Wallowa Union Railroad Authority Board postpones decision on trail

Published 10:00 am Friday, June 7, 2024

ELGIN — It is becoming a hotly debated question that remains unanswered following a meeting last week of the Wallowa Union Railroad Authority Board:

Will the Joseph Branch Trail Consortium be granted permission by the Wallowa Union Railroad Authority Board of Directors to apply for a conditional use permit from the Union County Planning Commission?

The permit would allow the Joseph Branch Trail Consortium to create a trail running along the railroad tracks from the outskirts of Elgin to the east edge of Union County at Rondowa, where the Grande Ronde and Wallowa rivers meet. This portion of trail would be part of a proposed 63-mile trail from Elgin to Joseph that the trail consortium is striving to complete.

At a meeting on Tuesday, June 4, the WURA board postponed making a decision on the consortium’s request for permission to apply for the conditional-use permit.

“There are a lot of issues we still need to address,” said Matt Scarfo, a member of both the WURA board and the Union County Board of Commissioners.

Scarfo said the board will continue discussing the question at its July 9 meeting in Elgin.

Board member Cory Miller emphasized the issue is far from being decided.

“We are in the exploratory stage,” he said. “It is still alive.”

About 30 people attended the June 4 meeting at the Elgin Train Depot, including many landowners with property near the proposed trail. A number said they are worried that having people traveling on the trail would increase the chance that a wildfire could be started accidentally on their land.

“Two things start fires, lightning and people,” Natalie Bustos said.

Joni Rysdam, Marilyn Miller and Tracy Eckstein noted they own land adjacent to the proposed trail that has been designated by Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative as being high risk for wildfire. Rysdam, Miller and Eckstein both said having people traveling on the trail past their property would heighten the risk they face. They noted smokers are among those who would raise the fire danger.

“This would be particularly true during fire season,” Eckstein said.

Livestock concern

Rysdam, addressing another concern, asked the WURA board how the proposed trail would help people like herself who raise cattle on their land. Then she answered her own query.

“It would not provide one benefit to us,” she said.

Eckstein noted people raising cattle in the area might be compelled to change where their livestock graze since people traveling on the trail might complain about encountering waste from their animals. This could be an issue on the land that is part of the right of way of the railroad where the trail would be. The right of way property and the railroad tracks are owned by WURA.

Providing fencing is one way potential cattle issues could be addressed, something Eckstein said would not be a foolproof strategy.

“A cow can chew through a fence,” she said. “They do it all the time. That is why we are always repairing our fences.”

Gregg Kleiner, of the Joseph Branch Consortium, said fencing is a complex issue since livestock owners have differing feelings.

Kleiner noted that some want fencing to prevent their cattle from crossing the railroad tracks, while others want their livestock to be able to move freely from one side of the tracks to the other. Kleiner said the Joseph Branch Consortium is more than willing to tailor its efforts to help landowners with issues like fencing.

“We are very flexible,” he said. “We want to do everything we can to address the individual needs of landowners.”

Safety

The first 1,060 yards of the trail, which is inside the Elgin city limits, is already complete. It runs from a new pocket park in Elgin that is part of the trailhead for the proposed 63-mile trail. The trail is 8 feet wide, meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards and is made from crushed rock.

The Union County portion of the trail would be about 16 miles long and take hikers, cyclists and horseback riders into an area where cellphone service is poor or not available. Scarfo said he is worried that if someone gets hurt deep into the trail, it will be hard for first responders to locate and get to them.

“I am worried about people’s lives,” he said.

Scarfo wants the WURA board to address this risk in the management plan that would be submitted with the Joseph Branch Consortium’s application. Scarfo would like to see the installation of signs notifying people of the trail’s length and difficulty.

Scarfo also would like to see steps taken to add an emergency phone system.