Trail matters undecided after three meetings

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Dec 02, 20150

With the conclusion of three public meetings on the future of the John Wayne Trail, Washington State Parks plans to conduct another series of meetings starting in January, with the goal to arrive at a state budget request for the 2017-19 biennium to keep the trail open.

“We would like to get the process completed by May,” said Randy Kline, Parks Planner for Washington State Parks, indicating that a state Parks & Recreation Commission meeting next July would an opportune time to present findings.

The budget request would include maintenance, stewardship and capital improvements for the 135-mile trail section from the Columbia River at Beverly to Malden. That was the section of trail which had been proposed for closure in a capital budget provision which was derailed on wording faults.

The last of the trail meetings was Nov. 23 in Ellensburg. Rep. Joe Schmick, who proposed the public sessions after a contentious session in October at Tekoa where he was questioned about the ill-fated budget measure he proposed, said he was thankful to have called the meetings.

“I think they went fine,” he said. “People had a chance to give their input ... there were a couple user groups that really offered to help. That was a nice surprise.”

The sessions were in Rosalia Nov. 10 and Lind Nov. 16.

While trail supporters had hoped Schmick would announce a new state budget request, he first pointed to the Parks Department’s intention to put dollar amounts on what needs to be done.

“One of the deliverables we want to come out of (our meetings starting in January) is a capital projects list,” said Kline.

“To speculate before they do that, I think would be premature,” Schmick said. “Unless you have a detailed plan, it’s almost like shooting with a shotgun. It’s a big area, and even with volunteer help, you need to write out what needs to be done. That part of these meetings we had was really absent. There weren’t a lot of solutions being offered.”

The deadline to file for new legislation in the upcoming session is Dec. 4.

“Right now I’m not planning to introduce anything,” Schmick said. “Because we don’t know what we’d be asking for.”

State Senator Mark Schoesler of Ritzville also suggested another entity needs to act first.

“I think the Parks Department was AWOL,” he said of the November meetings. “We have to have an honest discussion, starting with State Parks. In my 23 sessions in the state legislature, they’ve never once came to me and said ‘we’d like to do something, we need to do something about this trail’.”

Schoesler attended the second trail meeting in Rosalia.

Noting a backlog of maintenance and preservation work, along with costs of noxious weed control falling upon landowners, Schoesler pointed to State Parks.

“They’re just a very poor neighbor,” he commented.

Monte Morgan, vice president of the Tekoa Trestle and Trails Association, attended all three meetings and spoke at all three.

“The state already has the budget for the Trail,” he said. “All we’re asking for is that they spend some of that money on the east side of the trail. We just don’t think they need to re-do any other trails over there until they re-do the one over here.”

Morgan said the Tekoa group will continue their efforts, including an appearance in Olympia Feb. 3 to join a day of lobbying with the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington State.

It’s part of the Tekoa group’s plan to continue advocating for the trail, with a priority to seek more resolutions from cities in support – such as has been issued in Spokane, Colfax and Palouse along with Tekoa and Rosalia.

“We’re not in opposition to Schmick,” said Morgan. “We want to support him.”

Rep. Mary Dye attended one of the meetings.

“It looks like whatever Schmick wants to do, she would back it,” Morgan said.

Jay Allert, who owns land along the trail near Rosalia, attended two of the three meetings.

“We appreciate the opportunity. We were able to get the facts out on the table, and I think it’s made a difference,” he said.

Regarding the content of the meetings, Allert concurred with Schmick.

“Opinions were aired and no new solutions were found, other than what’s been offered,” he said.

Points of contention with landowners along the trail include weed control, trespassing, liability, repair or closure of bridges and trestles.

Allert suggested fencing as one of the keys.

“We need to prevent trespass, that’s our biggest challenge,” he said.

Allert and other landowners have been asked by the State Parks Department to participate in a 12-person advisory committee in the coming months.

He has agreed.

What if the State Parks proposed some kind of solution that essentially hires landowners, as contractors, to build necessary fences and control weeds?

“No, thank you,” said Allert. “Why would I want that?”

“Something like that, it’s possible,” said Kline. “We’ve got a planning process we’ve used on more than 100 of our parks, and we trust the process.”

The matter of the John Wayne Trail flared up this fall after a proposal backed by Schmick, Dye and Schoesler to close the 135-mile section was nullified by a misstatement in a budget proviso. The legislation would have closed the stretch of trail until the state provided necessary funding to re-open it.

Since then, Schmick and Dye have sought input from trail users, landowners and the Parks Department.

The John Wayne Trail runs 253 miles from North Bend to the Idaho state line. It intersects with the Columbia Plateau Trail, which was also listed on the ill-fated budget proviso for a shutdown of a section between Kahlotus and Williams Lake.

Kline said the first of the State Parks meetings on the trail will be in Rosalia, followed by a session in Ellensburg or Moses Lake. The series is expected to go into March.

“One of the deliverables we want to come out of this process is a capital projects list,” Kline said.

Overall, he indicated the main challenge remains.

“The biggest hurdle will be coming to some manner of a solution that works for adjacent landowners and people using the trail,” he added.