The City of Bend has a long history of park development, beginning with the creation of Drake Park in 1921. Drake Park, the first of several parks along the Deschutes River, has become part of the identity and heart of the community. For decades Bend’s citizens and visitors have enjoyed the many parks for their beauty, for sporting events, for community celebrations, and for casual recreation.

Since 1974 all of the public parks and recreation facilities within the urban area have been developed and managed by the Bend Park and Recreation District, a separate special district that serves an area slightly larger than Bend city limits. The Bend Park and Recreation District’s Comprehensive Plan includes an inventory of existing parks, trails and recreation facilities, and establishes a framework for developing future parks, trails and recreation facilities based upon the community’s needs.

The Bend Park and Recreation District also provides a large and diverse variety of recreation and fitness programs. These programs offer a wide range of year-round activities for youngsters and adults. One set of programs, in cooperation with the local school district, provides after school activities and sports for school students.

There is strong community interest in adding more parks, trails and recreation facilities to meet the ever increasing needs created by the expanding urban population. The Bend Park and Recreation District Comprehensive Plan describes the District’s priorities for future projects.

The Bend Comprehensive Plan recommends the development of a trail system along the river wherever possible in an effort to provide public access to this outstanding natural feature. The park district already manages the Deschutes River Trail through town, and is working with property owners to extend the trail outside of city limits. Several miles of riverfront trails also exist on private property, but are open to the public. In addition to the river trails, the Bend Comprehensive Plan recommends a system of recreation and transportation trails, which would interconnect neighborhoods, parks, and schools. More information on the urban area trails and a map of the trail system are included in Chapter 7, Transportation System.

The Bend Comprehensive Plan also supports and recommends a park and recreation system that serves the community and takes advantage of natural sites within the area. There are many opportunities for new parks to be developed in conjunction with future school sites. The Bend Park and Recreation District, the Bend-La Pine School District, and the city and county work together to coordinate the planning of park and school facilities to serve the growing urban population.

A park facility located adjacent to a school has essentially the same service area as the school, and this approach to park planning has several advantages. The combined school and park make a year- round center for educational and recreational activities and allow each facility to be designed to complement the needs of both the park district and the school district. The coordinated school-park program may also afford an opportunity for cost savings to both districts. Besides eliminating some duplicate facilities, the coordination of siting new schools and parks could reduce the cost of acquisition, development, and maintenance of each type of facility.

The Bend Park and Recreation District Comprehensive Plan includes a map and inventory of the Park District’s existing and planned parks, trails, and recreational facilities, and should be referenced for information on those facilities.

Existing developed and undeveloped park and recreation sites are shown on the Bend Comprehensive Plan Land Use Map. The City works with the Bend Park and Recreation District to update the Comprehensive Land Use Map as the District plans for new parks and facilities.

Until the 1998 update of the Comprehensive Plan, neither the city nor the county had a separate zoning district designed to protect and enhance parks and public open space. The city and county now have a Public Facilities plan designation that is applied to developed park facilities, schools, public owned natural areas, and other types of open space.

In addition to the public recreation facilities provided by the Bend Park and Recreation District, there are four private golf courses within the Urban Growth Boundary, and two more just outside the Urban Growth Boundary. Four of the courses within the urban area are currently open to the public. Besides providing recreational opportunities for residents and visitors, these golf courses serve a secondary role of providing some of the “large developed” open space within the urban area.