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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 12, 2005 Tom Foster volunteers his time giving guided tours through Lithia Park, among other activities. Foster will receive the Oregon Parks & Recreation Association�s 2005 Volunteer Service Award this week. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Volunteer to be honored for decades of service By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune Sharing two of the Rogue Valley’s greater outdoor resources with residents and visitors has been a passion for Hometown Hero Tom Foster for some two decades. The 75-year-old will be honored Tuesday when he is given the Oregon Parks & Recreation Association’s (ORPA) 2005 Volunteer Service Award. Ashland and Jackson County parks officials who helped nominate Foster for the prestigious award noted his unwavering dedication to the Lithia Park Nature Walks Program and the Bear Creek Greenway, his attention to detail and his generous giving of time. Foster moved to Ashland in 1981 with his wife, Marjory, after a 30-year military career. While he is officially "retired," those know have benefited from his volunteer efforts describe Foster as a tireless, hard worker, always ready to pitch in and see a project to completion. "He’s just a tremendously organized, productive person," said Karen Smith, special projects manager for Jackson County Roads and Parks. Advertisement Smith said she met Foster as a volunteer of the now defunct Northwest Museum of Natural History. In conjunction with his volunteering at the museum, he spent his days as a city courier, joined the Watershed Patrol and participated in AARP’s Tax Counseling Program for seniors. His work with the museum sparked a natural interest in the region’s natural resources and in natural science, leading him to join the museum’s outreach program and, in 1989, efforts to provide guided nature walks in Lithia Park. When the Pacific Northwest Museum closed its doors, Foster assumed responsibility for training and coordinating volunteers and scheduling the walks, three days per week, May through September. Word of Foster’s hard work got out, resulting in his recruitment, with a dozen others, to produce a first-ever trail guide for the Bear Creek Greenway in 1991. Smith said Foster’s attention to detail was instrumental in creating educational components for the trail guide. "When you do that sort of thing, you have to research plant materials, geography, aquatics, native plants versus invasive, history, soil types ... he was just incredible," said Smith. Shortly after, he took on the task of researching and creating an interpretive walk for the Lynn Newbry Park through Talent. "He’s one of those people who, if he offers to do it, it will be done early and it will be done perfectly," added Smith. Foster joined the Bear Creek Greenway Foundation in 1993, about which time he also decided it was high time to update the original trail guide. The revised version, published in 2002, identified new viewpoints, solicited assistance and information from local experts and expanded the Greenway points of interest from 34 to 64. Foster even recruited his wife Marjory, an artist, to provide illustrations. Foster said his time commitment varies from a few hours a week leading walks through Lithia Park to busier times of year when he’s coordinating the walks and helping with other community programs for as many as 40 to 50 hours a week. Now in their seventh season, Foster said he had enjoyed watching Lithia’s Nature Walks grow in popularity and in quality. Sponsored by the Ashland Parks and Recreation Department, the program, to date, has welcomed more than 11,000 visitors and residents to learn more about the city’s crown jewel park. Foster was humbled by his recent recognition, which will be presented Tuesday in Seaside, but was eager to speak of his passion for sharing the area’s natural resources. "We want the community to have a better appreciation of what’s there in the park," Foster said. "People ... walk through it all the time, but probably don’t realize what they’re passing by, or what it represents. We give them a lot of background, natural history, geology, stories." Of the prestigious award, Foster said he was, "flattered ... and surprised." "I don’t do it for any recognition," he noted. "I’ve just enjoyed doing the volunteer activities that I’m able to do. That’s sufficient reward as far as I’m concerned. I love the outdoors and I love what I’m doing." In addition to Foster’s award, a relative newcomer to Ashland Parks, Rachel Teige, was named Young Professional of the Year. Don Robertson said the city is fortunate to have dedicated and passionate volunteers as well as staff. A recreation superintendent, Teige joined the city parks office eight months ago. Both Foster and Teige will receive their awards at the annual Oregon Parks & Recreation Association conference on Tuesday. Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Do you know someone who's a Hometown Hero? Submit suggestions to Mail Tribune reporter Sanne Specht via e-mail at Volunteer to be honored for decades of service ">[email protected] or by phone at 776-4497. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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