John Wayne Trail would close under proposed state budget cuts
The John Wayne Pioneer Trail and Indian Camp Campground northwest of Cle Elum could close this spring as the state Department of Natural Resources figures out how best to deal with the loss of some $278,000 from its budget.
Also on the chopping block under Gov. Chris Gregoire's supplemental budget would be some of the state's most popular hiking and mountain-biking routes, including the Mount Si and Little Si trail systems near North Bend, as well as interpretative centers such as Mima Mounds, about 15 miles southwest of Olympia.
"What's being affected are the DNR trails and campgrounds and interpretive centers that are funded by the general fund," said Toni Droscher of the DNR's recreation program in Olympia. "These are the areas that are nonmotorized; those areas supported by NOVA (the Nonhighway and Off-Road Vehicle Activities fund) are not affected by this. These areas affected are trails for hiking and nonmotorized use."
The portion of the historic Milwaukee Railroad corridor, which includes the John Wayne Trail, to be closed would be the 34 miles managed by the DNR in eastern Kittitas County, said the agency's recreation program manager, Mark Mauren.
The DNR had already seen the general-fund portion of its recreation program cut from $1.2 million in the previous biennium to $538,000 for the current biennium, and the governor's supplemental budget would cut another $278,000, Mauren said.
"We've been operating since July on that budget, so we've already eaten a lot of what was remaining. At the rate we're spending, we'll be out (of recreation funding) by March or April," Mauren said. Some money must be held back to pay for unemployment associated with employees the agency has had to lay off, and also for the ongoing, state-mandated spraying of noxious weeds along the Milwaukee rail corridor, he said.
Recreationists in this part of the state have already been affected by the DNR's recreation cutbacks this year. Five DNR Sno-Parks in South Central Washington were to be closed for this winter until a coalition of local snowmobile groups, led by the Yakima Ski Benders, raised $25,000 in time to keep them open.
Mauren said he could only hope for a similar groundswell of public support this time around.
"That (the Sno-Parks reaction) has turned out really well," Mauren said. "The governor ... said she would propose another budget with some (different) revenue components -- I'm hoping maybe getting some funding replaced by the governor and the Legislature, and the public perhaps coming forward again" with a similar effort.
Jonathan Guzzo, advocacy director for the Washington Trails Association, suggested that one way for trail users to get more involved with the campaign to keep trails open would be to sign up for the WTA's Feb. 3 "Hiker Lobby Day." (For information, go to www.wta.org)
Guzzo said the Mount Si and Little Si trail systems "draw more than a half-million visitors a year. It's huge. There are some trail systems that can sort of compete with it in terms of volume, like Tiger Mountain, but really, Si is probably the most heavily used single trail system anywhere in the state.
"When it comes to these closures, those are really dramatic and scary examples. But even if you take a look at Lake Spokane (also targeted for closure), for instance -- the Spokane area is a much less populous metropolitan area, and Lake Spokane gets 30,000 visits a year. It serves a lot of people. All of these recreational opportunities serve people who, in lean economic times are working longer hours than ever and can't travel long distances with their families."
Losing trail systems will also have an economic impact on the communities near them, Guzzo said. For the city of North Bend, losing the people who "gas up there and buy lunch, get last-minute hiking equipment before they head up the trail will be a hit on their economy if this trail is closed."
Hikers and mountain bikers would probably still be able to access the trails -- albeit by going around gates -- but Guzzo noted that the experience wouldn't be nearly the same.
"I think at the very least, trails would be gated, parking access would be gated, you wouldn't have Port-a-Potties emptied. So even if you thought 'I'm going to park near this trailhead and walk there,' chances are you'd be dealing with turned-over trash cans, passing Dumpsters that would be pretty much a toxic waste site, and traveling on a trail that hasn't been maintained."
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