14
community
january19
2017
Plans for Salmonberry Trail
Trail so far. They initially studied other
lengthy trails within the United States to
ascertain the best way for multiple agen-
cies and jurisdictions to govern this type
of trail and then made a recommendation
on their findings.
They then helped broker the for-
mation of an Intergovernmental Agree-
ment (IGA) establishing the Salmon-
berry Trail Intergovernmental Agency
and a Board of Directors to collabora-
tively plan and implement the develop-
ment of the trail. “Remember, we’re all
about cross sector collaborations,” says
Johnson. The IGA includes
Tillamook County, the Port of
Tillamook Bay, Oregon State
Parks and Oregon Department
of Forestry; the head of each
of these entities is one of the
Board of Directors. They added
other Board member positions
to include the State Senator
from District 16 (Senator John-
son), the State Representative
from District 32 (Representa-
tive Debbie Boone), and the
Regional Solutions Team North
Coast Coordinator, as well as
an appointee from Washington
County, the Tillamook Forest
Heritage Trust, and the Wash-
ington County Visitors Associa-
tion.
Oregon Solutions also
helped create a Trail Owner-
ship Work Group designed to
resolve questions about trail
ownership and the use of the
property that belongs to the Port,
since the Port of Tillamook Bay
is not interested in operating a trail sys-
tem on their right-of-way. Johnson says
those questions are still being worked
out, especially in the coastal areas the
trail traverses, where meetings are still
being held on this topic.
Johnson says that on the eastern
end of the trail, the Valley Segment, the
right-of-way for the Salmonberry Cor-
ridor runs from Banks, adjacent to the
right-of-way for the Banks-Vernonia
Trail for several miles, and then heads
west in Manning. “What is likely to
happen is the trails will be co-terminus
at least to Manning, but maybe even up
into Stub Stewart State Park,” says John-
son.
Johnson notes that there are dis-
cussions for an additional catalyst proj-
continued from page 3
ect to create a short loop using the Salm-
onberry right-of-way through Buxton
that would connect Stub Stewart with
the Manning trailhead on the Banks-
Vernonia Trail. Johnson also says there
is interest by both the City of Banks
and the Intergovernmental Agency for a
project to expand the trailhead in Banks.
“If you’re familiar with that trailhead at
all, you know that it is very crowded,
especially in the summer months,” says
Johnson. “This could have very positive
benefits for Vernonia as well. Those two
projects could happen fairly quickly, like
forest and rejoins the right-of-way at a
later point,” says Johnson. “So there is
lots of detailed planning of how that trail
will work because there is so much of it
that is damaged or too dangerous to al-
low people on it.”
Starting in the Nehalem Seg-
ment and extending south to the Coastal
Segment there is an opportunity for a
“Rails-With-Trails” development, that
would have a trail run adjacent to the ex-
isting rail line. The rail line is currently
being used by an excursion steam and
diesel-powered train from Garibaldi to
This is an example of some of the damage to the rail line
in the Salmonberry River Canyon from the 2007 flood.
within the next five years.”
While development on the Val-
ley Segment may happen relatively soon,
development of the damaged Salmonber-
ry Segment will be more difficult. It in-
cludes numerous bridges and trestles, 16
of which have been identified by FEMA
as needing major repairs, along with
a tunnel that also needs major repairs.
There are also many landslides and em-
bankment failures through this section
that need to be repaired. Estimated costs
in the Concept Plan to re-establish rail
transport totaled $25 million; costs to
convert the rail line to a multi-use trail
would not be as high. “We might need to
work with the State Department of For-
estry to possibly go off the right-of-way
to create a new trail that goes through the
Rockaway Beach. There is also interest
in expanding this sight-seeing line fur-
ther north along the coast. There is also
the possibility to develop a more simple
hiking/adventure trail through the coast
range and the Tillamook State Forest.
Johnson says the initial Con-
cept Plan has been an excellent start and
work is nearing completion on a more
detailed engineering plan that will allow
more accurate construction estimates for
repairs and will present recommenda-
tions for routes and alignments both in
and out of the right-of-way.
Development of the trail still has
numerous issues to sort out. “One of the
difficulties is that we’ve lost a couple of
key leaders on this project,” says Sena-
tor Johnson. “[Former Columbia Coun-
ty Commissioner] Tony Hyde’s long re-
lationship with trails and his seeing the
value of these trails way ahead of other
people, will be missed. He was a cham-
pion of the Banks-Vernonia Trail and
certainly the champion of the C-Z Trail.
And [former County Commissioner]
Mark Labhart has retired in Tillamook.
Filling those two key county leadership
roles with people who share the enthusi-
asm and see the vision is going to be one
of our short term challenges.”
As Senator Johnson notes, issues
to be addressed include the actual route
alignment of the trail along with
other engineering and design
concerns, like whether to pave
the trail or not, and how it in-
teracts within the boundaries of
municipalities along the coast;
public safety concerns with the
development of trail in such a
wild and inaccessible area like
the Salmonberry Canyon; con-
cerns raised by neighbors with
property adjacent to the trail
(always an issue when new trail
development projects are pro-
posed); and last, but certainly
not least, funding.
“It will undoubtedly
be built in phases as money
becomes
available,”
says
Senator Johnson. “The state
obviously has budget issues
and I can’t see us putting in a
giant amount of public money
when we’re still struggling and
trying to get the economy right
in so many parts of Oregon, the least
of which is rural Oregon. One could
argue that this is an opportunity to make
an investment with a recreational/tourist
payoff, but I would submit that until we
get some of our bigger problems solved
this will probably not be ripe for a huge
public investment.”
“We have to look at all the
opportunities that come with the
development of a trail like this,” says
Senator Johnson. “Someone riding a
$3,000 bicycle doesn’t want to stay
at Motel 6 when they reach the end
of the trail. There are all kinds of
complimentary ideas hatching that would
support the trail. This remains a work in
progress and a type of visionary notion
of what could help drive a recreation
economy in this region.”
Church Directory
Assembly of God
Sunday School: 9:45 am
Morning Worship: 11:00 am
Sunday Evening Prayer: 6:00 pm
Wayne Marr, Pastor
662 Jefferson Avenue
503-429-0373
Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints
Sunday Schedule:
Sacrament Meeting: 10:00 am
Sunday School & Primary: 11:20 am
Relief Society, Priesthood and
Young Women: 12:10 pm
Roger Cook, Branch President
1350 E. Knott Street
503-429-7151
Grace Family Fellowship
Sunday School: 9:00 am
Worship Service: 10:30 am
Thursday Prayer: 6:00 pm
Greg “Mac” McCallum, Pastor
957 State Avenue
503-429-6790
Nehalem Valley Bible Church
Sunday School: 9:45 am
Worship Service: 10:45 am
Tues. Ladies Bible Study: 9:30 am
Wednesday Service: 7:00 pm
Sat. Men’s Prayer Meeting: 6:30 am
Gary Taylor, Pastor
Grant & North Streets
503-429-5378
Open Door Gathering Place
Service: Sunday 6:00 pm
Grant Williams, Pastor
375 North Street
503-702-3553
St. Mary’s Catholic Church
Wednesday Religious Education:
3:15-4:30 pm
Sunday Mass: 12:00 pm
Rev. Luan Tran, Administrator
960 Missouri Avenue
503-429-8841
Vernonia Christian Church
Sunday School: 9:45 am
Worship Service in Youth &
Family Center: 11:00 AM
www.VernoniaChristianChurch.org
Sam Hough, Pastor
410 North Street
503-429-6522
Vernonia Foursquare Church
Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 am
Children’s Sunday School
Carl Pense, Pastor
850 Madison Avenue
503-429-1103
Vernonia Seventh-day Adventist Church
Sabbath (Saturday) Services
Sabbath School: 9:30 am
Worship Service: 11:00 am
www.VernoniaSDAC.org
Larry Gibson, Pastor
2nd Ave. and Nehalem St.
503-429-8301