While trains, planes and automobiles continue to be the transportation rage, there’s nothing more comforting to the mind than walking a trail with your best friend or “man’s best friend.”
The Burnt Bridge Creek Trail in Vancouver and the trail along Salmon Creek are a couple of the best local examples of the solace that nature offers.
Building on that peace of mind — literally — is a border-crossing alliance between groups in Washington and Oregon. It strengthens the concept of Vancouver and Portland working more closely together for mutual benefits.
Various interests in the two states want to collaborate on “a linked network of hiking and biking trails,” according to a recent Columbian story by Erik Robinson reporting on the new Intertwine Alliance. The objective of the group is an extensive “Bi-State Regional Trails System.”
At a gathering at the Vancouver Convention Center, Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt underscored the effort. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said, “and we’re going to do it together as a region if we’re going to be successful.”
On its website (http://www.theintertwine.org/BiStateTrails) the alliance has listed partners in developing 37 regional trails. Partners include U.S. senators in Washington and Oregon; U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, and four U.S. representatives in Oregon.
The coalition also has connections with seven cities in Southwest Washington and 29 cities in the Portland metropolitan area, plus other organizations in both states. Those include 25 neighborhood associations in Vancouver and Clark County and 95 in Portland. That kind of teamwork ought to move the alliance toward its promise “of having one of the greatest park, trail and natural area networks in the world.”
Trail priorities in Clark County include the long-held vision of a trail along the 33-mile historic Lewis and Clark Railroad line between Vancouver and Chelatchie Prairie. The rail line, also called the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad, was built to haul logs out of the forests of northern Clark County. It’s still active in freight movement. The trail’s first segment would connect Battle Ground with Battle Ground Lake.
Another possibility is further development of the waterfront trail in Vancouver, extending it to Vancouver Lake. Presently, a hiking and biking trail links Vancouver Lake Park with Frenchman’s Bar on the Columbia River. A side trail could tie in with the replacement Interstate 5 bridge and the Fort Vancouver National Site, including the Land Bridge over the state Highway 14. A trail extension also could proceed east to the Evergreen Highway Trail and Interstate 205 bridge.
Loop trails have been in planners’ dreams for decades, including one around greater Vancouver, and a Portland-Vancouver link to the west hills of Portland. The alliance has scoped out 17 of the 37 regional trails on the Clark County side of the river. Routes cover 950 miles.
An old friend responsible for much of the natural beauty in and around Vancouver — Kelly Punteney — is in the midst of trail planning as a citizen activist. Punteney was Vancouver trails and greenway manager for 35 years. He retired in 2007.
Speaking of this new opportunity, he said: “We’re not going to plan and put it on a shelf. We’re going to move forward.”
There’s opportunity, challenge and promise in this bi-state endeavor, but the effort must proceed quickly before the space to walk and pedal is smothered under mortar, wood and concrete.
