Prosperity off the beaten path

ODESSA, Wash. – When Ed Hayden looks out onto the sagebrush-covered landscape surrounding this small farming community, he imagines a couple of 397cc Honda quads tearing down an old farm road or a family on Yamaha WR250Fs painting the skyline with clouds of dust.

He sees dollar signs.

Hayden is the driving force behind an effort to expand off-roading trails on federal land northwest of Odessa, which is known for its German heritage, its annual Deutschesfest celebration and the slow pace of its wheat-growing lifestyle.

“When I first came here, I had a vision for this place – of outdoor recreation and entertainment,” Hayden said on a recent cloudless morning as he looked across the land. “It’s the perfect place.”

The plan, still in the early stages, would open to off-road vehicles former ranch roads – now horse and hiking trails – and a power line right-of-way on 13,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management property. The City Council has already moved to permit ORVs on two Odessa streets, with the goal of getting riders to rumble into town and open their wallets at businesses such as Hayden’s motel.

Like many agricultural towns across the country, Odessa lost population and businesses as farm ownership consolidated over the past 20 years. Some residents see the ORV proposal as a way to harness a growing recreational industry to reinvigorate the economy.

But the BLM land that proponents want to use is part of a shrub-steppe ecosystem that hosts a variety of threatened species, such as sharp-tailed grouse. Experts say more than half of that habitat has been lost to agriculture, overgrazing and development. The potential impact of ORVs on the delicate channeled scablands has some environmental advocates concerned.

The ORV proposal has divided the southwest Lincoln County city of about 950. Some Odessa residents are afraid the town, which has only two police officers, will be overrun. Of those residents who aren’t directly descended from 19th century German immigrants, many are retirees who came for the quiet atmosphere.

“We already have a problem ‘round here with dirt bikes and four-wheelers,” said Harry Price, a 10-year resident originally from Southern California. “They can’t seem to understand that private property is private. And with public land, they could have a real ball. I just don’t see how you can police it.”

Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Schafer, a lifelong Odessa resident and former wheat farmer, supports Hayden’s plan.

“In a small community, change is hard,” Schafer said. Those who are opposed may be hanging onto tradition, he said. “It’s not a polite way to say it, but they don’t have the foresight to look into the future.”

Some disputed the notion that Odessa was a dying community in need of saving. The city has been lucky to have two farm equipment dealers, said Lincoln County Commissioner Dennis Bly. Though the number of farmers has probably been cut in half in the past 25 years, Bly described Odessa as one of the most vibrant cities in the county.

But there’s room for economic improvement, backers of the ORV plan said.

Hayden, who moved to Odessa eight years ago and now runs the 12-room La Collage Inn, hopes to make the town a “hub” of off-roading activity in Eastern Washington. His proposal includes plans for a new trail that would link existing BLM backroads directly to city streets, and the federal agency is evaluating possible routes. Hayden’s eventual ambition is a network of ORV trails stretching southeast to Ritzville, northwest to Coulee City and northeast to Davenport and Lincoln.

“That’s pretty aggressive from where we are right now. Let’s see how this thing works out from here, and we’ll see where this thing goes,” said Bly, who supports Hayden’s plan for the land near Odessa. Bly said he would move to open a nearby gravel county road to off-road vehicles if the BLM approves the proposal, but he cautioned that a larger network would involve lots of red tape.

The possibility of an expanded ORV network doesn’t sit well with environmental advocates.

The state has yet to weigh in on the matter, and Doug Pineo, a Washington Department of Ecology environmental scientist, said he couldn’t comment for his agency. But speaking for himself, as one who hunts in the scablands, Pineo said, “We have very little shrub-steppe left in Washington, and what little we have left is increasingly divided. It’s very, very fragile. Any mark you make in it lasts for decades and decades.”

If ORV users keep to existing tracks, Pineo said, damage would be minimized. Even so, he worried about the impact on wildlife.

The area was once home to sharp-tailed grouse and sage grouse, both listed as threatened species by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Hikers still report occasional sightings of the sharp-tailed grouse, according to Juli Anderson, who manages the state’s Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area, about 30 miles northeast of Odessa. Maintaining those populations is incompatible with off-roading, Anderson said.

“If you had a very large population, and ORVs stayed on the roads, it might be OK,” she said. “But these are populations that are in a tenuous position.”

In Odessa the environmental impacts of off-roading are not on the radar screen, city officials said. The economic benefits have been the focus so far.

Hayden said he modeled his broader plan – for a regional network of trails – after the more than 800-mile-long Paiute ATV Trail in south-central Utah. He has promoted the fact that the trail system, which runs through 16 communities, brought more than $7 million into the local economy in 2003, according to data from Forest Service staff in Utah.

“The town of Odessa needs that money,” Hayden said.

In 2003, Hayden helped bring the annual Desert 100 motorcycle races to Odessa. The 100-mile, weekendlong event has drawn thousands to race grounds on private rangeland outside of town. Business owners have reaped the benefits, said Schafer, of the Chamber of Commerce. And it gave them an idea of what they could expect if more off-road traffic passed through town, he said.

Hayden’s dream for the BLM land began taking shape with the passage of a 2005 state law allowing cities with fewer than 3,000 residents to open to ORVs streets that could connect to recreational vehicle sites.

Hayden, along with 16-year Odessa resident Ron Costlow, formed the nonprofit Odessa Citizens Action Committee to champion the plan. They recruited supporters in the state’s off-roading community and have received $1,500 in donations from ORV advocates and businesses, Hayden said, with $15,000 more promised.

Now Hayden is running for City Council and Costlow for mayor in the Nov. 6 election. Jack Walker, a third pro-ORV candidate and town newcomer, is running for another council seat.

Hayden and Costlow have met with BLM officials, who said evaluating the plan may take about six months and will involve a federal environmental impact assessment. The BLM regional field manager will then determine whether changes to the plan are needed and whether it can go forward.

“Our recreation people are talking to them along the way,” said Scott Pavey, a planning and environmental coordinator with the BLM’s Spokane district office. “We’re trying to explore different alternatives.”Birders, hikers, hunters and horse riders have yet to have their say about Odessa’s ORV plan. Many, when contacted by The Spokesman-Review, were unaware of the proposal but expressed concerns. Hayden said he is trying to identify stakeholder groups to work with on his plan.

For his part, Odessa Mayor Sam Braun has a hard time seeing the attraction. Though he’s cautiously backed the ORV expansion effort, he doesn’t have much use for the BLM land either way.

“It’s difficult for me to believe – since I’ve lived here all my life – that people would want to come out and ride through the sagebrush,” Braun said. “They’d get ticks all over them in the spring and ride over a bunch of rattlesnakes in the summer.”