North Mountain Park, many others are offered at outlying park and school locations throughout Ashland.
History…
The idea of having a Nature Center at North Mountain Park arose from citizen input during the early planning phase of the park in 1995. After over a year of well-attended public meetings, the Ashland Parks Commission approved the idea of restoring the floodplain portion of the 40-acre park and developing a Nature Center on the site. Since 1997, APRC has funded the planning and the implementation of the community-led vision for the Nature Center and its associated programs.
To help celebrate GIS Day 2018, we are working with GIS Analysts from the City of Ashland to place caches in North Mountain Park that can be accessible to everyone who wants to come out and explore the beauty of nature.
The Grounds are open sunrise to sunset daily, and the Nature Center is open 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday.
GIS Day is an annual event celebrating the technology of geographic information systems (GIS) that was initiated by spatial analytics world-leader Esri, and which first took place in 1999. Esri president and co-founder Jack Dangermond credits Ralph Nader with being the person who inspired the creation of GIS Day. He considered the event a good initiative for people to learn about geography and the many uses of GIS. He wanted GIS Day to be a grassroots effort and open to everyone to participate.
This cache can be found near the creek and an amazing wood branch fence. Please observe the signs and do NOT pass beyond into the nature area. You won't need to cross the gate to find the container. You won't need to do any bushwhacking to get to the cache, just look for the traveled areas. Please replace the cache well for the next adventurer!
