Trail Project Takes Another Step Railroad Asks Permission To Abandon 72-Mile Line

Union Pacific Railroad has asked for permission to abandon its 72 miles of unused rail line between Plummer and Mullan.

If the federal Surface Transportation Board approves - and no one successfully appeals the decision - workers can begin tearing up rails, cleaning up soil contaminated with mining-related metals, and building one of the nation’s longest recreational trails.

The trail would be co-managed by the Idaho Department of Recreation and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. Those governments have 45 days to notify the Surface Transportation Board that they’re willing to take on the liability and responsibility for the trail, as required by the federal Rails-to-Trails program.

“If everything goes as expected, by late summer - probably September - the railroad would start removing the rails and ties,” Curt Fransen, Idaho deputy attorney general, said Monday.

“There’s some chance that even in advance of that, they’ll be removing contamination in areas where there were spills, high levels of metals along the track. Or repairing flood damage. They don’t need STB approval for that,” Fransen said.

The transportation board’s next step is to issue an environmental analysis. The public will have 30 days to comment on that.

The board’s decision can be appealed in federal court.

The state, tribe and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency need separate approval from a federal judge for the trail project. That process also will involve public review, Fransen said. The judge must agree that building the trail is the best way to deal with lead and other metals that have polluted the railroad right of way during the century that trains carried ore from the Silver Valley.

The trail would be paved from Mullan to Harrison, along the Coeur d’Alene River. From Harrison to Plummer, a span that includes the southern shoreline of Lake Coeur d’Alene, the contamination would be removed and the trail topped with gravel.

Bicyclists and Silver Valley tourism businesses are especially enthusiastic about the prospect of a trail. Tom Alexander, a cyclist who lives in Kellogg, was relieved that the agencies decided against allowing motorized vehicles on it.

“They’re going to allow snowmobiles in winter between Mullan and Wallace. I think that’s probably reasonable,” Alexander said.

The decision about vehicle use was included in a 12-page response to 500 public comments about the trail. It was issued in late May by the tribe, state and EPA.

“The people I talked with were very pleased with it and thought it addressed their concerns,” said Jacque Peak, who is Union Pacific’s community coordinator for the trail project.

Mike Schlepp, who farms along the river, was glad to read that the tribe and state will aggressively work to remove noxious weeds from the trail side. But he and his neighbors still have big concerns.

He’s uneasy that no one has described the wording that will be on signs along the trail that warn visitors about health threats posed by contamination that remains in the vicinity. The wording of similar signs on contaminated river beaches has been controversial.

“If it’s true as they say that 75,000 people a year will be using the trail and walking by signs warning them to stay on the asphalt or in clean areas, that would have a bigger detrimental impact on property values and tourism than a sign on the river where people are whizzing by at 20 to 30 miles per hour.”

He’s also upset that the railroad and trail managers won’t agree to maintain fences that separate livestock from the trail.

“What they’ve tried to do is parlay liability for the fence onto unwilling landowners in an open range state.”

John Pickard of Cataldo also is worried that homeowners like himself will be responsible for maintaining fencing along the trail, which will pass by his home.

Pickard is displeased that the state and tribe haven’t yet carried out their plan to form a citizens’ committee to be involved with trail management.