What’s next for Lincoln’s former outdoor learning site? District weighs plans
The Western Placer Unified School District is exploring plans to repurpose a privately owned section of McCormick Park once used for student outdoor education.
Before 2020, middle school students in the district visited a 150-acre site for the Outdoor Learning Environment, or OLE, an annual field trip program. The program was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 150-acre property, located at 2768 Nisenan Valley Drive in Lincoln, was purchased by the Western Placer Education Foundation, a nonprofit that supports district programs, and donated it to the district in 2021.
Although the land is privately owned and not open to the public, residents continue to use it.
Barret Hess, the district’s outdoor spaces manager and an agriculture mechanics teacher at Lincoln High School, said officials are in the early stages of determining the site’s future.
“We’ve been trying to figure out just exactly what place this holds in this community and in our education community as well, what those uses might be,” he said.
As development expanded around the property in recent years, the district held a community meeting to gather input from nearby residents.
Hess said residents raised concerns about erosion, litter, fire risk and nuisance activity.
“We want it to become a place that’s attracting positive activities like enjoying nature, taking their dogs for walks,” he said.
He said visitors often leave dog waste bags behind, creating maintenance issues.
“People don’t understand this isn’t a curated property, so they just leave their poop bags all along the road and expect somebody by and pick them up,” he explained.
Hess said he would like to add collection points throughout the area. Residents also requested defined trail destinations and limits on certain activities.
“The access limitation being more to approved activities, not necessarily keeping people out but keeping the less preferred activities out, mostly for safety,” he said. “Some nuisance activities like motorized dirt bikes, especially internal combustion engines.”
District officials said the goal is to allow continued public use while ensuring safety and preserving the site’s history.
The district is working with neighboring landowners, including the city of Lincoln, the Whitney Oaks Community Association and the Placer County Water Agency. Representatives from those agencies did not respond to requests for comment.
“We are working on connecting with our community and trying to figure out if we want to encompass this as a multi-use area all together and then work on access limitation and enforceability for some of those things,” he said.
As planning continues, Lincoln High School’s Outdoor Education Club recently hosted a volunteer cleanup event at the site, where students removed debris including wooden pallets and wire.
Hess said the district plans to bring in student interns next year to help maintain and improve the property.
