Wilsonart donates water rights to Steen Sports Park

Submitted photo

The following is a press release from Steen Sports Park.

Park announces planning for smarter water management

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Last week, Steen Sports Park was notified that a generous transfer of water from Wilsonart International was finalized. After years of struggle to keep the park’s grass from dying and the playing surfaces playable, the park is finally going to see a sufficient amount of water to meet the demands of the playing fields.

“A lot of people have no idea what this actually means to the park,” said Scott White, Steen Sports Park’s Volunteer Executive Director. “We are a struggling non-profit trying to keep a 140-acre park open while still trying to recover from our founder and ‘doer of everything’ retiring, the COVID era, a vandalized front gate, a dry well, a bad pump, 20-year-old broken irrigation lines, run down equipment and inflation. Yea. Right now, this feels like everything to us.”

Every year, the park is faced with tens of thousands of dollars in repairs and maintenance that the park simply does not have the budget for. As a result, the fields get less than what is required to maintain quality playing surfaces.

“We do the best we can, but we know there needs to be some big changes to run this park sustainably going forward,” said White.

These struggles have not gone unnoticed by General Manager for Wilsonart International, Scott Siracusa who says that Wilsonart is proud to be in an area with such a strong sense of community. “When I heard the incredible story of Steen Sports Park, their ongoing struggles, and that they do all of this on a shoestring budget, we had to help.”

That help comes in the form of donating every drop of Wilsonart’s priority water rights to the park for the entire year. “This park hasn’t had an adequate supply of water for years and it shows. What these guys have pulled off the last few years is amazing, but our community deserves better.”

Siracusa stressed the incredible value the park brings to this community with respect to economic stimulus for all businesses in Klamath Falls. “In 2020, this park reported a $3.14 million dollar infusion into our community by running a few tournaments. Imagine the potential. That’s something we can get behind and invest in.”

Siracusa is not stopping there. He is spearheading a group aimed at bringing additional sports tourism opportunities to the community. “We have so many great venues, people, and talent trying to do great things for this community. Bringing these assets together will foster a healthier and more vibrant community and Steen’s is a key component in this effort.”

White also impressed the economic value of the park to Klamath Falls. “Every event we hold that brings people to the park infuses real dollars into our community. They get hotels, they buy gas, they eat at restaurants. Every year I hear another story of families coming back to visit after one of our events too. The economic driver is huge and every one of us benefits from that.”

Steen Sports Park, however, is not immune to economic downturns, drought, and other unforeseen liabilities that impact the park’s ability to generate revenue. As a non-profit, the park is also not funded like municipal parks so budgeting for operations and maintenance is challenging without a secure source of funding. “Our operating budget is generated by events, programs, and occasional donations that help us limp down the road,” noted White. “We have recognized that our conventional way of operating the park needs to be rethought to address our water and maintenance issues.”

The park is announcing an effort to generate a plan that will address these annual shortcomings aimed to alleviate its reliability on water and the aging infrastructure that delivers it. “We’re envisioning a park that is virtually free of its demand on water,” said White. “This means drought tolerant plants and trees, less landscaped grass, and artificial playing fields. We just need a plan to get there.”

Not only would a less water demanding park be the responsible thing for our water parched region, but it would be more economic for the park also. The park will be announcing the planning effort formally in the coming weeks and encourages any who want to be involved to attend the planning sessions. White concluded that he is very excited for the future of our great park. “And we can’t thank Wilsonart enough for their very generous donation which helps us get a little closer to that dream.”

Klamath County Commissioner and member of the Steen’s Board, Kelley Minty, also expressed her appreciation for the donation. “The community clearly loves and supports Steen Sports Park. What many probably don’t realize is it is entirely community supported, not receiving a tax base. This contribution by Wilsonart helps our Steen leadership continue to do the work we need to do to provide a world class park. Thank you, Wilsonart, for stepping in to help.”