Rob Ruth/Chieftain While the topography along this stretch of the WURA rail line, south of Enterprise near Eggleson Lane, would lend itself relatively easily to the addition of a trail, some other portions of the 63-mile line would be more challenging to trail project engineers.

Wallowa County Chieftain

Not to be confused with the next official public meeting regarding a feasibility study currently underway to determine if, how, and under what circumstances a bicycle/pedestrian path could be built along the 63 miles of railroad track between Joseph and Elgin, the Joseph Branch Trail Consortium is sponsoring a public meeting Thursday, April 9, to share perspectives of similar endeavors now active in other locations regionally.

Dana Kurtz, the Eastern Oregon University student selected to be program project manager for the feasibility study, says the idea behind Thursday’s meeting and a second one the night earlier at the Elgin Community Center was spawned by public comments made at a feasibility study meeting last year jointly sponsored by EOU and the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation (ODPR), the entities conducting that study.

An adjacent landowner, a historian, and a trail association president closely involved with the 84-mile Weiser River Trail (trail only, no rails), locate in Idaho between New Meadows and Weiser, will speak Thursday night, April 9, at the Hurricane Creek Grange, 63081 Hurricane Creek Road in rural Joseph. Another perspective of the rails-and-trail concept will be offered the same evening concerning the 100-mile OC&E Woods Line State Trail, located near Klamath Falls. Speaking on that topic will be Todd Honeywell, a former manager of Wallowa Lake State Park.

The meetings held in Elgin and Joseph are scheduled to last from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. and, according to a press release circulated by the Joseph Branch Trail Consortium, participants “will discuss their experiences in developing, managing, and maintaining trails.” The announced plan is for each of the four speakers to speak briefly, then respond to questions from the audience.

Rocky Houston, the state trails coordinator for Oregon, will facilitate the two meetings to be held at opposite ends of the railroad line owned by the Wallowa Union Railroad Authority (WURA), the entity that will decide if any further action will be taken after EOU and State Parks hand their final report to the WURA board of directors in December.

According to Houston, the feasibility study is currently on schedule in terms of concept planning, and EOU is finalizing an economic benefits assessment. A draft existing conditions assessment is already complete.

A survey of randomly selected residents was set to begin early in April. According to the Joseph Branch Trail Consortium’s website, the survey will test proposed trail development alternatives.

The project group hopes to have preliminary data from the survey and draft trail design options in hand to review during an advisory committee meeting on May 5.

A new round of public meetings is scheduled in August.

According to Kurtz, an unknown number of survey questionnaires will be mailed by mid-April. In addition to those that are mailed, surveys will also soon be obtainable via the Web at www.eou.edu/rails-with-trails, or by contacting Kurtz at 509-953-1804.

On a related note, the Wallowa City Council voted March 17 to issue a letter of support endorsing the proposed Rails and Trail concept inside the WURA corridor.