Steve Kiesling took his love of the river and nature and extended it to a whole community

GOLD HILL — The view today from Highway 99 onto Gold Hill’s Beach Park now includes the Kiesling Family Playground — an activity center with state-of-the art "Space Net" climbing toys sitting near swingsets just back from the newly-groomed banks of the Rogue River.

But a few months earlier, before Steve Kiesling and his friends went to work, the city park was not much more than an inaccessible, overgrown trail leading through blackberry bushes and decades of illegally dumped trash.

Kiesling, 45, says allowing access to the public space through his property was easy. But he worked with Public Works Director Royal Gasso, Mike Newmann of Creative Land Design and others to help him with the hard work of actually building the playground.

"My commercial property is adjacent to the city’s old Beach Park," he says. "I started cleaning up my own trash heap and just kept going. I knew there had to be something beautiful here. Something for the community."

Adjacent property owner Mike Cornelius says he was initially leery at the notion of living above a park. But the new space has benefited everyone, he says.

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"At first I thought it would be noisy ...," he says. "But it’s so mellow. It’s cool. You see parents swinging their kids. The teens love it. It was a great move to put the playground in for the people."

The editor of Spirituality and Health Magazine, Kiesling moved to the Rogue Valley from New York in 1992. He commutes from his home in Ashland to Manhattan. In his off time, he indulges his lifelong passion for being on the water.

Kiesling was on the Olympic rowing team in 1980 and wrote a book about his experience, "The Shell Game." He is a founder of the Ashland Rowing Club and he helped create both the ice rink and skate park in Ashland.

"I love to create parks," says Kiesling.

It’s the river that brought Kiesling to Gold Hill. It’s why he has purchased more than a quarter-mile stretch of its banks. And it’s promoting access to the river that will be the city’s salvation, he says.

"Growth is inevitable," he says. "It’s coming. The key will be to manage it.

"Some of the world’s best places to kayak are between Gold Ray Dam and Gold Hill. There are Class II and Class IV rapids. People need to realize how lucky they are to be here. This is one of the greatest water stretches in the world. This is a beautiful area."

So he is going forward with more plans.

Walking along a newly-cut trail near Gold Hill’s diversion dam, Kiesling drifts down toward the river’s edge and talks about the history of the area — and his dreams.

"We’re hard at work at the old powerhouse," he says. "We’d like to build a performing arts center here (in the turbine building)."

He’d also like to see the old fish ladder become an inner-tube run and the diversion dam channel set up with slalom gates as a safe, flat-water training ground for budding kayakers.

For the more advanced, just across the trail is Tilomihk Falls. The area more is commonly known as Powerhouse Rapids because of the old cement factory — and its class IV rapids. But it has an ancient history as a 10,000-year-old gathering ground for American Indian tribes, says Kiesling.

"This was the home of the Salmon Festival," he says. "Tribes came from all over to catch fish and participate in sacred ceremonies."

Kiesling says legend has it there is a storytelling stone out in the river near here. People would stand on the stone and tell their tribal histories, he says.

"Next summer, we’d like to create the Salmon Festival," Kiesling says.

Taking a moment to pull his gaze from the beauty of the river and back onto the current dilapidated state of the area’s structures, Kiesling laughs and admits he is an "enthusiast." But it is the nature of enthusiasts to be optimistic, he says.

Whatever the reason, Gold Hill’s public parks areas are being revitalized because of Kiesling, says Gasso.

"Steve has adopted Gold Hill as his town that he likes to help out," says Gasso. "And he’s an enthusiastic guy."

Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 776-4497 or e-mail sspecht@mailtribune.com