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The play area will be in a grove of oak trees near the Springfield park’s entrance and will consist mostly of natural materials, with features such as stone forts and a boulder mound with a slide. The park district’s board voted last week to award a contract to a company to build the project later this year.
When Jackie Rochefort started working on plans for a nature play area at Dorris Ranch, she knew she wanted a bird nest for kids to climb in like the one at Silver Falls State Park.
Visitors to Dorris Ranch, the southwest Springfield park, will soon see the steel nest, as well as a boulder mound with a slide and stone forts. The features will be part of a new kids’ play area Willamalane Park & Recreation District is planning. Construction is projected to start later this year.
“We thought this would be an ideal location for the district’s first-ever truly natural playground,” Rochefort, Willamalane’s planning and natural resource manager, told Lookout Eugene-Springfield.
Dorris Ranch is a 268-acre park and commercial filbert orchard with a multi-use path that runs along the Middle Fork Willamette River, as well as gravel and dirt paths. The play area will be in a grove of oak trees near the park’s north gravel parking lot and will be built with mostly natural materials.
“Dorris Ranch is such a special place, and so we really wanted to use really great sensitivity in what we chose, how we chose it, how it fit the site,” she said, noting planners “went through that delicate balance of trying to have a feeling of being in the woods but not being so close to the trees that we would impact their root zone during construction.”
Other play features being planned are measuring boards where kids can see their height relative to different tree species, gravel scoopers, log climbers, animal tracks and a log bridge, with features for kids ages 2 to 5 and 5 to 12. Plans also call for a paved Americans with Disabilities Act parking spot, fencing between the parking area and the playground, and picnic tables and benches.
“We really worked hard to find a balance of what worked well for the site, the environment and what would provide a really good recreation and learning experience for kids of all ages and abilities,” Rochefort said.
Willamalane updated its Dorris Ranch Master Plan in 2019, incorporating community input indicating interest in a natural play area and additional trails. About two years ago, staff began working to make the playground a reality. District staff applied for and received a state lottery-funded grant from the state parks department.
The $245,000 grant requires a 50% match. Willamalane will fund its matching portion through systems development charges, which are fees developers pay to fund public infrastructure improvements necessary as a result of new development. The district is adding more than 50% and has a current total project budget of $520,000, Rochefort said.
Willamalane hired Portland nature play consultant Learning Landscapes to design the play area with direction from staff. The consultant also did community outreach, including setting up a table at the October 2025 Haunted Hayride at Dorris Ranch and asking kids for their input.
“We had posters available that showed some of the different types of things that we were thinking of having in the playground, and they were able to put stickers on to show what they wanted,” Rochefort said, noting the two most popular were the bird nest and climbable rocks.
Willamalane spent the winter designing the playground with the consultant, and then last month, solicited construction bids. The park district received five bids, and the board of directors voted Wednesday, June 10, to award the contract to Eugene-based Classic Design and Construction for $338,790. The company has designed other Willamalane parks, including Arrow Park in north Springfield.
Funding will also go toward 1.4 miles of existing and new trails at Dorris Ranch, with the “goal to provide a really inclusive trail system with signage and looped trails that help people feel comfortable when they’re out hiking,” Rochefort said.
She said Willamalane staff will build some smaller connecting trails and will select a contractor for a larger trail.
Rochefort said the district hopes to start construction in late summer or early fall of this year.
“Right now, I’m counting on it being done this year,” she said.
