Salmonberry Corridor Preliminary Feasibility Study March 2013 Contents Acknowledgments The Salmonberry Corridor Vision 3 Salmonberry Coalition Summary of Corridor History 5 Project Scope and Schedule 6 The Salmonberry Coalition represents a broad range Physical Assessment 7 of interested parties and stakeholders. Participants Segment A 11 include: Segment B 17 Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) Segment C 23 Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept. (OPRD) Segment D 27 Cycle Oregon Legal Assessment 33 Port of Tillamook Bay Corporation Economic Assessment 35 Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad Next Steps 41 State Senator Betsy Johnson Appendix A: Phone Interviews 43 Tillamook County Appendix B: Bibliography 44 Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Appendix C: GIS Mapping Issues 45 Governor’s Office - Transportation and Intergovern- mental/Regional Solutions Columbia Pacific Economic Development District Many other citizens and representatives of local com- munities surrounding the Salmonberry Corridor have provided input and guidance. State of Oregon Project Staff Mark Davison, OPRD MG Devereux, OPRD Ian Matthews, OPRD John Barnes, ODF Walker Macy Team Ken Pirie, Project Manager Mike Zilis Wayne Stewart Abe Farkas, ECONW Tom Wiser, Wiser Rail 2 Salmonberry Corridor The Salmonberry Corridor Vision The Port of Tillamook Bay (POTB) railroad once con- nected the Willamette Valley to the Oregon Coast, with an 84-mile rail corridor formerly owned by Southern Pacific, running from Banks to the Tillamook Air Muse- um through the Salmonberry River canyon. Following a catastrophic storm with over 20” of rain over 2 days in December 2007, this rail connection was cut off due to major damage, particularly in a 16-mile stretch of tunnels and trestles deep within the Coast Range. An undamaged portion of the line is currently being used by the Oregon Coast Scenic Railway to conduct scenic tours along the Coast but the remainder of the corridor lies unused except by a few hikers and fishermen. This unique corridor, (which will be referred to as the Salmonberry Corridor in this report), has a rich history and outstanding scenic context and has the potential to connect urban and rural Oregon while tapping into a wide network of existing recreation trails and parks, educational opportunities and heritage sites. This project will create strong economic opportunities for Northwest Oregon and help revitalize communities along the rail corridor, including Banks, Timber and the communities along the coast from Wheeler to Til- lamook. It will also define a new corridor for human- powered transportation, from the urban population of the Willamette Valley through the wild Coast Range to the beaches and farms of Tillamook County. The Salm- onberry Corridor will likely take many years of devel- opment until it can be considered as a complete rec- reational resource. But the Banks Vernonia Trail took over 30 years of planning and construction before it became the full corridor that it is today. Patience will be required to fulfill the initial vision. Preliminary Feasibility Study 3 The Corridor Segment C MP 816 Segment B MP 800 MP 833 Segment A MP 774.7 Segment D MP 771.2 Air Museum MP 859.1 (Terminus) Salmonberry Corridor Corridor Study Extents N not to scale 4 Salmonberry Corridor Summary of Corridor History For the purposes of this study, a brief historical sum- By 1915 the PR&N ceased to exist as a corporate entity mary is included below. For a full, detailed historical when the Southern Pacific took complete control of the account, please refer to the 2001 book Punk Rotten system. By 1927, as highway transportation became and Nasty, by Paul Clock and the Port of Tillamook Bay the norm for passengers, the S.P. began to cut pas- Railroad National Register of Historic Places Evalua- senger service; offering only one round-trip a day from tion Report, prepared in 2009 by EDAW/AECOM. The Union Station in Portland to Tillamook .The S.P. con- following text is adapted from the 2009 report. tinued to operate the former PR&N tracks throughout much of the 20th century; providing a convenient and Work on what would become the Pacific, Rail and Navi- economical means by which to transport timber prod- gation railroad (PR&N, also referred to as the “Punk, ucts from mills in Garibaldi, Tillamook, and elsewhere Rotten, and Nasty” in reference to the challenges of in the region to markets in Portland and throughout building and maintaining a rail line in some of the most the western United States. In Tillamook, the U.S. Navy rugged and geologically dynamic terrain anywhere in established an airship base in 1942 and constructed the western U.S.) began when Elmer Lytle, a rail pro- a 5.5-mile spur line to the base. moter and investor in Portland, incorporated the PR&N on October 13, 1905. Although much of initial start- By 1953, the Port of Tillamook Bay was established at up money came from Elmer’s and his brother Charles’ the site of the former air station and utilized the SP line personal fortunes, the PR&N raised an additional two to facilitate the transportation of lumber, agricultural million dollars in capital through the sale of bonds to products, and other goods to external markets. How- the Union Trust Company of San Francisco; a financial ever, the old Punk, Rotten, and Nasty line continued connection that eventually ceded a controlling inter- to live up to its name throughout the 20th century as est in the PR&N to the Southern Pacific (SP) Company. the line continued with its plague of landslides, grade Elmer and Charles Lytle planned construction starting collapses, wash-outs, and similar maintenance chal- from both ends of the planned railroad; one starting in lenges. The S.P. applied to abandon the line in 1989 Tillamook and the other in Hillsboro to the east. and the Port began operating it from Tillamook to Batterson in 1983. With assistance from the State of The PR&N was officially completed on October 12, Oregon, the POTB purchased the system in 1990 and 1911, when the first passenger train pulled into Til- continued to operate it as an important regional rail lamook. Regular daily passenger service soon com- link. A major storm and flooding in 1996 damaged the menced between Hillsboro and Tillamook, with numer- line, forcing closure within the remote canyon portion ous stops along newly-established logging towns such of the line, but this damage was repaired with the help as Timber and Cochran. From its inception, the PR&N of state and federal funding. Many of these repairs sur- advertised itself as a tourist railroad and boasted vived the 2007 storm. that it could bring passengers to within one block of the ocean for convenient day trips or longer overnight weekend stays. Ocean-side resorts and tourist attrac- tions developed along the PR&N in towns such as Rockaway, Garibaldi and Bay City. Preliminary Feasibility Study 5 Project Scope and Schedule The Salmonberry Corridor Coalition is a group of in- terested stakeholders, including State Senator Betsy Johnson and representatives of the Oregon Coast Sce- nic Railroad, Tillamook County, Port of Tillamook Bay, Tillamook County, Cycle Oregon, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), and the Oregon De- partment of Forestry (ODF), who have come together to explore the possibility of a trail connection along the POTB railroad. The primary focus of this group is to determine what challenges and obstacles need to be identified and overcome if a trail connection is to be considered for all or part of the railroad right of way. OPRD and ODF are the lead partners in pulling togeth- er a high level analysis for the group’s consideration. While not a full feasibility study, the examination of po- tential issues in this report looks at ownership, exist- ing use, natural and cultural resource considerations, construction costs, economic development opportuni- ties, recreation potential, long term maintenance, and operation issues. This high level analysis will be used to create a framework for interested parties to make decisions about moving forward with a more complete planning effort. The goal is to have the analysis and framework for decision making ready by mid-2013, with the immediate next step being a Master Plan that further investigates the possibilities for each segment of the Corridor. This process also included initial review by the public. In the fall of 2012, two ‘Listening Post’ sessions were held in Banks and Tillamook to get initial public reac- tion to the concept. These two meetings were very well- attended and there was significant support expressed for the concept and for continued study to further de- fine the potential of this corridor. 6 Salmonberry Corridor Physical Assessment Introduction The Salmonberry Corridor is best understood not as a single, uniform entity, but as an ever-changing cross- section of Northwest Oregon, traversing an incredible variety of landscapes. Understanding the Corridor as such can also lead to the development of diverse ideas for the Corridor’s future that account for place-specific opportunities and constraints. There is probably not one single treatment for the Corridor that will be ap- plicable for the entire 84 miles. And as a result of dif- ferent funding and political priorities, there may well be certain segments that are developed sooner than others. From an initial analysis of the Corridor’s geography and condition, it is recommended that the Corridor be con- sidered in 4 distinct segments. These segments are described in the following pages. For the purposes of this study, the entire corridor under ownership of the POTB is considered, except for one short stretch. This study considers an 84.4-mile corridor, between the Banks Lumber Mill siding in the town of Banks, at Mile- post 774.7 and the Port of Tillamook Bay Industrial Park, where the railroad line ends at Milepost 859.13.