Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Signage directs hikers to a detour trail to bypass the aging trestle bridge.
Whitman County Parks plans to remove this wooden trestle on the Colfax Trail this spring.
The new year for Whitman County Parks started with new board members and three large projects set for 2019.
In early December, Angela Taylor, a Pullman engineer, replaced Parks board member Tom Stirling, who resigned after four years.
Kathy Meyer also finished in December after serving a six-year term.
Sharon Tharp of Palouse has completed a six-year term, vacating a seat that is expected to be taken by Brian Bell of the Whitman Conservation District.
When the park board approves a new member, their vote then goes to county commissioners for confirmation.
No time frame is set to fill the seventh board seat (Meyer's), as the process to find new members mainly runs by word of mouth.
Taylor, and likely Bell, join veterans Steve Ullrich, a Parks board member since 1987; Doug Flansburg (1990); Jack McBride (1992), and Dan Leonard (2003).
Parks Director Dave Mahan plans first for the completion of a 2018 project, reinforcement and widening of sections of the Pine Ridge Loop trail at Kamiak Butte.
The work began last April, with weekly work parties going out to the trail into May. Much of the labor consisted of transporting boards and materials by hand.
"You couldn't get a four-wheeler up there," Mahan explained.
The project resumed in October for three more days.
"We're 90 percent done," said Mahan, suggesting two to three more days will be necessary this spring.
About 1.5-miles of trail were improved.
Volunteer workers included park board members, church groups and fraternities assisting Mahan, Kamiak Ranger Laura Bloomfield and temporary summer employees.
Once complete, the project is estimated to cost less than $5,000, because much of the lumber used was left over from another project, bought through a grant. Other materials included fasteners, re-bar and iron.
"(Hikers) will notice right away the trail is wider," said Mahan.
For new projects in 2019, the Parks' list includes taking out an old railbed trestle on the Colfax trail, razing a house in Elberton and creating a forest management plan for Elberton, Kamiak and Klemgard parks.
For the Colfax trail, hikers have been diverted from the trestle for the past five years. Engineers from the county's Public Works department deemed the trestle unsafe. A $20,000 expenditure for this year has been approved from the capital improvement program to pay for a county bridge crew to take down the 75-foot long, 15-foot high trestle. Rotten wood in main support columns had caused its liability.
Once removed, county crews will replace it with one or two culverts covered with rock. The work is expected to happen in May or June.
"It'll be a big improvement for the Colfax trail," Mahan said.
The Colfax trail is on the railroad bed of the former Spokane and Inland Empire railroad which was built in 1907. It later served as the line for the Great Northern.
Also for the new year, the parks department will oversee removal of a house uninhabitable since the 1996 flood at Elberton. In recent years, Palouse River Counseling has used the structure, located next to the former Elberton church, as storage for its ropes course operation.
The house has attracted vandals, and Mahan and others have boarded up windows after various incidents.
"It's become kind of an attractive nuisance," Mahan said.
Bill Tensfeld, Whitman County Emergency Management director and Rosalia Fire Chief, is developing a plan to burn down the house as a training exerciser. Asbestos abatement is needed first. The project is estimated for the fall. A shed then may be built to replace the storage for Palouse River Counseling.
The third big project for this year is to address a concern for forest health in three county parks.
The department would work with the Whitman Conservation District and may hire a certified forester to evaluate Elberton, Kamiak and Klemgard to cover tree disease and vulnerability in tree stands to fire.
Mahan said he does not know if such a plan has ever been done.
"If there is one, it's definitely not up to date," he said. "We do have insect bark beetle and stands too thick in all three parks."
Forest management plans are slated for 10 years, during which Mahan indicated the Parks department will apply for grants to help pay for the work designated.
The parks will again advertise in February for its three full-time summer jobs, with a new state minimum wage pay rate of $12.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
Reader Comments(0)