To the Editor,

My late mother described inertia as “the property of a body at rest to stay at rest and the property of a body in motion to stay in motion,” and it’s the former half of that definition that’s generated so much opposition to the Feasibility Study months from being completed regarding the proposed Rails and Trails between Wallowa and Union counties.

In December, results from that study coordinated by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and students from Eastern Oregon University will be presented to the body with ultimate control regarding the future of that possibility: Wallowa Union Railroad Authority’s Board of Directors.

While interested parties pro and anti to the Rails/Trails concept consistently have gathered to voice opinions about whether or not that proposed 64-mile bicycle/pedestrian path should be built along a mostly abandoned railroad line, both democratic logic and economic realism are quietly morphing into what could become an equitable solution.

I’ve attended several public meetings on the matter and both watched and listened as quiet proponents and vocal opponents sitting at respective tables complied with and decried the efforts of Rocky Houston from Parks and EOU student Dana Kurtz as they outlined the latest status of the Feasibility Study.

And, subtly, I see progress being made.

Though friends I’ve grown up with often claim it’s a done deal, that Houston and party are ramming what they don’t want down their throats without hearing their voices, I disagree.

The last meeting I attended described five different styles of trail that could be implemented if construction is feasible and desired by WURA, and my understanding was—both to meet the desired wishes of landowners within Wallowa County and to reduce overall expenses to build such a trail—the proposed route through the Wallowa Valley would leave the railroad line and utilize existing roadways.

This wouldn’t keep those doggone foreigners from coming to Wallowa County, but shy of building the Great Wall of China to border us off, it might be an equitable solution.

And yet, as Houston says at every meeting, all they’re doing is gathering information to provide WURA’s board with data from which to advance or derail a proposed plan.

Rocky Wilson

Wallowa