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Trails Trusts grants $2,000 to Mad River Parkway project
September, 2006
At our September meeting, the Trails Trust voted to grant $2,000 toward efforts to secure funding for the 'Mad River Parkway’ including extension of the Hammond Trail south toward Arcata.
The Natural Resources Services Division of Redwood Community Action Agency will use these funds to complete the trail planning work, which is essential to apply for funds from available grant programs, including the State River Parkways program.
On the trail
Eureka Reporter
by Wendy Butler, 12/9/2006
Kaye Strickland began Wednesday’s Citizens for Port Development meeting with a comment that putting a public trail along U.S. Highway 101 was a good idea, but she was unsure how it would be able to fit.
Humboldt County Association of Governments Executive Director Spencer Clifton was due to make a presentation next about active planning for a multiuse trail between Eureka and Arcata.
Timber Heritage Association President Marcus Brown was in attendance. Although he didn’t speak about this topic, he does have a connection with the rails-trails planning because his contact with the National Park Service on THA matters also clued him in on a technical-assistance grant available from NPS Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance for workshops toward developing trails concepts.
He said he was the one who brought the opportunity to HCAOG.
The cities of Arcata and Eureka, Humboldt County, Caltrans, North Coast Railroad Authority, HCAOG, Redwood Community Action Agency and Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District are principal players in the potential trail that, per a concept discussed at a recent planning workshop, could be installed between the railroad tracks and the highway.
A workshop was held in September and another one is planned for Dec. 18, Clifton said.
He said that although the workshop is not a public meeting, citizens can receive an agenda for it, at the very least.
Clifton said during his presentation that the trail is in a “planning and visioning mode.”
They have not gotten as far as design or identifying funding sources for the trail.
“One of the things that we discussed is we started to put together an inner ring and an outer ring of stakeholders and participants.”
Key issues are NCRA’s mandate, per state law, that a trail shouldn’t interfere with rail service when and if it is eventually restored. Another important issue is a trail’s possible environmental impact, Clifton said.
There are acres of wetlands that are in between the NCRA right-of-way and Highway 101, he said. Some of the wetlands are “high-quality brackish” and some are filled with various levels of debris — “maybe even a car tire or two.”
Clifton said a California Coastal Commission representative attended the last planning meeting and expressed concerns.
“I’ve never read the Coastal Act, but apparently there is a differentiation between just doing something out there and creating a new facility,” Clifton said.
Billboards line the highway, too.
“Billboard removal can be a very expensive proposition,” Clifton said.
“There are a couple of places in the corridor where the geometry is fairly constrained,” he added.
Clifton said that “some interests” would like to see a trail on the rail bed and that runs counter to NCRA’s mission.
NCRA Executive Director Mitch Stogner previously told The Eureka Reporter that a rail by a track is not out of the question and has been done.
NCRA board member Charles Ollivier gave an example of that during the Citizens meeting.
“The city of Healdsburg has installed their trail and it runs parallel to the track,” he said.
Strickland said perhaps a trail could be installed “independently” of the rail.
She described it as being “far enough away from the railroad right-of-way, but above the wetlands.”
Gary Boughton, attendee and engineer with the city of Eureka, said the Coastal Commission’s goal is “coastal access,” so, perhaps, presenting a plan to place fill in the wetlands could be looked at as a way of facilitating access.
Clifton said the trail project advances to the point of preparation of an environmental document; that document will be “significantly expensive.”
Maggy Herbelin suggested that such a trail would be a “long walk,” so there ought to be “destinations” along it for children and adults.
Strickland said she was concerned that the trail concept was exploding into something more complicated than it needed to be.
Clifton said this was not a county trails issue; it dealt with the segment from Eureka to Arcata.
“By confining it to the Eureka-to-Arcata segment, we’re not pushing other things away,” he said. “We’ve chosen something that we’re trying to get our arms around and it’s already getting really, really big.”
Eureka Rotaries Fund Interpretive Signs for the Eureka Boardwalk
October 24, 2006
Presidents of the three Eureka Rotaries present
Jennifer Rice, of Redwood
Community Action Agency and the Trails
Trust of Humboldt Bay, with $1500
for development of three interpretive
signs.
One of three draft interpretive signs proposed
for placement at the foot of
C Street on the Eureka Boardwalk.
Three of Eureka's most prominent civic organizations have invested in interpretive signs for the Eureka Boardwalk. Rick Littlefield of the Trails Trust, facilitated a partnership between the Eureka Rotary, Old Town Eureka Rotary and Southwest Eureka Rotary. Each contributed funds to the Natural Resources Services Division of Redwood Community Action Agency for design and fabrication of the signs, to be approximately the size of the 'signal flag' signs at the foot of F Street. After completion and approval by the City of Eureka and Coastal Commission staff, the signs are expected to be placed on the Boardwalk railing at the foot of C Street in the near future.
Multi-Agency Team Considers Eureka-Arcata Trail Possibilities
A 'Trail of Two Cities' was one vision explored on September 15, when staff from a special division of the National Park Service called the 'Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance Program' facilitated an initial discussion about potential development of a multiple-use trail between Arcata and Eureka.
Because the trail concept potentially involves numerous government jurisdictions and poses a substantial number of development challenges, the process is proposed to start with key government and stakeholder organizations and then grow to include more interested organizations and community members in the next year.
The steering committee includes the Humboldt County Association of Governments, Cities of Arcata and Eureka and Redwood Community Action Agency.
Other agencies and organizations participating in this first round of visioning and planning include:
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Caltrans, Local Assistance & Regional Planning Department
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Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, & Conservation Distric
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Humboldt County Department of Public Works
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North Coast Railroad Authority
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State Coastal Conservancy
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Humboldt Bay Bicycle Commuters Association
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Timber Heritage Association
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Wiyot Tribe
Though Trails Trust Boardmember Jennifer Rice is involved as a representative of RCAA, we expect to have a dedicated Trails Trust participant involved in the next phase of constraints and opportunities analysis. The Trails Trust is excited about progress toward this long-desired trail. We will follow the planning process and post periodic updates here.
Environmental study for Elk River plan now under way
An environmental review for the city of Eureka’s proposed Elk River Wildlife Trail is under way, and Eureka Special Projects Manager Gary Bird said he hopes that a sought-after trail grant won’t be held up by a recent setback with another Waterfront project. On June 20, the City Council voted unanimously to authorize City Manager David Tyson to negotiate a Professional Services Agreement with SHN Consulting Engineers and Geologists Inc., in an amount not to exceed $16,500 to prepare biological, botanical and wetland studies for the proposed trail.
Happy trails: Trust group looking to string a set of pathway 'pearls' along the waterfront
By Kimberly Wear The Times-Standard
EUREKA -- Just past the mall and mere seconds off U.S. Highway 101, sits a little-known gem of bayside expanse just waiting to be discovered. And, members of the Trails Trust of Humboldt Bay are working to make that happen.
The trust was formed in July 2004 to champion the development of trails across the county and to support the Eureka Trails Committee, which was formed by the city five years earlier.
"A group of us realized the need for an advocating support arm of the committee," said Connie Miller, a trust member and former city councilwoman.
At a press conference Wednesday, with the future Truesdale trail head site acting as a scenic backdrop, several members of the trust said they are now reaching out to the community to voice their support -- financial and otherwise -- for trail development.
One of the trust's first efforts is helping to raise public and private funds for the planning and permitting stages of the Elk River Access Project, which will extend along the waterfront from Truesdale Avenue south to Pound Road.
The trust sees the project as beneficial to residents and tourists alike to be able to enjoy the unique and diverse waterfront, which had been hidden for years.
"This will be good for the city," said Rick Littlefield, Eureka Natural Foods owner and trail trust member. "It's seconds off the 101. This beautiful, pristine coastline."
The estimated $1 million project complete with picnic tables, restrooms and four day-access sites will later hook into a 6.5 mile stretch of trail systems hugging the waterfront from the south end of town to the north.
Councilman Jeff Leonard said the city hopes to break ground on the Elk River section next summer.
"We'd like to create space on the waterfront that families can go down and use," he said.
Some pieces of the waterfront trail system are already in place, including Palco Marsh and the Target trail, now the work is getting the final planning and permits needed to start working on filling the gaps. The trust hopes an outburst of public support will help to get the Elk River Project off and running.
"It's a pearl and it will be strung along with the rest of the pearls," Miller said.