Feds Ok Rail-To-Trail Bicycle Path Construction Set To Start July 26 Near Mullan, But Foes To Continue To Pursue Legal Appeals

Tuesday was a joyful day for planners and supporters of the Mullan-to-Plummer recreational trail and a time of grim determination for its opponents.

They were responding to the federal Surface Transportation Board approval of the 72-mile project, which came Monday.

“This is good news. I think it is the green light,” said Earl Liverman, project manager for the Environmental Protection Agency. “We’ve been waiting a long time.”

Said John Pickard, a Cataldo resident dismayed that passing trail users will invade his privacy: “It’s just a sick mess.”

The trail will be built primarily with money from the Union Pacific Railroad. The company wants to abandon the scenic right of way where the trail is planned, and avoid liability for toxic metals by removing or capping the contamination. Lead and other metals dropped from trains that carried ore from the Silver Valley mining district.

Contractors have been waiting for six weeks, eager to hire crews and get to work.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, which will co-manage the trail, have predicted that hikers and bikers would be able to use the eastern end of the trail this fall. That could still happen. Construction is now set to start in Mullan on July 26.

But before rails can be torn up and asphalt put down, there’s more legal process and more potential for holdup. A federal judge must approve the consent decree, the agreement reached by the EPA, tribe, state and railroad.

There’s also a 20-day comment period during which Citizens Against Rails to Trails plans to ask the Surface Transportation Board to reconsider.

“If the Surface Transportation Board does not reverse itself, we plan to take the case directly to the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals,” said rancher Mike Schlepp, CART president.

Thirty-five members have contributed to CART’s legal fund. The group has hired a Washington, D.C.-based law firm that specializes in challenging the federal Rails-toTrails law, which allows recreational use while preserving transportation corridors.

Property owners living beside the right of way are concerned that the trail will invade their privacy. They’ve questioned the wisdom of bringing hikers and bikers into an area that will still have off-trail contamination.

The part of the trail that crosses the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation will not be paved, because the tribe told Union Pacific that it wanted the metals removed from the right of way rather than covered up. The railroad has agreed to do the cleanup, or paving, but not both. In response to concerns that the planned cleanup won’t go far enough, more soil samples will be taken this summer, said Jack Gunderman of the tribal staff.

Work on the reservation, at the west end of the trail, is planned for 2001.

Hiring for this year’s trail construction is being handled through the Kellogg Job Service.

Among those most eager to see the work under way are Debbie and Mike Domy, owners of the Excelsior Bike Shop in Kellogg. Like other tourist-oriented businesses, they see a lot of potential customers using the trail. In fact, on Monday they moved their business into the old freight depot right beside it. They’re thinking of adding cruising bicycles to their fleet of rental mountain bikes.

Mike Domy was pleased by Tuesday’s news of a favorable decision, but isn’t optimistic that the Mullan-to-Kellogg work will be completed this year.

It’s been six years since negotiations on the trail agreement began.

“People are wondering when it’s going to happen,” said Debbie Domy. “Some of the older people are saying, `I hope they get it done before I die.”’