Safety Meeting Notes September 5, 2018Forest Service: Updated trail information.
We have reopened about 50% of the trails impacted by the fire. Out of 122 miles of National Forest System trails that were impacted, about 60 miles are now open.
WEST END TRAILS: Forest Service crews and our partners have been working hard on west end trails such as Angels rest, Devils Rest, the Wahkeena-Larch Mountain loop ( with Larch Mtn stopping at the junction), Vista Point, and Return trail and we believe they are still on track to open before the end of 2018. We expect them to open at the same time as the Historic Columbia River Highway. Exact date is not yet clear, as we are still working closely with ODOT and OPRD to ensure proper safety mitigations.
LARCH MOUNTAIN- upper trail, picnic area, and nearby network of trails: There is a bridge on Larch Mountain that needs to be installed. The trails are in rough shape after the fire, and we expect winter hazards to set trail conditions backward so work needed to ensure safety with opening. That said, we are hoping to reopen the picnic site and nearby trails by spring 2019. We don't expect them to be ready by spring break due to typical winter conditions that prevent trail maintenance. (The snow gate is usually closed until late spring anyway.)
WAHCLELLA: We are looking at the possibility of having Wahclella ready to open before the end of the year, but part of the loop will remain closed, due to unstable conditions and a burned bridge.
CENTRAL ZONE: This it the area East of Multnomah Falls and west of Cascade Locks, which was most severely burned in the fire. Many of these trails have not been assessed. Other trails, such as Eagle Creek, Oneonta, and Horsetail Falls have had work done but our crews are observing active land and rock slides. Geologists have assessed and confirmed the unstable conditions of these areas. Due to unstable geological conditions some of these trails may not open for several years.
Corbett Fire District: July there were 68 calls, August they responded to 46.
The new water tender is almost ready to go on line, it will be stationed in Corbett with the water tender from Corbett going up to Aims to replace the existing one there that is 35 years old.
The District has been doing the new logos on the trucks to say "Corbett Fire".
There have been five conflagration deployments so far this year that Corbett has responded to, they have been cross-staffing with Gresham when necessary to make sure they have a full response team, this is a new thing and is working very well.
The fatal house fire off Woodard is still being investigated by the Fire Marshall and MCSO, hope to hear final results soon.
There have been three small grass fires started along the highway or in homeless camps, the one at MP 32 had an ODOT water tender close by and they had the fire out before Corbett got on site, thanks for working with us.
The District is issuing warnings on illegal burns, there is a property owner on Hurt Road who has received their last warning, fire burning is still not legal and won't be lifted until we've had a couple good weeks of rain.
They have been receiving phantom calls on fires. It is possible this is linked to the train and the smoke from the stack. They do respond to every call but are sending out an investigator for some locations prior to sending out an entire team.
Check the Fire District page for updates on burning.
Mt Hood Community College Board: Met with Representative Helfrich and ODOT Director Garrett to come up with some ideas to forward to the Congestion committee for the old highway. They want to work with the local businesses to come up with some solutions, a trolley service was one idea.
Fall term will be starting soon with the new President (Dr. Lisa Skari) on board.
They are doing some mitigation work in the parking lots but that is scheduled to be completed before the term begins.
Corbett Water District Board: We are using water at a record rate, please use water wisely. You can check the water levels here:
http://www.corbettwaterdistrict.com/Reservoirs.html
Friends of the Sandy River Delta: Thank you to Leroy Smith who helped moved the stone for the trail repair.
Oregon State Parks: There will be back to back marathons on September 15th and 16th in the Cascade Locks area, please be aware.
There will be an Equinox Party on September 22, it begins at 6 pm.
Beginning September 17th the Vista House will return to winter hours, opening from 9-4.
There is a complete fire ban at the parks right now.
ODOT: The new overpasses that are "green" have a traction deck seal on them. This wears off and is usually gone by mid-winter.
There was a "hard hat" tour on August 15th of the last five miles of the 72 mile bike trail in the Gorge.
On September 20 there will be an Advisory hearing at the Hood River fire station from 9-2 for the Scenic Highway.
October 3 ODOT will host an information meeting at the Hollywood Senior Center on congestion recommendations from 5-7 pm. Some suggestions include a shuttle service, trolley, limiting length and width of vehicles and lowering the speed limit. There will be an on-line survey available the last two weeks of September if you can't attend a meeting but would still like to be involved.
October 19 there will be a Project leadership team meeting.
The fences are about 40% complete for the rocks and debris in the Waterfall corridor (Bridal Veil to Ainsworth) so the highway will not be opening this month, but will be pushed back into the winter.
Troutdale Bridge will be getting their pedestrian walkway replaced in the Fall of 2019 with a new plastic lumber material. This is having to be done due to a homeless fire that burned part of the walkway earlier this year, ODOT has a temporary fix in place.
They are revamping the Columbia Gorge Express, doing some fine tuning of schedules.
There is an on-going issue at Exit 31 with people crashing into the gate, deliberately trying to force them open, or panicking when seeing the gate and then pulling back in to traffic. The will be replacing the gate system with one that should be better able handle being hit and have fewer malfunctions. There is a camera system on the gate and they do charge the people who damage the gate.
MultCo DA office: The office is dealing with funding cuts and a reduction is staffing. They are down to 74 Deputy D.A.s right now, 20 years ago there were 100 Deputy DAs and we had a smaller population. It is possible that there may be a lay off of another 11 DA's this coming year.
Commissioner Stegmann is working with them to get long term funding for the Rosewood Initiative, it would be great to get stable funding in place.