Bark Celebrates Ten Years!

Ten years ago, a small group of forest activists decided to take their dedication to the forests and rivers of Mt. Hood to the next level and form an organization to train new watchdogs to join them. Proudly stepping apart from the acronym soup that can overwhelm the political landscape, they chose a clever, memorable name; Bark. And as they say, the rest is history...

This past Saturday, Barkers came together to celebrate that moment and all that has come from this courageous group at a tenth anniversary celebration. Bringing together the old to meet the current and inspire the new, the event attracted over 300 people from all corners of Bark’s family. The event was organized by our volunteer Events Committee and took place at the downtown Stumptown Coffee Roasters, with a concert at the Someday Lounge later in the evening. The committee had collected over forty-five sketches of Mt. Hood and her wildest features from prominent Portlanders and other celebrities that were on display and available for auction on Ebay as a fundraiser.

The Stumptown event also unveiled a tenth anniversary episode of Bark for Mt. Hood, our award-winning show on public access television. The episode features Bark’s famous hikes from the past ten years of leading people into Mt. Hood National Forest and surrounding public forests on the second Sunday of every month. Additionally, Bark released a compilation CD of local musicians to keep the good times rolling into the next decade!

Bark honored former Executive Director Sandi Scheinberg and staff member Sarah Wald for their work, making them the most recent additions to Bark’s Wall of Cumulative Impacts in our office. They join other outstanding Barkers who have given significantly to our forest watch work.

As so many people came together and recognized the importance of supporting Bark’s work, the event also proved to be a successful fundraiser. Bidding for the sketches became a race to claim biggest fan of writer Ursula LeGuin, rocker Corin Tucker, Commissioner Randy Leonard and others. However, it turned out that nobody has a bigger fan base than the forests of Mt. Hood. Late in the auction, L-Word star, Laurel Holloman’s sketch went for $10,000 to a woman who spent her childhood visiting the Clackamas River!

Thank you to all the volunteers who made the event possible. And a big thank you to the participants who brought so much life to our celebration: Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Someday Lounge, Blue Cranes, Physical Hearts and Summer Ono.

For more photos of the event, please visit our flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barkformthood

To watch the tenth anniversary video, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SNMvDZN-q0.