Thurston County hopes to develop this southwest trail with grant funding
A trail to south Thurston County may officially open if the county successfully secures grant funding for its improvement.
On Tuesday, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution authorizing its Public Works department to apply for a $600,000 grant to develop 2.16 miles of the Gate-Belmore Trail from 66th Avenue Southwest to 88th Avenue.
When fully developed, the trial would span 14 miles from 66th Avenue near Kenneydell Park to the Gate community near the Black River Habitat Management Area, said Ed Marson, parks operations and maintenance manager. The route follows a former railroad line that the county acquired in 1996, he said.
“It connects Kenneydell Park to residents of south Thurston County,” Marson said during a previous meeting. “They don’t have any trails in that area. They are underserved as far as parks go at this time, and we’re looking to help remedy that.”
Hikers on the trail will have access to the Black River Natural Areas as well as the Glacial Heritage Preserve, Mima Mounds National Natural Landmark and Capital Forest.
Since the county acquired the railroad line, the trail has fallen into a state of disrepair, Marson said. He said there are trestles along the route that they need to replace.
Although the trail has been officially closed to the public, people have been accessing it anyway, he said.
“It’s such a long linear trail with connections to backyards, communities, housing developments with no fences that we can’t prevent people from accessing the trail,” Marson said.
Once the trail to Gate is complete, Marson said there is potential to expand the trail further south with local partnerships. A map of route options indicates the trail end may extend past Black River toward State Route 12, according to a county webpage.
The webpage also indicates the county hopes to complete the entire project within 10 years.
The grant the county is seeking is administered through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, according to county documents. Funding comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a federal program.
The grant will not allow the county to complete the full 14 miles, but it will help the county execute its long-term plan, said county manager Ramiro Chavez during a July 6 meeting.
“It’s a similar approach to what we implemented on the Chehalis Western trail,” Chavez said. “We get money, we improve as much as we can, and we just keep chugging along. This is the same approach and strategy that we have been utilizing for the past 20 years, and I have to tell you, Thurston County has one of the most wonderful trail systems in Western Washington.”
The 21-mile Chehalis Western trail serves the east side of the county and improvements to a portion of that trail begin Wednesday. The county announced last week that 1.5 miles of this trail will be closed for two months, the Olympian previously reported.
During the Tuesday board meeting, Karen Messmer, an Olympia resident, thanked the board for pursing improvements on the Gate-Belmore trail. However, she criticized the county’s decision to close the Chehalis Western trail for two months.
“The extreme approach of a complete trail closure for two entire months is unwarranted,” Messmer said. “Please ask your Public Works staff to change the project timing, provide a detour and stop this closure.”
She said the closure is ill-timed in the middle of prime cycling season and it will impact people on work commutes.
Later in the meeting, Commissioner Gary Edwards asked Marson if he could respond to Messmer’s comments, but he said he had to get back to commissioners on the issue.
The board will revisit the issue of the Chehalis Western trail closure at an 11 a.m. Thursday agenda review meeting.
Update: The commission’s agenda review meeting on Thursday has been moved to 11 a.m..
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
