Landscape Architect Articles

Mount Shasta Parks District Master Plan10-01-26 | Department

Mount Shasta Parks District Master Plan

Update to comprehensive park design approach
by Tom Hesseldenz and Associates
Photo Credit: Tom Hesseldenz and Associates

Tom Hesseldenz and Associates (THA) has participated primarily as a volunteer with other community members since 1991 to develop a greenway corridor extending from the Mount Shasta City Park to Lake Siskiyou, with various secondary greenways and trails connecting through town. This is a proposed site plan for Mill Pond Park, which would involve refilling the 3-acre pond, creating walking trails, and crafting various picnic and passive use recreation areas.

The Shastice Bike Park was created in 2014 and includes jumps, berms, rollers, and a skills area. A pump track, pro line, and slopeside trail are included in the current master plan, along with a proposed connection to a nearby 40-mile network of mountain bike trails on National Forest lands, called the Gateway Trail Project, that is currently under construction.

THA helped develop a 7-mile trail around Lake Siskiyou, beginning in 1991, and has been involved mostly in a pro bono capacity ever since. The Mount Shasta Recreation and Parks District is proposing to manage the lakeshore and trail as a county park. THA is currently donating services through the Mount Shasta Rotary Club to complete the only remaining unbuilt portion of trail along the shoreline through the Lake Siskiyou Camp Resort.

Hesseldenz and Associates (THA) was retained by the Mount Shasta Recreation and Parks District in far northern California over the last several years to update and greatly expand its master plan. Funding was limited, so THA agreed to complete the entire $120,000 project for less than half-price.

Established in 1948, the district serves more than 7,000 residents and covers 142 square miles of land, extending from the Trinity Divide to Mount Shasta Volcano, and from Black Butte to Dunsmuir. The district currently manages the Mount Shasta City Park, Shastice Park, and Youth Sports Park, all of which are within the 4-square-mile city limits of Mount Shasta City. Its first master plan was prepared in 1976 and updated in 2003.

A very comprehensive approach was taken in the Master Plan Update, made possible by donated consulting services. Proposed actions include improvements and additions to existing parks, potential new parks, potential District involvement in other recreational facilities, and consideration of the future of recreational facilities in nearby communities.

The potential Mount Shasta Greenway Network includes a 3-mile Headwaters to Lake Greenway Trail extending from the City Park through downtown and onward to Lake Siskiyou. Also included is the daylighting of a small creek along 6 blocks of Castle Street through downtown Mount Shasta to create a linear park aimed at the view of Mount Shasta Volcano. The Master Plan Update includes recommended outdoor facilities design guidelines detailing types of trail surfacing, trail bridges, boardwalks, site amenities, interpretive panels, signs, signboards/kiosks, and barriers. The guidelines are intended to facilitate future specification of products and vendors at such time that construction documents are prepared, rather than including specifications in the Master Plan Update itself.

Project team members included Dave LaPlante of Natural Resource Geospatial, who prepared AutoCAD base mapping based on USGS 1-foot LiDAR contour mapping of the Mount Shasta Volcano and vicinity, and Kim Solga of Kim Solga Artworks, who formatted the master plan document in Adobe InDesign.

As seen in LASN magazine, September 2026.