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Saturday, May 29, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
B RIDGE
I S B ACK
■ Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
and the volunteer Wallowa Mountains
Hells Canyon Trail Association built a
bridge on a trail near Wallowa Lake
where hikers have had to make a
dangerous creek crossing since a storm
destroyed the previous bridge in 2002
By Jayson Jacoby
Baker City Herald
There was a big problem
on the trail at BC Creek, on
the edge of the Eagle Cap
Wilderness near Wallowa
Lake.
Fortunately the solution
was standing right beside
the fast-fl owing mountain
stream.
And it was big, too.
Fixing the problem re-
quired toppling several tons
of Douglas-fi r in danger-
ously steep terrain and then
wrestling the obstinate mass
into place.
All this in a spot where
winter is the longest season.
Little wonder that con-
structing a new bridge across
BC Creek, along the Chief Jo-
seph Mountain trail, spanned
parts of two years.
The single-log bridge, with
hefty rails on each side, was
fi nished Saturday, May 22.
Its completion gives hikers
an easier, and safer, route to
one of the grandest vistas
in the Wallowas, from the
“It was a great project,
something that will
benefi t the community.
It’s a high-use area, and a
very scenic trail.”
Russ West/Contributed Photo
Volunteers from the Wallowa Mountains Hells Canyon Trails Association had a work day on May 22 to fi nish a
bridge across BC Creek on the west side of Wallowa Lake. The previous bridge over the creek, along the Chief Jo-
seph Mountain trail, washed away in 2002, creating a potentially dangerous trail crossing.
the Eagle Cap Wilderness,
Oregon’s largest at 365,000
acres.
“It was a huge collabora-
tive effort between the Forest
shoulder of Chief Joseph
Service and the Trails Asso-
Mountain.
ciation,” Hollenbeak said.
John Hollenbeak, trails
The Association in this
coordinator on the Wallowa- case is the Wallowa Moun-
Whitman National Forest,
tains Hells Canyon Trails
was involved from the start, Association.
wielding the chain saw that
The Association’s execu-
brought down that massive
tive director, Rick Bombaci,
Douglas-fi r in August 2020,
applied for the grant through
among other tasks.
Travel Oregon that paid for
He said the job, despite
the lumber, metal hardware
its diffi culties, “worked out
and other material needed to
as good or better than I’d
transform a log into a bridge.
hoped.”
And about 15 members of
The project also epitomized the volunteer group hauled
the sort of public-private
materials up a mile and a
partnership that has become half of trail or did other tasks
increasingly important in
during the project, said Russ
maintaining trails and bridg- West, the Association’s chair-
es in Northeast Oregon’s
man.
vast backcountry, including
“It was a great project,
— Russ West, chairman,
Wallowa Mountains Hells
Canyon Trails Association
Russ West/Contributed Photo
From left to right, Mary West, John Hollenbeak, Jon Larsen, Shawn Gorham, Joey
Van Leuven, Russ West and Randi Jandt stand on the new bridge they helped to build
across BC Creek, on the Chief Joseph Mountain trail near Wallowa Lake.
something that will benefi t
the community,” West said.
“It’s a high-use area, and a
very scenic trail.”
The washout
The Chief Joseph Moun-
tain trail has long been a
popular hiking route, in part
because of that aforemen-
tioned view, but also because
the trail is easy to get to.
The route starts at the
Forest Service trailhead
just south of Wallowa Lake.
Hikers follow the West Fork
Wallowa River trail, which
leads to the Lake Basin,
Ice Lake and other popular
wilderness destinations, for
about a third of a mile before
branching off onto the Chief
Joseph Mountain trail.
That trail contours along a
steep slope that rises above
Wallowa Lake.
About a mile and a half
from the trailhead, the trail
crosses BC Creek, the big-
gest stream draining the
east side of Chief Joseph
Mountain.
Just upstream from the
trail, the creek plunges down
a series of rocky steps, a
waterfall long popular with
sightseers and photogra-
phers.
The best view of the falls
happens to be just about the
middle of the stream. This
was an easy place to reach.
Until July 18, 2002.
On that day a cloudburst
transformed BC Creek into
a torrent of mud, rocks and
debris that swept away the
bridge spanning the stream.
The same storm spawned
a mudslide that destroyed
the dining hall of the Boy
Scout camp near Wallowa
Lake.
Russ West/Contributed Photo
Randi Jandt of the Wallowa Mountains Hells Canyon
Trails Association attaches a rail to the new bridge span-
ning BC Creek on the Chief Joseph Mountain Trail near
Wallowa Lake on May 22, 2021.
The destroyed bridge was
no fl imsy structure, Hollen-
beak said.
The 56-foot-long bridge
was a traditional design,
with parallel stringers and
planks about seven feet long.
The bridge was designed to
accommodate horses as well
as hikers, he said.
The fl otsam that plucked
the bridge loose also damaged
the roots of an old Douglas-
fi r on the north bank of the
creek — the tree destined to
bridge the stream.
See Bridge/Page 3B
Interested in volunteering?
You can fi nd out more about the Wallowa
Mountains Hells Canyon Trails Association at its
website, www.wmhcta.org. The Association also
has a Facebook page and Instagram feed that
has photos of recent projects.
ODFW reminder: baby animals best left in the wild
■ Biologists say that in most cases deer fawns, elk calves and other newborn animals are safe, their mother nearby foraging for food
SALEM — The Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW)
reminds people that deer fawns,
elk calves and other baby animals
that might appear to be abandoned
almost always are not, and that it’s
best to leave young wildlife alone.
Memorial Day weekend marks
the start of the birthing season for
Oregon’s elk and deer herds. Elk
calves and deer fawns are born from
late May through mid-June.
Fawns and calves are most
vulnerable to predation in their fi rst
few weeks of life when they can’t
run with the herd. Their mothers
will hide them in brush and go off to
forage for food some distance away,
sometimes for long periods so as
to not call attention to their young,
according to a press release from
ODFW.
A fawn or calf’s spotted coat helps
camoufl age them as they stay mo-
tionless except when nursing. They
also have very little odor as another
protection against attracting preda-
tors.
But each year, well-intentioned
people mistake a young fawn or
calf hidden by its mother as perma-
nently abandoned or orphaned and
remove it from the wild to “save”
it. Instead, this action drastically
reduces its chance to survive in the
wild. When removed from the wild,
the animal misses the chance to
learn where to seek cover, what to
eat and how to escape from preda-
tors and other dangers, according to
ODFW.
“Sadly, we see dozens of fawns
and calves that have their lifespan
drastically shortened each year be-
cause people don’t understand they
aren’t actually orphaned,” said Brian
Wolfer, ODFW wildlife program
manager. “Please never assume a
calf, fawn or other young animal is
orphaned. Don’t remove it from the
forest, or your backyard.
When wildlife biologists get the
call that someone has picked one up,
the advice is always the same: put
it back.
Greg Yamada/Contributed Photo
See Babies/Page 3B Twin mule deer fawns in Sunriver.